I am not a literary. I don’t know feminism or its ante. I am also not an activist. I don’t know any theories about womanhood. But I know one thing to a great satisfaction, that men and women are not equal.
Let us undo the way we have defined this problem to arrive at a viable, achievable solution. A problem has certain reasons to be in existence, and certain outcomes. Let us explore it both ways.
Equality necessarily demands identicality and men and women are so different from each other that we can experience two different realities with them.
No scale can set them on an equal footing. Generally speaking, man is strong, woman is feeble; man is intelligent, woman is deficient; man is confident, woman is diffident.
Man excels in mathematics and woman in literature. Man spontaneously thrives and progresses in every culture and social order. He does not need a law in place to get his domestic rights.
He is the master of circumstances. He was never subjected to feticide. He is always the preferred child. He has never died a dowry death. Nothing strengthens the parents like a son. Man does not suffer from any biological or psychological limitations.
He does not have to bear the children nor the pangs of sexual relation. He is not vulnerable to rape and molestation. He can go gay. He can get back home early or late. He grows and grooms in a free atmosphere. He is all set to explore the possibilities of world. He is also the chosen avatar or the prophet.
Given the natural disposition, man is primary, woman secondary. Therefore all crimes that have happened against women throughout history have essentially happened because they had a scope to happen with or without the society being unfair to them.
Similarly, men have flourished through ages due to their natural perfection. Statistically speaking, all scientists but a few are men, so are the warriors, the thinkers, the philosophers, the theologians, the leaders and the statesmen.
Therefore, it would be highly impractical of women to claim equality with men or desire so. It has never been, it will never be. It is very important to properly identify a problem before arriving at a solution.
I would once more like to quote Einstein that if we are given 60 minutes to solve a problem, we should spend 55 minutes in thinking if the right question has been asked.
Better than equality, the women should seek justice in the sphere of existence in which they are placed. Equality is highly misleading in the context of justice. The hero of popular Bollywood movie “3 Idiots” brings out the hardest fact in the life of modern age woman when he tells Priya that her fiancé is a donkey.
“You are the daughter of director and you are going to be a doctor which is good for his public image, rest he is not interested in you.” The ‘free advice’ is well taken by her and she chooses to opt out of the relation. The qualificational degrees, the job status, the career making, the tom-boy appearance of women are all for encashment by men.
The so called liberation of women has helped men more than the women themselves. By choosing to earn, she is actually easing the financial obligations of man.
On the contrary, man cannot do her a helping share in pregnancy, breast feeding and the rest of home making. By choosing to stand for everything in life, she is working beyond her capacity and loosing sheen every day.
She is now a little human and more of a robo. Education will make her a better person but empowerment has to come from different corners.
Now let us go to the horrible statistics about women’s progress and betterment, taken from most authentic sources. A barely two year old statistics shows that on an average, women globally spend about 4.2 hours in a day on unpaid domestic and care work as compared to men, with 1.7 hours, three times less.
This has remained relatively constant since 1995. In terms of power and decision making, women hold only 28% of managerial positions globally in 2019 which is again the same proportion as in 1995.
Every year, around one third of women worldwide experience physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner; and 18% have experienced such violence only in the past 12 months on account of isolation in unsafe environments during COVID crisis.
In the most extreme cases, violence against women is lethal: globally, an estimated 137 women are killed by their intimate partner every day.
While female genital mutilation is becoming less common in some countries, at least 200 million girls and women alive today have been subjected to this specific form of violence across Africa and the Middle East where it is most prevalent. Women own less than 20% of the world’s land.
Twenty-five years since the adoption of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, progress towards equal power and equal rights for women remains as elusive as ever. In the industrialised countries, 75% of women are employed in historically low-paying, service-sector jobs.
In many of the export-processing zones of industrializing countries where most of the work is labour-intensive and low-cost manufacturing, 80% of the workforce is female. Similarly, most of the crimes reported in the Indian crime anthology series, crime patrol, are basically the crimes against women.
No country has achieved gender equality, and the COVID-19 crisis has further eroded the limited gains that were made. The larger question still remains. Can the issues of women be redressed. The answer is yes. The agent is man. Iqbal says
Ek Zinda Haqiqat Mere Seene Mein Hai Mastoor
Kya Samjhe Ga Woh Jis Ki Ragon Mein Hai Lahoo Sard
Ny Parda, Na Taleem, Nayi Ho Ke Purani
Niswaniyat-e-Zan Ka Nigheban Hai Faqt Mard
A fact alive is in my breast concealed, He can behold whose blood is not congealed.
To wear a veil and learn new lore or old,
Can’t guard fair sex except a person bold.
Man can restore to women what they have been trying hard for long, through proper or improper efforts without any gains.
It is for man to affirm the right to property to his sister, the dignity to his daughter, and an unfailing companionship to his wife.
Needless to mention, mothers are foremost in the ecclesiastical hierarchy. Iqbal has chosen beautiful words for appreciation of such dutiful men.
Hafiz-e-Namoos-e-Zan, Mard Azma, Mard Afreen.
Dr. Qudsia Gani, Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, Govt. College for Women, M A Road Srinagar
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author.
The facts, analysis, assumptions and perspective appearing in the article do not reflect the views of GK.