When we believe that human being is the best creation of nature, we automatically accept that there is a divine element in it too. Nature hasn’t been partial while blessing us with this divinity, because I believe that being a man or a woman is only a part of the division of labor. That is, just like any other living thing, we are here to accomplish certain tasks. What do you think? Do write me back.
Enjoy reading a new article in the series – With love, Swati. If you prefer to read it in Gujarati, Click Here.
Men and Women – superior or equal?
This has been an eternal question for what writing, reading or discussing have been gravitated for years. And yet, there does not seem to be a single unanimous answer to it. So, let us also ponder over this interesting topic today.
Common perceptions about men and women!
There’s already so much said and heard on this topic that many of you might have a question lingering on your minds about what else is left for us to discuss more? Due to a persistent flow of information on social media, all of us have been exposed rather overexposed to some of the perceptions regarding men and women; like how good or great individuals men or women are, how much they sacrifice in their lives, how they are exploited on personal or social grounds, how they are misunderstood or victimised and what not!?
There are a million interpretations for what does it mean to be a man or what a woman is. There are countless justifications and theories on why and how a man or woman behaves in any particular situation. I don’t mind any of it till it’s restricted to some individual opinions. But when the influential people say, write or establish their ideas as some generic rules, it affects the whole social well-being.
You might think how could someone’s personal opinion affect the whole society, but there are common people who hardly have time or habit of thinking and analysing what’s said by the reputed, intellectuals. They mostly don’t question any of the ideas grafted by the prominent individuals of the society. And they also take such personal opinions quite seriously regardless of their being applicable or related to their personal lives. The basic element of trust among the whole society starts shattering, gradually weakening the individual relationships of men and women or their relationships with the other people. Don’t you feel this to be worth consideration?
Qualities that make us a good human being!
I think the whole problem starts with giving an extra weightage to a person’s being a man or a woman! Skills, shortcomings, positivity or negativity, aspirations, pleasures, foulness, goodness, moral character none of the virtues has any partisanship towards an individual’s identity as a man or a woman. That means a person can have any of the attributes or weaknesses disregarding his being born as a male or a female. Life has never been gender biased when a person works on making it meaningful and valuable, has it been? NO I believe.
What makes us compare men and women?
Apart from all these, on what basis we keep on comparing a man and a woman with each other? Naturally, the men and women are provided with everything they need to construct a quality life. So, the whole concept of female VS male doesn’t seem fair to me. Whenever we see men and women opposing or conflicting with each other, the reasons most of the times are external i.e. the surroundings whether it is people or the circumstances. Both are created to accomplish the tasks assigned by Nature and to help each other in strengthening the natural system like the other living organisms also do. It is through the imposition of our falsely contrived ideas that we’ve made the Nature’s finest creations a part of some trivial and completely unnecessary competition.
Feminism – is it for real?
People who don’t see men and women as antagonists (yet, believe them to be competitors) have developed a new notion. They have an opinion that both are EQUAL. As till date the social system in majority of the world is male dominating thus, this idea of equality among men and women hasn’t been accepted universally. This has led to the rise of a whole new theoretical perspective called ‘Feminism’. And this new perception has given a chance of making money to the people who know how to convert human emotions into currency bills.
They are systematically planning, investing money, advertising and using popular, reputable faces to portray the stories on this equality concept. This largely influences the common men and they gradually start following the ideology. To be a feminist is considered commendable today, but the truth is that not a single organism on this planet can change its basic characteristics and the same applies to the men and the women too. Neither a man could ever develop what attributes a woman has born with nor a woman can bear all the characteristics a man has been blessed with. And when someone tries to acquire those through practice (people do it today), one should not forget about the consequences it brings with.
The purpose of existence!
I personally disagree on men and women being equal as it’s quite inappropriate to compare them both. Can you ever imagine about comparing the natural elements like fire with water or the Earth with the Sky? The answer is unarguably NO.
Tolerance, prosperity, care, fertility (fertility doesn’t relate giving birth to children only, but also the ideological fertility of nurturing them) and stability are natural in a woman like the Earth.
On the other hand, vastness, vigor, instinct to nurture and protect etc. are the natural qualities of a man.
And working together on establishing an equilibrium in nature is the actual meaning of their being. When we analyse this natural balance, making the scale smaller, we understand that the social balance or the balance in any family depends on the coexistence of men and women embracing all their qualities and traits. Here, to work is compulsory for both of them. We have developed a habit of considering earning as working, but it’s not true I must say. Instead, to accomplish anything assigned that may range from handling or taking care of house, office, kitchen, children or it can be just earning money for livelihood is more important.
Whatever work a man or a woman does must be done with rectitude and honor. And one must respect the work of the other as well. This dignity makes the efforts more fruitful. So, in order to work honestly or truthfully and in respecting the other’s work does one need to be superior or equal to each other?
Thus, the essence of the whole idea is that the men and the women, both are affluent, complete and independent in terms of their capabilities and dynamism. And yet any creative work, whether it is the shaping of life or the society or in helping nature to create a balance, it is incomplete without the union of the two. That means both are complementary to each other for creation and cultivation.
If we consider the woman as a creator, then the man is the nurturer of that creation! Nature is the planner, and the men and women are the performers! And so, when we evaluate the idea of female VS. male or female = male on the basis of usefulness and the significance, it doesn’t seem as desirable as male + female seems!