GIRL POWER

The Belle of the ant world ball !

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WHERE WOMEN

RULE THE WORLD

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A man and wife are in bed, he turns to her and says, “Darling I’m going to make you a happy woman tonight.” She replies, “I’m going to miss you !” The battle of the sexes has raged probably since Adam first tried to pass the buck to Eve when God confronted him about eating that forbidden fruit, and with the advent of the feminist movement the battle lines between men and women have been firmly drawn. Now scientists have discovered a species of tropical ant that is exclusively female ! This must be grist to the mill of women everywhere whose rallying cry has been , ‘Men ! Who needs them ? ’ Apparently the Mycocepurus smithii ants are getting along just fine without any male input, where the young are produced by cloning the queen ,and the babies are always girls. The ants inhabit Panama, Guyana, Ecuador and Peru and their colonies have been noted as being particularly peaceful probably as a result of the lack of stress involved in finding a mate. For years feminists at the radical edge have argued that we would all be better off if women ruled the world, notwithstanding the contributions of such notable ladies as Margaret Thatcher, Angela Merkel, Indira Gandhi and Golda Meir. One woman’s blueprint for a female ruled world included the following : *A man would no longer be considered a ‘good catch’ simply because he was breathing *Medial research money would be spent on developing new birth controls for men *Baby sitting, doing the dishes and making beds would be considered ‘macho’ *Shopping would be considered an aerobic activity *Men who designed women’s shoes would be forced to wear them *Men would be as attentive after marriage as they were before *Men would be judged entirely by their looks and not by their accomplishments *Men would pay as much attention to their wives as their cars. As a male who works in a female dominated workplace I can appreciate the talents and pluses that women bring to the table, but in common with my female colleagues I think that a healthy mix of the sexes is the ideal scenario. Even among the ladies of the Mycocepurus smithii colony there is a downside to all this girl power as entomologists believe that the less genetically diverse young may be more susceptible to the threat of disease. Of course there are differences between men and women as evidenced by the answer to the question, how many honest, caring men in the world does it take to do the dishes ? The answer : Both of them ! So even if the rarefied ant colonies of South America can survive without the male I reckon we still need both of the species to make our world go round !

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Gerard O'Shea