Why are men thrash?

Why are men thrash?

Flip a coin. It lands on heads. Men. When we delve into our history books, we see many accomplishments and events that the masculine sex had achieved. At least, much more than the fairer sex. Mind you that most of these books are written by men themselves but then again, it doesn’t mean that all male historians are biased. A more reasonable cause is that less opportunities were available for women.

(Before I continue further, I would just like to add in a little side note. You may disagree with what I am about to say, and I get that a lot whenever I begin talking about this topic, but I am speaking on a very rational mindset. If ever you think yourself better than the other sex, then I think that you are thrash too. I get from many of my female friends who tell me that just because I am a man, that I do not understand what women go through on a daily basis but this does not mean that they have any more rights to talk about the topic than us, men because at the end of the day, if we want a better more equal society, women should not put down men who are advocating for their rights. Just thinking that men is incapable of advocating for women’s rights is proof that these people are not advocating equal rights after all. With that, I do acknowledge that there are huge discrepancies when it comes to gender equality and that is what we will investigate today. Rationally, of course.)

Flip a coin. It lands on heads again. Men. When we talk about history, it is more likely that we talk about conquests and war because conquests define how well the civilisation was doing. More land, more wealth, and hopefully less enemies. In these periods of warfare, men form the bulk of any army because women had other duties. Let’s be very honest here. Women and men are biologically different, and we were made as such to keep the human race alive as do most of the animal species in the world. Without women, there will be no men to keep the civilisations going and therefore, childbearing duties and naturally, the upbringing of the child is given to the women while men, being biologically incapable of bearing a child will perform other duties such as going to war or bringing home the bread. Mind you that at those ages, family planning is rarely on their minds and therefore, a typical woman bears many children which is unfortunate in a sense that it leaves them with fewer opportunities elsewhere. Is that men’s fault? In some cases, yes because although women are gifted the responsibilities of bearing the child, the upbringing part should be a shared responsibility. However, let’s also acknowledge that equity is much more complex than equality. If you want equality, you get paid for the amount of work that you do and therefore, because women are hindered by their biological duties, in the long run, they should be paid less. If you want equity, women should be paid FOR performing their biological duties also and therefore paid the same in the long run which in an economist point of view is unproductive and may lead to the abuse of such a system. Let’s not talk about equal pay for the same amount of work just yet, we will get there eventually.

 Flip a coin. It lands on heads again. Men. A former teacher of mine once told me that if women were the heads of the people, there would have been no war at all. Maybe she meant it as a joke but let’s be rational. Both male and female have feelings and emotions. To say that one is without any feeling is denouncing their humanity. I have known some women to be indifferent and some men to be exceptionally emotional. It is true that it is rare for women find themselves as heads of state in the tumultuous past but as much as there are great women leaders such as Catherine the Great, there are also wicked ones such as Elizabeth Bathory and Bloody Mary. It is not the gender that defines cruelty. In my opinion, power corrupts, and any human being is subject to the corruption. That being said, women have every right to be a leader if they are cut out for the responsibility. In fact, many women around the globe have delved into politics and statistically there are countries such as Rwanda, Bolivia and Andorra who have more female in their parliament than men. Women have come a long way from suffrage movements to being elected as leaders of their countries. We must recognise the struggles they have to undergo and the long way they have come to be on par with men which is not their fault. What I find ridiculous on the other hand is when people tell me that the situation is still unfair until we get exactly 50/50 male and female representatives in politics. This is a very dangerous thing to say because now, we are talking about entitlement and privileges rather than competence and meritocracy. If we want to put women to power for the sake of putting one into power, then we are just another representative of the problem that our ancestors had caused.

Flip a coin. It lands on tails. Finally, women. One of my professors recommended me to read this book, Flatland by Edwin Abott Abott and I highly recommend everyone to read it. The theme of the book is essentially about opening our minds to possibilities or thinking out of the box but what I want to draw out from the book is their take on women. This book was written in the 19^th century and back then, women had little rights. This was a time where few women went to universities and the few that did, was not even given a degree despite studying the exact same thing as men. Women had no voting rights and were preferred in a kitchen more than outside. The book itself is fictional but the concepts it explores are beyond its time and even our time which is why I highly recommended this book. The author in a sense, was afraid of women. He acknowledges that women, if they realised it, had so much power, much more than men had and would someday be capable of toppling the patriarchy and ensure that no other men would ever rise to the top. He however, hinted that women are not enlightened or educated enough to usurp men’s position. Take mind that this reflects the society back then and not today. I do acknowledge that out there in the world, there are still people with this mindset which have resulted in women having less opportunities and, in several cases, less salary because the fact is, they are afraid. They are afraid of losing the entitlement they certainly do not deserve. The younger, more enlightened generation are changing all of that.

Flip a coin. It lands on tails. Women. Picture this scenario. We often complain about the misrepresentation in gender equality among the many fields of work. Engineering is almost always exclusively male dominated while nursing is the reverse. In the corporate world, male dominates most of the top positions and even in the list of all the richest humans alive, the masculine sex almost always emerges in front. One reason is that fewer females are interested in let’s say engineering which is rationally true when we say that fewer males are interested in nursing. The choice is up to the individual and in a perfect society, everyone has the rights to choose where they want to go. However, let’s keep in mind that we are not. In many countries particularly the developing ones, there still lies many stereotypes and pressure by the media, close ones and society in general who determines what you can or cannot do based on your gender. As the next generation to inhabit this Earth, it is now our duty that we do not perpetuate this false belief.

I am a strong advocate for equal pay and opportunities. Why women are not having the same opportunities to be at the top of the corporate ladder? Actors and actresses are also apparently paid grossly differently. This is not an issue of Mars versus Venus but an issue of equity. One way we can tackle this problem is transparency. We no longer live in the age where men think, “I should be paid more because I am a man”. More often the case, male employees are not even sure if they are paid the same as their female counterparts due to the lack of transparency and issues like this if not addressed will continue to be shoved under the carpet. Again, talking on an economist’s perspective, equal pay must be meted on equal qualifications and skillset brought by the individual. For example, in a moving company, if a woman is only able to move small objects while her male workers would have to carry the rest of the heavy load, it is justifiable for the man to be paid more unless she brings in other skillsets that offsets her handicap. Likewise, if a man is incapable of carrying heavy load compared to a female worker, he should also be paid less. Salary should be a genderless issue.

Flip a coin. It's neither Heads nor Tails. Now comes the high point of my essay. There are men who are thrash. Let’s be honest here, there are many men out there who believes that they have the rights to treat women with disrespect. To use them. To cheat on them. To treat them as second-class. Just because they are of a different gender, they believe that they can use it as their strength to subjugate others. It is absurd. I am brought up to believe in honest chivalry and to always treat women with respect in any circumstance. The same way we should give full respect to our mothers and to our spouse and to our daughters. The truth these people do not understand is that one chromosome differentiates the two gender and they would have been the opposite gender if not for some divine or biological luck. Because of these ignorant and privileged few, often men are grouped together, creating mistrust between the two. On behalf of all men, I do apologise sincerely. Obviously, we are not doing enough to ensure that our reputation is not ruined. Give us the chance to show you that you are equal in every dimension and rights that you deserve and show these thrashes where they rightfully belong.