Gender
equality may have come a long way since women received the right to
suffrage. The level of playing field
reached higher levels. This time,
leading voices in the movement are demanding more than equal rights in every
fields of the society; they are asking for dismantling of cultures and
traditions in establishments and institutions.
We are now in the second decade of the new millennium, yet feminists’
ideals are still unpopular and unacceptable to a large number of people, even
among women. Why is this so?
Apparently, there is a certain degree
of intimidation involved. The idea of
women sharing equal rights and dominations among institutions will affect every
aspect of our lives as a battle between the sexes. It will be an issue of who can muster
strength of support and win. In addition,
feminist players themselves, when they reach higher stature tend to extend
personal bias and judgment over quality and integrity. This is manifested in some events where
female government leaders favored less capable women over superior skillful
men.
With that, what should feminist
leaders and followers do in order for their struggle to succeed and achieve
their goals on gender equality? Here are
some ideas.
Enough of generalizations
The
danger in generalizing men as monsters and rapists is not really a good
idea. How can you expect to gain support
from men if there is a front line misconception against them? This alone is enough for men to become wary
and prepare for battle also.
Be open minded
I
believe that feminist players are just too focused on their ideals and do not
try to understand how their ideals will be immersed mainstream. Rome was not built in one day. Similarly, you cannot expect change to take effect
suddenly. You must remember that it
takes a life cycle for some radical changes to take effect. Later generations will reap the benefits of
the movement and will continue to do so if they will protect it also in their
own time.
Be realistic
The
issue of men dominating politics, economics, business, and careers is
childish. You cannot undo what is
already done. What feminist’s leaders
should do is to encourage women to pursue excellence, gain control of their
lives, and explore possibilities to create a playing field where women can
dominate and expand to other fields already dominated by men and where women
are slowly gaining controls.
More work to be done
Changing
current realities is not achieved through rallies, opinions, brainwashing, and
analytical thinking. Feminist movement
leaders should teach other women that achieving gender equality should be done
in action. Words are not enough, this is
why wars were created to extract change and convert words into actions.
Behave accordingly
Women
who had achieved enviable statuses in different fields should act and behave
favorably to create an impression that it is alright to share domination with
women. Female stereotyping about feminists can also be blamed to women themselves.
They created their own set of rules, actions, and behaviors in order to be
recognized as feminists and it does not augur well, where stereotyping is
admonished.
I
know that these ideas are implemented consciously and subconsciously but a
little reminder might do well.
Contributed by Alden I. Bula who maintains two blogs: www.aldenbula.wordpress.com and www.denal.wordpress.com.
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