ASKING A HORSE TO DERACINATE THE GRASS HE GRAZES UPON

INTRODUCTION

Ailments and bodily disorders can best be cured by striking at their roots which further requires knowledge of their origin. Similarly, there prevail numerous ailments in our state as well. As a matter of fact, the societal disorder which we shall discuss today isn’t exclusive to any state or a group of states, it is in fact prevalent in every society, modern or primitive, and in every state be it a developed, developing or a third world state. The disorder is universal in nature and the cure has yet not been found.

Women of our world have sadly been an ever subjugated and suppressed half. They lack in every sphere, are always ever considered a weaker section and looked upon as someone who is born to be ruled over. Not long ago, women too realized their appalling state and the need to better their conditions thus began the feminist movement which was aimed at ending all inequalities against women and which seeks a life for women which is equal to that of their male counter parts, equal in all respect.

Feminist movement’s preeminent achievement, in my opinion, has been the genesis of a worldwide awareness towards women issues and also the urgency to resolve these by all possible means. Since the movement has lost much of its steam and its goal of equalizing men and women seems far from being scored, it becomes important to revamp and to re-launch the movement else women would end up fighting an endless war for equality.

Female subjugation is the ailment that long needs being cured and like all other ailments, it can only be treated after we know of the origins of it. Knowledge of the origins of women subjugation can be of a great help in formulating the road map of uprooting the same.

ORIGIN

There are feminist claims that men and women, though not similar, are made equal by God. That is to say that though the proportions of distinct faculties may not be similar in men and women yet the net content of it remains equal and balanced between the two. The only reason why women, despite being equal to men, are lacking behind men today or the only reason why women need upliftment is because their male counterparts have long subjugated and disregarded them and more importantly curbed their development and growth.

Thus women must also be treated equal to men and are entitled to equal rights and privileges. Women in certain parts of the world even demand for extra or special privileges as a cost of the long historic male dominance and also to cover up for their long suppressed growth. In brief, it can be said that both ‘Men and women are equal, though not similar, and therefore they have an equal claim to all tangible and intangible resources, rights and privileges’. This shall be the first consideration in our pursuit to the origins of women inequality.

Politics, Philosophy and even political philosophy all are replete of males and male chauvinists ( a feminist view) who have not just considered women weak and unworthy but have even at times equated them to slaves. Plato a patron of politics, philosophy and political philosophy considers women unworthy of being rulers and leaders because according to him, they lack the leisure time required to be a successful ruler and a leader, they are rather supposed to produce children, feed them and tend to their needs. Thus women, since they bear children, are not available and are not deserving to lead a state or for that matter, to take up any major assignment or job. They are fit for menial house hold jobs and are best to be housekeepers.

Since I am not sure what feminist say, if they do, to say a touché, I would rather insist on how should the critique of women be refuted and not how it has been. Considering God had made both men and women equal, he would have also assigned equal and complimentary roles to both that is, if women were to bear children, it were men who were supposed to ensure their protection and their well being. Thus if a woman of a society is unavailable and unworthy of being a ruler or a leader (due to the assigned task of bearing children) so is the man (due to the assigned task of protecting his family).

Hence, the fact that men and women have been assigned equal and complimentary jobs is the second consideration in this pursuit of ours.

Let us now consider the case of first man and woman on this earth, the pure breed of human race, a case of equality, equality of capabilities and an equality of responsibility. That time can also be considered as the rare and the only instance when man and woman were equal. This was also the time when neither the man nor the woman had any intention or motive to subjugate the other. Thus this ailment of women subjugation was certainly not inborn but was imbibed.

From one man and one woman, soon the population would have started growing and soon there would have been a fair amount of men and women. These people too had no distinction or disregard for the opposite sex because both were equally capable and equally responsible. This blissful state of equality would have continued as long as the society or the group of people had no leader. But sooner or later this group would have felt the need of a leader. This leader would have been the world’s first leader.

With the need of a leader there would have been a means of selection. The basis of this need would have defined their means of selection of the leader, i.e. if the leader was to be chosen for protection, the selection would have been through combat and if for regulation of the state of affairs then the means would have been more democratic hinting towards a voting system. Since the group was composed of pure and equal men and women and since there was no enemy to need protection from, the leader must have been chosen for the purpose for regulation of state of affairs. The people would have voted and a leader would have been chosen.

The most important question which arises at this junction is, was the chosen leader a ‘Man’ or was it a ‘Woman’? Was the world’s first leader a ‘Man’ or was it a ‘Woman’? Though the answer is unknown and shall forever remain so thus it remains open to mere speculations. And the problem or the concern of women subjugation points towards the fact that the chosen leader was but a man. And the inequality between men and women began the day when a leader/superior was chosen, no matter what the purpose of choosing a leader would have been, the fact that one sex was chosen from the two, led to all the inequalities and was also one of the very first indicator of degradation and corruption of the human race. The modern day women subjugation can be attributed to the selection of a man as the world’s first leader because the day a man became a leader, he also became supreme and his sex the superior one. Though the issue would not have been as pressing as it presently is yet it led to the modern day concerns. Thus we can conclude that the world’s first leader was a man.

From the feminist point of view, what is important is not the fact that the first leader was a man but an analysis of world’s first election or selection whichever it was that led to the placement of a man and not a woman as a leader. For feminist, the implications of the outcome of the election/selection are more important than the outcome itself. The election/selection of a man would have been due to either of the following reasons:

1. The electors or selectors thought of having a protector (man) and not a mother (woman) as their leader.
2. Women failed to develop confidence in amongst the electors/selectors and were hence not chosen.
3. Women did not take interest in being a leader and it was probably mostly men who stood for the election/selection and one of them was chosen.

By analyzing the above stated reasons, four implications can be drawn

First, the women either by their act or omissions (majorly omission) led to the selection/election of a man and thereby women themselves are a reason of their annihilation.

Second, Women relied upon men or someone else, by not taking part in the election/selection; they themselves looked upon their counterpart for guidance and leadership and knowingly or unknowingly rated men as superior and their guides.

Third, the world has always needed and considered a strong person who could protect them, as their leader. Thus the fact that women are not physically strong (though equal) has been the reason of the subjugation and that strength does matter.

Fourth, the gods were partial while creating human beings and have blessed men with superior and exclusive qualities keeping the women on a back foot. And that a man is therefore superior.

RELIANCE 

One major problem which has always stalled the women upliftment process is the fact that women have always relied way too heavily on the male counterpart for their growth and their upliftment. Women in our country and even across the world rely on men to change and to alter their attributes to give air to their feminist movements. As a matter of fact, women in our country are relying on their male counter parts who rule the parliaments in order to get their reservation bill passed. This proves the fact that women have since the day of world’s first election been ommital and reliant.

A lesson which needs to be taught to the feminist advocates across the world is that of being independent and self reliant. Men are what they have always been, men have been dominating over the women ever since the first leader was chosen and centuries of degradation has only made men a lot more affectionate of their supremacy and men should therefore be the last ones to be asked to be asked for help or to be relied upon.

CONCLUSION

It is always difficult to row a boat against the tides yet it becomes crucial at times to do so. If world chooses a protector over a mother, women will have to prove that a mother can also be a protector. Our world is bursting with problems but none is as grove and as far reaching as that of women issues and women subjugation because this one issue concerns around half of the world population. The paper aims to find the origins of the issue and to suggest ways by examining the origin of the ailment. It can be concluded that women are themselves responsible for inequality amongst men and women which has ultimately taken the form of modern day subjugation of women. It can also be concluded that feminists have so far taken a wrong route to equality by relying on men to fight for their cause. It is like asking a horse to deracinate the grass which it grazes upon. The course is tough but it is highly important to be covered and that to in a quick time. For it is because of this women inequality that fetuses are being killed, it is because of this inequality that fathers in our country consider themselves doomed the day they father a girl and it is because of this inequality that and women being raped. Equality is not indicated by costly designer jewels and dresses nor does it comes by traveling in costly cars. Equality would be when this world stops discussing inequality.

- Umang, Student Political Science 3/09/2015

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