Women: Pride or Prejudice

Pride, the word describes the superiority, and we are habituated to put this adjective to men only. But have we thought, if this word would be addressed to women, then what turmoil might  happen? Surely, lots of male were dissatisfied and vehemently criticized the process as insane and still put the women at the bottom of the society as a prejudicial view. This politics of the word not only shows the aggressiveness towards, women but also reflect the male chauvinism.

Taking the reference from the female scholars, Simon De Bevoir, in Second Sex critically examines the contrast between men and women as:

I am sometimes vexed during abstract discussions to hear men say to me, “You think thus and such because you are a woman.” But I know that my only defense would be to respond, “I think it because it is true,” thereby eliminating my subjectivity. It would be out of the question to reply, “And you think the contrary because you are a man”; for it is understood that the fact of being a man is not a singularity. A man is in the right in being man: its woman who is in the wrong. (LDS 1:14, TM; TSS xxi)

         This opinion clarifies the gap between men and women which are right and wrong in the parameter of societal view respectively. This kind of view was germinated when the society was upbringing from it’s nascent to developed stage. But the recent trend in development by the donors through NGOs/INGOs has emerged as a panacea to uplift the status into developed form.

Taking the reference of SAARC countries, we can take glimpse of the female body the main role in government and other countries.

 Especially in Nepal, we can see the bigger picture of women in a positive way. Nepal has gone through the civil war for years and as a result from that, it has established as a republic nation and freedom of expression was a catchphrase for women. From this example, we can see that it takes time to dismantle the traditional view to come in a positive form.

As we are in the 21^st century we should take a leading role to educate the family, society and ultimately to the whole nation that we are equal human beings and there shouldn’t be any distinction between the sexes. Youth can be the catalyst to change this mentality and advocate the community by being a voluntary goodwill ambassador. Girls and boys should join the hand and lead the small project like empowering society in the issues of sex, gender and teach the positive view. Apart from the individual initiation, government should take a lead role to come up with the clear strategical view which benefits the gender concept.

If we want to really see the world as a gender balance, first and foremost we have to deconstruct the word prejudice and honor the women with the word pride. Real change comes when we join the hand and go together for the genuine cause.

By Suraj Sharma

Reference:

Beauvoir, Simon de. “The Second Sex.” Critical Theory since Plato. Ed.Hazard Adams. New York: Harcourt, 1992. 993-1000.