Vaani Patel
Were Women and Men Designed to be Equal?
‘Gender equality’ is the equal representation of women and men, however it
does not suggest that women and men are the same, but that they have equal value
and should be given equal opportunities. The term ‘equality’ is a vague word. The
question that arises in my mind, when I hear about gender equality, is that were
women and men supposed to be equal, and can they ever be equal, and should they be
equal? There’s a fine line between what aspects of the inequality between the men
and women need to be accepted, and what need not be accepted. The ones that need to
be accepted are based on the reality that they cannot be changed. The aspects that do
not need to be accepted are the ones that can be changed.
Before we get into this argument, let’s look at the inequality that men and
women have between them. We were made with a specific agenda in mind,
namely that man were the stronger, more hardhearted and providers, because of
their physical strength, and their physiology, as they were usually taller, bigger,
heavier in some cases. The women had the reproductive organs, and they were
softer, smaller, and lighter. Many women do not want to accept this role as being
the nurturers, and want to take the role of the male. Them taking the role of the
male, and become the ‘hunters’, the providers is not the problem, the problem is
that the female body is made specifically with the reproductive system in mind.
This feels very unfair to many women, that they have to menstruate every month,
and then they are the ones that have to carry a baby, and they have to go through
the agony of childbirth, and thus nurture the child, and then when it’s all done,
they have to face menopause. It’s extremely unfair and imbalanced, if you ask me.
But this is something that cannot be changed because this is how women were
designed. A man cannot relate to a woman and a woman cannot relate to a man.
This is how nature intended us to be.
Another issue I want to point out is that education is of key importance. In spite
of the fact that the world is making progress in gender equality in education, young
girls still make up a large proportion of out-of-school children than boys. Two-thirds
of all children denied school are girls, and 75 per cent of the world’s 876 million
illiterate adults are women (4) Mostly, families that cannot cover expenses such as
materials, fees and etc. They will prioritize education for their sons rather than the
girls. They will teach the girls how to do household work and how to be useful for the
family. Leaving a gap for studies.
Everyone has a right to be educated properly; it strengthens economies, opens up
opportunities, and ensures that both men and women can make their own decisions
that will help them to reach their full potential.
In my culture, gender inequality is blatantly obvious because it’s a male
dominated society (1). Male child is given precedence over a female child. Many
abortions are forced upon women, by her in-laws or husband when she having a
female child. This leads to other disputes arising out of power struggle; women don’t
have the power to make decisions about their own bodies and lives (3). In my culture,
women are always married off to men that are older, the reason is that man do not
need to die first and suffer, the women are much younger so they would die after the
husband, and so the husband would be well taken cared off.
Another gender inequality that can be seen in my culture is that women cannot make
their own decisions. Their father or husband will make all the big decisions. Because
the men are the ‘providers’, the family of the men expects the women’s family to
provide dowry, as now the women are seen as a burden that is being moved from the
father’s shoulders to the husband’s.
In addition, feminism is raised from gender equality, a desperate plea of females to try
and close the gap between the inequalities as much as possible. Women are seen as a
sexual object, in many religions they are expected to cover up, they are not allowed to
wear revealing clothes because they will provoke the men. And then it is the women’s
fault, not the men’s, because that’s just how they were made. So as one can see, the
women almost always carry the brunt of the society.
Men are just similarly impacted by gender inequality as those of women. Men have
their own expectations and cultural standards they have to live up to. The idea of
masculinity of men shapes their behavior. They are expected to be the leaders.
Stereotypes make men conceal emotions. They are taught to not show weakness. My
dad, he rarely shows a lot of emotion. He was raised to be ‘strong’, to be the
‘breadwinner’ of the family and show no vulnerability. This how he was programmed
to think since birth. We have gender roles of society, which include traditional
morals. Why don’t women generally ask men out? A woman saying, “Lets split the
bill” is considered ‘independent’. A man saying the same thing is ‘cheap’. It’s a
mistake if a woman goes into the men’s bathroom but it’s perverted if a man goes into
the women’s bathroom (2). Because this is how society is represented.
Today, all these lines have blurred and there is absolute chaos, because everyone is
trying to find a footing in society that is convenient for them. This is something that
cannot reach a peaceful stance for a very long time because it’s a power struggle, and
it will always stay a power struggle.
How I see it, is that men and women, and everyone in between, were not
made equal. Perhaps, because nature had a specific agenda in mind, but we, as a
society, have created dogmas and rules that are geared towards personal agendas.
Here, the inequality is made the shoulder from which they shoot from, in other
words, they use the gender inequality that nature designed, as an excuse for many
other man-made rules that are infuriating women and consequently causing chaos.
To conclude this argument, there are two genders for a reason, to balance each
other out. Each one will have different views of the other, we should be aware of
this reality and accept it. Thus, each individual should be respected, valued and
given the same opportunities the other has. Now answering my main topic
question, “Were women and men designed to be equal?” It would be safe to say
that they were not.
Bibliography
1. Sen, A. (2001). The many faces of gender inequality. New republic, 35-39.
Frederico, M., Michielsen, K., Arnaldo, C., & Decat, P. (2018).
2. Nicholas, Gal. “Gender Equality | The Baby Seal Club.” The Baby Seal Club,
https://www.facebook.com/WordPresscom,(2012),
https://galnicholas.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/gender-equality/.
3. Factors influencing abortion decision-making processes among young women.
International journal of environmental research and public health, 15(2), 329.
4.“Women’s Rights - Oxfam NZ.” Oxfam NZ, https://www.facebook.com/OxfamNZ,
https://www.oxfam.org.nz/what-we-do/ending-poverty-inequality/womens-rights/.
Accessed 22 Oct. 2020.
5. Jennifer McCleary-Sills, Lucia Hanmer, Jennifer Parsons & Jeni Klugman (2015)
Child Marriage: A Critical Barrier to Girls’ Schooling and Gender Equality in
Education, The Review of Faith & International Affairs, 13:3, 69-80