GENDER EQUALITY… IS IT WORTH IT?

t"GENDER EQUALITY… IS IT WORTH IT?"

A lot has been said about GENDER EQUALITY already that it seems anything said now will be like a totally needless repetition and a total waste of time. But taking a cursory gaze at the trend, I have discovered that majorly, things said about gender equality makes advocating for it a serious waste of time.

For better understanding of the subject, let us check on these definitions…

Gender according to the English dictionary refers to a sociocultural phenomenon off the division of people into various categories such as “male” “female”, with each having associated clothing, roles, stereotypes, etc.

Equality on the other hand implies the equal treatment of irrespective of social or cultural differences.

Straight from the definition provided, gender equality is a strange phenomenon rearing its not-so-ugly head in our society. The definition makes it seem like gender and equality shouldn’t be standing next to each other in the first place taking a major consideration of the African society which is where I belong and is the background of this write-up.

Adam in the bible had eve as a helper and a partner and definitely not a co-equal which make the idea totally mundane and extremely not biblical. Our African society also has a way it has been set up peacefully giving room for peaceful co-existence among both genders with both genders having a totally different job description. Any altercation to this setting is surely going to be like the proverbial bird that calls rain on itself – we are looking for trouble.

The female folks have just not made the situation easy on the male folks too with their ardent defense and participation in the gender equality campaign whenever the situation presents itself.

What I absolutely fail to understand is what the female folks want exactly; is it to have equal opportunities as the male folks, to be co-equals with the male folks or to become the male folks? If it is for equal opportunity, the platform is so big that equal opportunity is always up for grabs for both gender so that in fact, if anything, I believe the female folks are being presented with better opportunities and better platforms to excel than it’s been presented to the male folks.

We have so much advocated for gender equality and violence against the female folks that we are gradually forgetting that there is the existence of the male folks. The social media and every other media outlet always experience a total meltdown whenever a case of violence against the female folk. But does that mean that nothing like that happens to the male folks? Because we hardly hear of anything like that either on the social or the not-so-social Medias. The answer is a capital NO. In fact, we have majority of the domestic violence these days against men but they are largely swept under the carpet because they are the “men”. A very typical example can be seen of the recently celebrated “father’s day” which was almost non-existent compared to how their counterparts are celebrated several times during the year. This is why I regard the gender equality agitation as a grossly misplaced agitation as our society has a way it has been programmed to operate regarding the female folks as the weaker ones that needs to be protected and pampered but they are all making a mockery of everything our society stands for.

The case of the female folks advocating for gender equality is like them trying to eat their cake and have it at the same time. A perfect gentleman or even an average man is wired to be a respecter of  the female folks  and most likely draw out a chair for her while on a date, stand up for her to sit down in such cases where there is no chair, open the door of the vehicle for her and close it after her and since the gender are supposed to be equal, the female folks still expects to get these special treatments while the male folks thinks that since it’s an equal society, if I have the strength to draw out my chair on a date, she should prove equal and draw her own chair too. From there on, you start hearing funny comments like “he’s not a gentle man”, “he’s not caring”. Bia nwayinoma! If you want him to be a gentleman, be a gentle woman too and pull your chair by yourself or better still, pull his chair for him too. You called for gender equality… there you have it. So no complain!

Without a tone of finality but to conclude this rant, gender equality is a waste of time and a totally misplaced agitation. The female folks should instead agitate for more regard and respect from the male folks because advocating for gender equality is going to disrupt the structure of the society and pose even greater threat to the female folks.

Love and respect makes the world go round with little or no regard for who is king or servant, landlord or tenant, master or slave, male or female.