Equality between men and women

This piece was written when I was still an activist.. (yeah right.. :p)

25th August 2005

Equality

Is it cool to be equal to men? Equal in what sense? Is it experiencing the same benefits as men? I still couldnt quite put it together. In what sense that women are not treated as ‘equal’ as men nowadays. And it dawns upon me on one thing, where does this equality comes from? Are we arguing on the important thing? Or are we just focusing on one tree and not looking while forgetting the one big jungle?

I read somewhere about equality between men and women, i think its from afkar.numesir.org. i still cant figure out why there are many people who would always want to argue about how women should be equal to men.

Some people say that women are not given enough opportunity to be involved in politics. Women have less say. Now i dont want to argue in terms of what religion have to say, but rather using rational thinking and bits and pieces of knowledge to share. Lets face it, how many woman are sitting down as senate? Or even representative in Parlimen? And why is that women are outnumbered? Is it a bad thing that less women are sitting in the Parliament? I dont think so. Why did i say that.

Here is my reason.

I believed that every individual should not be judged based on their gender. I’ve said this before, and i am saying it again. If i am a women, i should maximize my potential as an individual such that it exceeds whatever maximum potential that other individuals have and it should be the best thing that i can do given that period of time.

Maximizing human potential. Doesnt sound very original but face it, it is the best way to bring out the best in both men and women without restricting the capabilities of both sexes.

Ever wonder why in 100 meter running competition between men and women is separated? Why didnt we just let women and men run together side by side. Why the men and women category? Why never bother to let women and men compete together in 100m. Cathy Freemen and Carl Lewis side by side. What an event!

Because every women and men has its own potential. A woman could be a leader if she wishes to do so, a man cannot be a leader even if he wishes to do so if he doesnt have what it takes to be a leader. It is simple as that. It is not about, “if men can do it, women can do it”. It is more than that. It is about realising that we can do much much better if we didnt set a barrier.

Those people who are screaming to let women be equal to men should be screaming back at themselves. They are barking at the wrong tree. It is time to educate all human on earth that our potential does not lie in our gender, but lies in our willingness to experiment and further enhance our abilities and capabilities in pursuing our dreams. Many great leaders never emphasize on the gender topic,just give me one great leader that says men are worthy as a leader more than women do? Even our prophet acknowledge the fact that women are just as good as men are.

I wonder why many smart women are also screaming that they want to be equal to men? Are women that stupid to be equal to men when women can do so much better if only she realize her own potential doesnt restrict to what men does but rather much more. Women can become a leader if she wishes to do so. Women can become anything if she desires so. Women should not wanting to become a leader because just because there are too much men-leaders.

The fact is, women perhaps are the most unsecure living things that walks on earth. Women need constantly be told that they are good, otherwise they will not feel good, eventhough they are damn good. Isnt this a good time to educate the fellow women that there is nothing to be afraid of? Isnt this a good time to educate everybody that gender doesnt really matter when what really matters is the maximum potential that ones can dig out from themselves.

What really bothers women in meeting room when there are many men and that woman is outnumbered? When men started to make jokes, woman feels threaten and they feel they are the weaker gender. Hell, if you cant handle one simple sexual jokes in a meeting room, I suggest you get your ass out of there woman because you aint gonna survive long. It takes a lot to survive in this world because the world now, as we know is the men-world. It has to change. How to change is up to all of us not just women but men as well. It takes a long time, but a milestone jurney began with a single step (or something like that).

Hence forth, it is imperative that we see the jungle as a jungle and not just one tree per basis. The issue is not the equality between women and men, not about equal opporunity because opportunity present itself not because you are men or women but rather because you deserve it based on your potential. Ask your boss why he or she sometimes favor their men subordinate rather than their women subordinate.

I guess you will hear the answesr ranging from – emotional stability, resilience, competencies, persistence, problem solvings, networking blablabla..

And that is the area that we should focus on to improve so that we get to maximize our potential and be as good as everybody else, if not even better.

I rest my case.