Feminism
Women. Wives.
What runs in your mind when I mention these words?
Quite embarrassingly, even though I know how many new rights women have now, I still imagine women to be the typical housewives who wash and look after the children at home. Sure, there are those ‘strong’, rich women out there, but I’ve noted that it’s somewhat difficult for them to find a love of their life (assuming that men are turned off by the thought of a ‘strong’ woman, and might merely be with the woman for the money).
So even though women have rights and freedom and everything, why is it they are still considered to be lower than men in society? This problem is especially prominent in Asian societies, and it’s a problem that even women choose to ignore. ‘Successful’ women find a man to settle down with; they’re fine with no work – it’s all good.
Betty Friedan (one of my newfound heroes) labelled this invisible problem ‘The Problem Which Had No Name’.
In essence, many women are okay with living as a housewife. But for those that aren’t…well, it’s either housewife, or no sex life. What about men? We happen to have the luxury of both.
Yes, it can be argued that biologically speaking, it’s more convenient for women to give up their jobs. Afterall, they’re the ones carrying the baby, so they might as well carry them forever. But that’s the thing…not only does the carrying process not last forever, but why is it assumed that they should be the ones carrying the baby until it becomes old enough to take care of itself. Once the baby gets old…then what? What do women do then? Have another baby? It’s absurd. They’ve given up their ambitions and passions, with their sacrifice being lifelong. How hire-able is the woman after she’s in her 40s, and has no relevant job experience other than household maintenance? It’s a problem, and a huge one at it too…
If all women think like that, then wouldn’t we lack babies? There’s no reason why the sacrifice is one way. I honestly see no reason. Traditionalists, feel free to flame me, but I despise such unfair beliefs. It serves no justice to think in such a limited way. It’s a problem…an inconvenient complication in something that should otherwise be very simple. But that should not stop us…us as humane beings that is.
🙂
It would be interesting to see what a woman would respond to this post.
I use to think of it like how you did as well.
Come to think of it, it has always been like this hasn’t it? Even back in the stone age, men would hunt mammoths and women would just stay in their caves drawing on the walls. As time went by then men had real jobs and women raised real families. There weren’t any major feminist movements about how things were going anyway. If everyone is fine with it, it becomes a culture. Not just do women give birth, they sometimes aren’t suitable for jobs men are capable of. Labour for example, military positions all relate to men. Naturally, people have an impression that men would work and women would not. When we watch the world cup, France vs Italy, we want to watch men play.
Think of a manager and a secretary. You’d be thinking that the manager is a man and the secretary the woman. You’re not actually sexist but I’ve actually never seen a female manager with a male secretary. Or a female doctor with a male nurse? You might have seen it, but lets be honest, you thought it was weird for the first time. Eventually people just expect women to stay home and men to work.
The culture that we live in gives us an impression that men are the providers and women are the supporters. Ask a girl what bothers her most and she’d probably say it’s her looks. Ask a man what bothers him most he’d probably give you a different answer. This phenomenon is a by product of the culture created by our ancestors. No one really thought about discriminating females in the first place. Women are indeed weaker than men, but that’s just because men run around more and are more into sports than women are, another culture that’s been passed down to us. If women played as much basketball or lifted as much weight, contrary to the norm then I don’t see why women can’t work in a construction site.
From a young age, I live with a younger sister. We came to realise that men and women are the same. We have an equal amount of male friends and female friends. I understand that women can do what men do, but how many women willing to earn a living and how many men willing to cook meals?