Men and the Wind of Change

The history of homo sapiens is the story of men. Female members of this race still don't get enough chances to contribute to the society. They witness men's domination over their emotions as sisters, mothers, daughters and wives. But things are changing. Political and religious leaders now acknowledge the importance of women's participation in a nation's economics. The governments are creating woman quota in various sectors. Many organizations are promoting woman participation and creating special events for them. These steps are wonderful and they are inspiring women to get out of the cages they had been forced to live. These actions have boosted up our economics. But do they really heal the sick relationship men and women have?

I remember, 4 years ago, Bangladesh Mathematics Olympiad Committee announced that they would take boys' and girls' competition separately to create a team with equal numbers of boys and girls. The team would represent Bangladesh in the International Mathematics Olympiad. I, along with my classmates booed when we heard the news (all of my classmates are males since I read in a boys' school). After all we were and still are living in a patriarchal society. Even though we kept the booing to ourselves, the incident later opened my eyes.
Let's simpler the situation by imagining a society where the scale of honor is physical height. Naturally, most men are taller than women. So, they thought themselves to be superior to the females. The leaders in this society got worried seeing this, and then they came up with a solution; they invented a scale by which a 7 feet tall man's height is equivalent to the height of a woman of 5 and a half feet. The men got furious and anger paved the way for hatred, toward women. And the women took it as an insult. This is what happening to our society. Men are angry because women are strengthening their position in this world. They are angry because they are afraid to change, to turn down their precious dominion. Even though women are becoming self-empowered globally, the men-women relationship hasn't improved.

The problem lies in the approach. It looks very good and promising in its appearance. But it's creating an emotional barrier. A barrier that doesn't allow men and women to create a loving bond. We are creating an environment to change women by quotas and awards. But it is the men who should change to improve women's situation both socially and emotionally, in other word, wholly. Instead of creating a new scale in our imaginary situation, we could just make a one and a half feet tall platform. Women will stand on the platform, and will finally become equal to men in height. But the platform must be made by men. This "man" made platform is the symbol of co-operation. It is the recognition of woman as a distinct intellectual being capable of doing what man do. In other words, this platform symbolizes the change of men's traditional patriarchal mindset.

Militant feminists say the world will be better without men. They say this because they are angry and they have got good reasons to be angry. But they must understand neither men nor women can live in this world alone. Our diversities encourage us to change and to move forward. Men and women have distinct characteristics and biological properties. We can't possibly expect them to change into a single being. The fusion of men and women is impossible and the attempt will worsen the situation. Instead, they must co-exist by co-operating each other. The proposal for such a federation-styled scheme have to come from the men. Because the women are the victims of our domination; they are the deprived half of our race. So, if anyone should change, or at least, has the power to change, it's us!