Gender equality

Why do women claim for Gender Equality? Long long time ago, women did not have the right to vote, to go to school, to get a job, to express themselves. It is sad to know that in some countries until now, women are just good for giving birth, and doing housework. Many of these women are beaten by their husband. And it is so incredible to see the society accepting this.

This little story happened 2 years ago. I knew a guy who is from the South of Madagascar. His son pood and I heard him calling his wife to clean the baby. I asked if he could not do it by himself. Then he said ‘No way! This is woman’s duty. Where I come from, men cannot touch such ‘dirt’. This is our tradition and culture, and my wife and I, we both want to keep that’.

In many companies, pregnant women are not well accepted and can forget about a future promotion. These women may not be as efficient as they were before being pregnant, they would go to maternity leave, they would not work every time the baby got sick. I remember 5 years ago, I had a job interview. The Human Resources Manager of this company asked if I had a boyfriend!!! I said ‘no’ and then wanted to know why she asked such private life question. She said ‘we need a serious person to work with us’ and added ‘don’t disappoint us by getting married and pregnant after a year working here’.

My brother knows everything about housework: shopping, cooking, sewing, washing clothes, ironing, taking out trashes, cleaning rooms… Few years ago, he did not know any of these. I am so thankful to our Mother for having taught him and let him do housework. It can be just good for him. I know several families where guys have absolutely no duty. They can just come home and ask for the meal. There are other families where cooking, laundering, shopping are for girls and cleaning the room and taking trashes out for boys. Though, you never know what the future will be. Maybe your son would be alone in his life because he got scholarships abroad, or lost his wife…

As I said earlier, long long time ago, women did not have the right to vote, to go to school, to get a job, to express themselves. I am so happy I went to school. I was so happy when finally I was 18 and could vote for the first time in my life. I am so happy I can earn money so I am financially independent. I am so happy when my opinions count. I am so thankful to everyone who has fought for these rights.

Why do (some) men do not want gender equality? A friend said he does not want women to be higher than him; he wants to be the leader; he wants to be the one who decides what to do or not. He said he would never go out with a woman who has higher diploma than him, who earns more than he does, who would give him money for him to be able to buy a car for instance. Another ‘male’ friend was just afraid we ‘women’ want to be higher than men in every field. I just want to stress on the word ‘equality’. Women are claiming for gender ‘equality’. If they want to be bossy then it will be ‘inequality’.

I am married for only 10 months now and maybe I luck experiences as many are used to say but I do not know if it can help. My husband and I are used to decide together what to do. When we moved in our new flat on January, we took time to talk and to take note about what should be done for our home starting with the color of the walls to the furniture and the foods. Like any discussion, both of us give opinions, say why he likes this or why I prefer this one… Then, for the final decision we choose the best, no matter whose idea it was. And it is so great because we feel that it was a common choice and decision.