WHY THE APPROACH OF
FEMINISTS WON’T WORK
A couple of weeks ago I read a blog post entitled, “WHY AM I FEMINIST?” (http:// www.kevejoane.wordpress.com) by KeveJoane, a Ugandan feminist (judging
from her bitter anger manifested in that post). That post is the reason why am
posting this today, not in reply to that but with intentions of bring a new
perspective to the major issues that we seem to approach ‘wrongly’.
Feminism in the most lay man’s language or the commonly known definition
is the revolt by women against the level to which society has placed men, it advocates
for the creation of an equal footing for both women and men. In other words,
it’s a war against patriarchy.
Equality is the fact of being equal or being the same. In the context of
women and men, it is the treatment of both women and men as equals. Now! From
this very definition of equality, I would like to raise a few questions for any
feminist out there, one and most importantly is the question of whether the
treatment of both women and men as the maxim of equality advocates reflects the
fairness that every a human deserves and owes to other.
Women and men are naturally not equal and will never be, quote me right
on this, when I say that women and men are not equal, I mean judging from their
physical and social being. Physically, men are more powerful and because of
that, there are things they can do that women can’t do. There are situation
that would call for different reactions emotionally, the level of endurance of
women and men will never be the same, there are things that women can’t endure
that men can and vice versa. Socially, women and men are placed in positions of
complements to each other and the existence of women is quite vital just as that
of men to the society.
Note here that society doesn’t dictate what a man or woman should do or
what they shouldn’t, circumstances do and we just have to respect that. A
scenario is how the African society differentiated men from women. That by then
when people survived on hunting and farming, a woman would perform better when
she is at home looking after kids and preparing meals than when out in the
field, farming or herding. This was simply the promotion of the maxim of
division of labor and promotion of equity.
Today’s feminists argue for equality which would in actual sense put
women at a disadvantaged position. Take this few examples;
If an employer who wants to get
their energy and time demanding job done pretty quickly is forced to choose
between the ‘equal’ woman and man, chances are high that they will choose the
man, why choose a man is a food for thought! But if the same employer decides
to use the maxim of equity, they will divide the job into the ‘soft effort
demanding’ and the ‘hard efforts demanding’ and look for both men and women to
do the job. By this I mean, let a woman do what she physically can and a man do
what he physically can, that way they would have employed both men and women
and as well gotten their job done pretty well and quickly since both employees
are at their best.
Second example if an expecting women is denied paid leave just like her
male counterpart who because he does not have any genuine excuse for a leave is
not granted one, will it be fair? This is what equality means. That both of you
are my employees, I give you leave on equal terms.
Some feminist claim that, through feminism, they are fighting
patriarchy, but look here! Feminism from the above definition does not seem to
fight against patriarchy. It simply wants to remove the advantaged position
into which society placed women.
Patriarchy is a social system is which men are dominant. It’s where men
dominate decision make, policy directions and the determination of societal
norms. Now! On this I ask, “who holds the remote that controls patriarchy?”
it’s certainly not men and therefore not women. This is why I believe the
approach of feminism as a means to fight patriarchy won’t work. Until we can
tell who commands patriarchy, we can’t adequately fight it off our society.
My simple advice to feminists would be to channel all the resources that
they are using to fight for equality towards promoting equity and empowering themselves
(women). Women can achieve the position they desire by appreciating themselves
the way they are and working to be the best of their capacity.
Patriarchy came as a result of how society viewed women and men which
resulted from their physical being and abilities, not their intrinsic values.
This is why equity is the best option to elevate the status of women. This is
because equity advocates for fair and just treatment of both men and women in
their different and respected capacities. This can only be achieved if the
differences between both are identified, appreciated and respected.
Women can favorably compete with men if that is what feminists want but
this is only possible when the maxim of equity is promoted and not equality as
they are trying to assert. Equal
treatment of women and men will only endanger women emancipation and deny the
huge potential in the physically weak women but intrinsically or mentally
strong whose ability to compete is constrained by the conditions to which she
is subjected, which conditions demand physical strength which she doesn’t have
and it’s never her fault that she doesn’t.
To conclude it all, there nobody who holds the remote to patriarchy. Through
circumstances, society created it and through circumstances, society will
outgrow it. We simply need to create those circumstances that will enable us
outgrow patriarchy.
Feminism is just but a scum invented my some men whose identity may not
be physically known to keep women from the main thing, which is to get
empowered in their ‘weak’ states and compete not physically but intrinsically.
The writer can be reached via;
Facebook: GARANG LESTER
Tweeter: @Garang_Lester
Whatsapp: +256771301377
Page: THE OPEN MINDS INITIATIVE
