There
is one only certainty: men and women think and behave differently.
Men are more aggressive and often stronger, while women are calmer
and more pondered.
But
this doesn’t mean they are not equal! No one can deny that women
have been considered as inferior to men for a very long time and in
most societies. Things only began to change recently. For example,
the right to vote was granted to women for the first time in the USA
in 1869, but only in 1979 did the Council of Europe adopt a
declaration on gender equality.
Justice
is now the same for men and women in most Western countries. Many
laws have been voted during the past fifty years to allow total
equality.
In
politics, there now are countries directed by women, and not only in
developed areas, like Germany, but also in developing countries such
as Chile. Women are present in several Governments and laws have been
created to force these Governments to comply with gender equality
regulations for elections.
Women
are present at all power levels; for example there are more and more
senior female managers in Industry. It is no longer a problem for
women to own goods or manage their own businesses alone.
Education
isn’t reserved, as it was before, exclusively for men, and in fact
statistics show that there are more women succeeding in their studies
than men!
Real
equality between husbands and wives exists. Laws have accorded men
more rights and obligations as regards child care, for example, so as
to encourage them to help women in this role. Couples can now choose
which one will work, and earn money for the family, while the other
stays home...
But,
are laws really applied equally? Moreover, there are still too many
countries in the world denying their rights to women!
The
number
of
countries
directed
by
women
is
only
six out
of
more
than
two hundred countries
in
the
world.
In
developed
countries
as
well
as
in
developing
countries,
women
are
paid
less
than
men
for
the
same
type
of
work;
on
average,
a
woman
will
earn
only
80% of
a
man’s
pay.
Women
also
work
longer
than
men,
and
the
rate
of
unemployment
is
higher
for
women
than
for
men.
Laws in some countries
still
make
it
difficult
for
a woman
to
do
certain things without
her husband, for
example:
get
a
place
to
live,
or
even acquire
a
vehicle.
Even a woman simply living on her own is deemed unacceptable in some parts of the world...
In
fact, women often cannot find work, because managers consider it a
problem to employ women as they may have children and are therefore
more likely to be absent from work... Women often have to abandon the
idea of a family life if they hope to pursue a career.
There
is a majority of men in charge with power, which makes it even more
difficult to introduce decisions in favour of gender equality, as the
decisions taken reflect mostly men’s will.
In the Bible as well as the Koran it is said in different ways that women are inferior to men.
In some countries, women are placed under the authority of men and
are forced, supposedly because of religion, to hide their faces, which is, in my
opinion, a violation of their human rights. Access to education is
still refused to girls in some countries.
The
number of sexual harassment suits has increased over the past ten years, and, in some countries, if women can’t prove they were raped,
they are accused of adultery.
The
image of women is often used in degrading ways, in advertising for
example.
I
think women generally have a less violent attitude than men and try,
most of the time, to avoid conflicts. They are therefore often
considered "weaker" than men, thus justifying patriarchal societies.
To reach gender equality, will women have to resort to violence too?
Does equality mean women becoming more like men, or the opposite?
The
continuing problem of gender equality is no longer a legal one in developed countries, but a
problem of mentality. Women have greater difficulties finding work,
they are under-represented in scientific research, only 33% of doctors
are women, and it is very difficult for them to impose themselves in
areas deemed worthy of men only, in business for example (this is
certainly due to the sexist attitude of most of the male entrepreneurs of
leading companies).
To
achieve true gender equality, people's mentality, as reflected in
advertising for example, must evolve. We must question education, and
the values that are taught to our children!
Gender
equality
is
badly named, because "equal"
in
this
context
doesn’t
mean "the
same"... Men and women
are
different
in
their behaviour and attitudes. That is
why
establishing
true
equality
between
genders
is
so
complicated.
Even
if
mentalities
are
evolving
a
little,
men
will
never
become
pregnant,
and
the
15% of
women
in
the
armed
forces
will
certainly
not
increase
significantly. Neither
will
ever
change how they are; what
we
should
try
to
determine is
how to treat people equally, whatever their gender,
in
a
non-macho
society. If our world is to become fairer,
women
need
simply to
be
respected
as
much
as
men.
