Commemorating Women’s Day
Saturday last week was Women’s Day. Now that we just passed the Anti-Pornography Act that is reeking of the grandmother of all misogyny, it is important to see how this law weighs in with our current state.
The world has moved on from its barbaric past, where women stayed in the kitchen and bedroom, save of course, for a few naughty places like Saudi Arabia.
Today, schools are open to girls, and while there, girls regularly out-compete boys.
Positions of leadership and the corporate world are no longer exclusive male clubs. And it is important to question what you are doing to help us maintain this progress.
For the men reading this, do you think rape is caused by a woman’s dressing? Do you think it is up to a woman, and how she dresses, to control your sexual urges? Do you think it is your right to police the way a woman dresses?
If your answer is yes, then you, my dear reader, belong to the damned winding dark hole of backwardness that embarrasses humankind. It is people like you that Women’s Day is meant to educate. This country is just recovering from the case of a woman allegedly gang-raped by some Asian nationals.
Probably it started as a simple case of romance ended in turmoil. This is not to bias the woman’s story, but, too often, we have heard stories of especially young women, who in the interest of improving their condition, enter romantic relationships with people they would otherwise never even talk to, just for the sake of money.
The result is abuse; and suddenly, all our talk about emancipation comes to naught.
Of what use are women’s rights if even with the education at hand, a woman will hand their freedom over, on a silver platter? Of what use are women’s rights if they do not deliver financial freedom?
Some of these things can only be corrected in the privacy of the home, at the dining table, as you give your 13-year-old daughter some tough life lessons. What will you teach them about dating? What will you teach them about easy wealth and the virtues of hard work?
An asymmetrical relationship, where a woman is entirely dependent on a man’s resources, is a first but sure step to abuse. This year, women’s emancipation should go beyond just wondering whether women are denied voting rights and education, but include what choices women make, now that they can make them.
