The Quest for equality

Hi everyone, International women's day is the 8th of March every year. As this was only a few days ago I decided to post something to honor that day. Enjoy

Many people who know me often ask if I am a feminist and my answer often gets a mixed response. I tell them I am not. I know it’s a shocker; I am an ideal candidate to be a feminist. While I do believe in the cause and support it I realized that if I decided to accept certain limitations in my life I could not truly call myself a feminist. So I have rather coined a new phrase to describe myself, I am a member of the ethical treatment of everyone.

While I do believe man and woman cannot be equal (don’t attack me, it is truly hard with so many variables that it makes rocket science look like a walk in the park) I do believe each gender should be treated ethically. One gender is not put on earth to serve the other and this goes both ways, men do not treat women as your personal maid and women do not treat men as your personal atm.

While there are many topics that I could discuss under this header I think one of the most controversial is sexuality. So I am going to be like a deer and headlights and run towards it. So hubby was watching a movie recently it was called “Road to yesterday”. The summary man marries woman, man decides to cheat on woman’s birthday, woman is distraught goes out on the town and makes a mistake, she too cheats but her accomplice leaves her with an eternal gift she gets to unwrap 9 months later.

Now I am not here to judge anyone, life is complicated enough as it is. However, I could not help but notice a familiar trend in hubby’s reaction. When the man cheated it was acceptable, in fact, it was almost the woman’s fault, she had to have pushed him to do it. But when it was the woman’s turn it was different, the point of no return had been crossed. She was vengeful, cruel, unfaithful, a stained person who deserved to be abandoned. Where came the understanding that she equally had been pushed to do it.

As for the child, well we all know the drill too well. The child is not welcomed in the house that was once a happy home. Would the case be the same if the child belonged to the man? Errrr… no, I can just hear the words now “You have to accept the child; it is your husband’s. Don’t worry your place in the house will not be given away you will always be the first wife”.

The reaction is the same even for those unmarried, a man enjoying his youth, exploring his sexuality is deemed acceptable. However, a woman attempts the same and well we all know the colorful words that will be used to describe her.

Do I think this will change sadly no I don’t, I think the fundamental difference between the genders will always prevent the dream of equality from happening. But what I think can change is how we treat each other. We can all be more accepting of one another and be willing to show the same understanding, kindness and forgiveness to each other, irrespective of our gender. We all need love at the end of the day.

I end this by saying why the road to equality might be a mythical quest which we never know might be a reality one day, but the road to ethical treatment of one another is very achievable by all. So the next time you want to judge a situation switch the roles, think if this was a woman (or man) would I react the same way. If not you might want to rethink your decision.