The big issue

The Empowerment of Women

If you get obsessed with one phrase then please make it this one. Personally I cannot understand the person who fails to get goose-bumps at the mention of it. It may be the old Rolling Stone in me, but I have always had a passion for the company women can provide. It may be nothing more than the desire to hear an alternate opinion to contrast with the default Y chromosome’s, but I adore it. I may have to concede that my own entanglements with the fairer sex have left me spoiled, and that I have been cursed with rose-tinted lenses for being such an undeserving fool.  On the other hand, I know that the fight for equality is not just justified, but necessary. And like the civil rights movement, there is room for some well meaning idiots to get involved. I do not reference the civil rights movement light-heartedly by the way. What could be more serious than fairness for 50% of the population? 

I'm already ready for the jeers claiming we sorted this out with the suffragettes. If you are a humanist you look at every race and culture with the same eye you use on your own. It’s a strange concoction of liberalism and racism to smile when a tribe treats its’ women as slaves. A female MP may fight for the wearing of the Burka in order to present her views on religious freedom; but she fails to realise that it is not imposed by Islam but by sadistic men. The view that contraception is evil was accelerated by Mother Theresa and we do nothing more than politely agree or disagree. It may be intimidating to stand up and say: “Sorry you old bitch but we don’t want everyone in Africa to die no matter how Holy you consider your plan”. What does it say about the power of our male ancestors that a Romanian woman in this century can oppose methods that may save the lives and dignity of her fellow females?

Even if we forget Africa’s problems, we find an even more problematic system in our most recent history. Under the Taliban, Afghanistan was a shining beacon of what happens when women really become second class citizens. They could not have been oppressed anymore without actually being buried alive. You name it, they did it. They couldn’t study at school, couldn’t interact with men, and they couldn’t even show their faces in public. The result: a life expectancy of 44, record lows of literacy, record highs of burnt out eye-sockets. If we take this example as the lowest we could be achieving on this subject then why can’t we strive for the opposite? Check out your average office in England, and observe the 50% of ladies creating fantastic profits for multi-national companies. You may be anti-capitalist but you have to smile at the progress we have made.

I am in no way advocating forcing other cultures to follow suit. I would never wish to enforce a cultural revolution on a country that wasn’t an immediate danger to life on Earth. I simply suggest that we all unite and speak our minds about this issue. You may not feel as angry as when you heard Mexicans were dying on the state-line, or when you heard Mandela had another ten years to go. However, this is a much bigger issue than human beings have ever encountered.

The one negative comment I expect from this post be can summed up in one word, “patronising”. I can only talk what I feel, and I have made a pact not to lie at any point. I suppose if I am patronising I will have to deal with that. Perhaps I may prematurely defend myself and say that although I may be worthy of all criticism, I am not the biggest danger to women today. I must confess though, that I await wrath with a certain amount of expectation. The sisters are a glorious group, but just as diverse as us men. Funny that.

 I am happy to list a few things that would cease to exist if every society was up to scratch. As we speak you can observe: arranged marriages (obviously a ploy to subject a woman to a life of servant-hood), genital mutilation (not the foreskin, but the clitoris), the forced rape and procreation by the ultra-theocratic (something that has been introduced to Iranian law), and the stoning of rape victims in places such as Afghanistan. I’ll let you pray to as many imaginary friends as you want, I’ll even let you protest about meat production. But mess with my female friends.....No. That is not allowed.

I am not fighting for equal prize money for Wimbledon champions. I don’t care about the intricacies of politics resulting in fewer female MPs.  Making poverty history is a slightly bigger issue I think. We all say it, we all mean it, and we all slightly consider it. Want the quick answer? Empower women! Let’s not shy away here, populations are growing and we can’t deal with it. We do have a duty as humans to look after every living person, but we are afraid of saying certain things. We will not discuss contraception in a third world country because it comes across as population control by westerners. The other side of the argument is doing well however; the Catholics have convinced perishing tribes that condoms increase the chances of HIV. When will we wake up and realise that population is controlled perfectly well when the woman has power over her own womb? I sometimes scream inside when this concept is introduced as a revelation to some people. Is it not common sense? I would usually blame religion here, but I’m talking about more than that. It’s male domination, and it hasn’t ended.

Again, I feel this post being slipped into the category “Provocative”. I may have accepted such an accusation for previous posts but this is surely different. Any self-respecting heterosexual man knows the joy of seeing his girlfriend smile. Any intelligent woman knows that happiness derives from equality. Any decent scientist, statistician, philosopher, mathematician, politician knows that progress comes from the duality of genders. We can compromise on many things, but our allegiance with women is non-negotiable.  

You may notice that I wrote this from a male perspective, I referred to women in fairly detached way. Want to know why? I am a man. If you expect any more then you will only receive phonies.