A Moratorium on Men Making Major Decisions

Published on Mar 9, 2025, filed under misc, advocacy (feed). (Share this on Mastodon or Bluesky?)

Personal site, personal topics. Long-term readers know that I don’t “just” write about web development and engineering management.

One good rule of thumb in life is to keep an eye on what works, and what doesn’t.

For example, if you want to drive to a city up north, you don’t—or only after a long time—get there if you keep driving south. You can observe that.

Or, if you need water, food, and air to survice, you won’t last long if you pollute and destroy your environment, and therefore your water, food, and air supply. You can observe that, too.

One thing we can also observe is that many major decisions—decisions affecting other people, animals, and/or resources—are kept being made by men. Most heads of state and politicians are men. Most managers are men.

And we can observe that many of the decisions men make are bad. Wars, exploitation, waste, unfairness, injustice, division—most of which men are responsible for. Open up any not outright misogynistic news site (that blames women for everything) and you’ll observe: that all the bullshit usually is done by men. ^*

What we can observe is that men making major decisions doesn’t work.

Does that mean that all men make bad decisions? No—that doesn’t follow logically.

Does that mean that women or non-binary people make only good decisions? No—that, too, is a fallacy.

It just means that we can observe that men making major decisions doesn’t work.

Driving south not to end up north, destroying our environment to end up killing ourselves, and tolerating men to make decisions of which the majority turns out bad is stupid, and requires action.

One action we could take is to stop allowing men to make major decisions.

Not forever (there’s nothing wrong with men, men just need to learn something here)—but until we’ve learned to take action on continuously bad decision-making, and until we can tell that men improved their own decision-making, until they continuously make decisions that are good for everyone. Hence, a moratorium, a limited suspension.

We won’t do this, though, because: Men make the major decisions, and one game men like to play, apart from “Hammers Hurt,” is to make decisions that favor themselves, decisions that look strong but couldn’t be weaker.

The only other option we have is to get more men into positions of consequence who are and continually prove to be empathetic, kind, constructive, responsible, and wise; and who may eventually help put manhood into a healthier space for everyone.

And still it would be refreshing to have a moratorium, on men making major decisions.

(I, as a man, have no problem trying that, because that it’s always men is really f’ing pathetic and ridiculous—especially if you identify as a man who deems himself empathetic. And I absolutely believe that every man reading this knows this, too. Which, again, does not say women and people not identifying with a gender are holy—they just haven’t caused nearly as much damage and destruction as men have.)

^* I mean, this is an absolute stunner. Open pretty much any news where someone was harmed, and it’s a man who was implicated, involved, or responsible for it. Once you pay attention to it, it’s—well, you tell me.

About Me

I’m Jens (long: Jens Oliver Meiert), and I’m a web developer, manager, and author. I’ve been working as a technical lead and engineering manager for companies you’ve never heard of and companies you use every day, I’m an occasional contributor to web standards (like HTML, CSS, WCAG), and I write and review books for O’Reilly and Frontend Dogma.

I love trying things, not only in web development and engineering management, but also in other areas like philosophy. Here on meiert.com I share some of my experiences and views. (I value you being critical, interpreting charitably, and giving feedback.)