International Women’s Day: Gender Equity for a Sustainable Development
By Jauhar S. Salihu
To begin with quotation from King’er (1995:137) captures the need for men’s involvement in the women liberation struggles for in the following passage thus:
“Men are complementary to women and, they too, are part of humanity in its entirety. Neither part of mankind can claim freedom while the other suffers nor escape its obligatory commitment to liberate itself as well as the other half. Men, therefore, cannot just afford to be simply sympathetic to the cause of women’s struggle. They must be critical, pragmatic and resolute in their concern to contribute to the struggle, since, for one reason or the other, they may be the only ones who hinder or help the success of the struggle. Men must release the liberation of women will mean the liberation of humankind.”
The need for men’s involvement in the struggles for women inclusiveness could be found on two grounds which are moral and economic. Worldwide experience shows clearly that supporting a stronger role for women contributes to economic growth, it improves child survival and overall family health, and it reduces fertility, thus helping to slow population growth rates. In short, investing in women is central to sustainable development.
Moreover, every man has a mother and every mother is a female gender. Most men have sisters, that later grow into womanhood, aunts etc. Should man therefore act as the stumbling block to prevent either his mother, sister, aunt from developing their full potentialities simply because of their own type of gender? The answer from any morally sound mind will be NO! What then do men engage in discriminatory practices against women? Is it inevitable and unchangeable?
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The answer could be that man as turned himself into a selfish beast; and that gender fairness is not unchangeable, it could be changed if man outgrows being a beast. Thus, on moral grounds there is need to stop rating women as second class citizens resulting in discriminatory practices against them mostly by our so called cultural practices.
Women in civilized societies are offered a relatively equal opportunity with male children, so that their potentialities can equally be cultivated along with men. There we always see ladies with dreams to pursue a career in any academic discipline, we see them quantitatively becoming prominent lawyers, Doctors, Security personnel, Surgeons, Pilots, Engineers, Teachers, Veteran journalists etc.
Women are as intelligent as men; there is no study ever that portrays women as less intelligent to men. NOTE: We are talking of intelligence NOT muscular strength. But unfortunate for my sisters born into culturally siege families that can’t even socially adjust to the progressive worldviews that move forward our contemporary society. In addition to that, women play a very vital role in human progress and have a significant place in the society. They are not at all inferior to men. They are capable of sharing all the responsibilities of life. The main responsibility of a woman is to preserve the human race.
Finally, women are a great resource to family and national development if given the opportunity to express their full potentialities in contributing their own quota this world would be a develop place. As we unwind towards International Day for Women with the theme “Break the Bias” I advocate for creating an equitable, diverse and inclusive environment that will enable young women to be champions of progress in all ramifications with their growth unfettered by gender constraints. Let support their courage, passion and encourage them to achieve more. #IWD2022 #BreakTheBias
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