I started thinking about ‘minorities’ the other day when I came across an online news story about Colorado’s Minority Business Office Advisory Council, an 18-member advisory group that helps identify unique problems confronting minority businesses in Colorado, and makes recommendations for regulatory changes.
We have a number of minorities in Colorado, and I have always thought I belonged to one of them.
You may be tempted to laugh, I know… because I’m a white, college-educated, male… and as such, I bear a burden of privilege that few actual minorities can even imagine.
You will note, however, my use of the phrase “actual minorities”. Of which we have many, here in America.
But the Minority Business Advisory Council also considers ‘women’ to be a minority. I thought someone should protest.
I’ve always thought the term ‘minority’ meant something like ‘members of a small segment of the population.’ So how can we call ‘women’ a ‘minority’ when they outnumber the rest of us? (Us men, that is.)
This is not necessarily a rhetorical question.
Okay, yes, it’s a man’s world, as singer James Brown reminded us back in 1971. And I have to agree, as he so thoughtfully points out, “It wouldn’t be nothing without a woman or a girl…”
He doesn’t want us to forget all the fine things us men have done, while the women were sitting at home doing their nails.
Man made the cars, to take us over the roads;
Man made the train, to carry the heavy load;
Man made the electric light, to take us out of the dark;
Man made the boat for water, like Noah made the ark…
… and after man make everything, everything he can,
You know that man makes money, to buy from other man…
Well, I may have to disagree with Mr. Brown’s analysis somewhat.
In my world, you know that man makes money, so woman can buy from various online shopping websites. Without woman, the wheels of our consumer economy would grind to a miserable halt. I mean, how many pickup trucks can man purchase before he runs out of back yards to park them in? The number is rather small.
But no one is surprised by the number of shoes that can fit into woman’s closet.
I’m getting off topic, however, as I often do when I’ve had too many cups of coffee. The actual topic is whether woman should be considered a ‘minority’.
Usually, I’m talking about things I know very little about, and I’m perfectly fine with that… but the foundations of my preconceived prejudices and stereotypes were shaken, when I actually looked at the numbers.
Here in Colorado, we have about 6 million full-time residents, and 50.1% are male.
Only 49.8% are female. (We note, that leaves 0.1% that are neither male nor female. An obvious minority.)
Looking closer to home, here in Archuleta County, we have 101 males for every 100 females.
So it turns out that woman really is a minority, even if she has control of the credit cards.