Wake up and smell the java.

My coworker passed me a news article, about how in Austria, housekeeping and child-rearing are still widely regarded as women's responsibilities.

(The article's in Chinese but you can get a crude translation by running the URL through Babelfish. The general gist of the article is that 75% of Austrian men consider housekeeping and child-rearing a woman's job, compared to only 14% who believe men should share part of the burden.)

I'm not surprised that there are still places like that. I'm really not. But as I glanced at the article content, I suddenly became rather weary about why he had made a point of sending me the link. I mean, obviously it was an article of interest, but in what way?

It soon became apparent.

"In comparison," he remarked, "Taiwanese men are pitiable (可憐). They have to help clean, do laundry, take care of children... and they're not allowed to complain."

Come again?? Alright, alright, don't jump to conclusions. It's just a statement, and probably not his personal opinion. I cautiously asked if he thought these chores were the woman's responsibility, even using the ^o) emoticon as a subtle hint that he should answer with care.

"在台灣，只能認命吧。" ("In Taiwan, you can only submit to Life." / "C'est la vie.")

I was livid. And when I reprehended him, his counter?

"In Asia, Taiwan is already pretty good [in terms of male and female equality in society]." He actually did not find anything wrong with how the Austrian men thought, even envied the culture. I wanted to kick the sh!t out of him.

I told him to move to Austria.

I was so pissed off that I stopped MSN'ing him for the rest of the night. Before leaving work, however, I forced myself to be the bigger person and MSN'ed him saying that he was entitled to his archaic opinion and all the power to him if he found a partner who shared it. (He then blankly asked what I considered more "modern". I chose to ignore his cluelessness and closed the conversation window.)

I know that people are entitled to their own opinions, and we should all be open to different perspectives instead of chastising someone because they don't share your views. But honestly, some people's beliefs make you want to disassociate yourself from them.