So I read the piece written by Soba Mac Pepple, I find it really thoughtful and passionate but I have an opinion to share on my perception of ''Gender Equality''...Lets start this piece with a bit of definition on terms.
Gender equality as a concept, is the view that both men and women should receive equal treatment and not be discriminated against based on their gender. This is the objective of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which seeks to create equality in law and in social situations, such as in democratic activities and securing equal pay for equal work.
Feminism on the other hand, is a range of political movements, ideologies and social movements that share a common goal: to define, establish, and achieve equal political, economic, personal, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. Feminists typically advocate or support the rights and equality of women.
Modern Feminists over time have not necessarily balanced their opinions with the pursuit of gender equality, the feminist ideology is based on what I call ‘’Take the man’s pants’’ i.e. take away his masculinity, become a man, make yourself feel like a man. This rhetoric I equate to biased and fickle. The quest for gender equality is not about women being men but rather having access to opportunities that hitherto a man would have without restrictions, but feminism as an ideology makes the female folk believe there is a need for her to be a man, act like a man. As a world citizen I am for justice for all sexes but not on the ideology of feminism, with this I know feminists would refer to me with various labels they always do when a different opinion is presented.
Now here is one shocker, i consider feminism as structurally racist! Why? Well for one thing, its biased ideals. There’s actually a legacy of racism with feminism as within our culture generally, but I don’t think that legacy is worth dismissing the entire framework over but maybe it’s time ‘Intersectionalism’ as a relatively new area of study would seek to identify and address these biases. And then we can make progress with our conversation on gender equality, which is by definition of the concept is not restricted to the female gender alone.
This may not seem important to those who would define feminism as a pursuit of gender equality, but what it necessarily implies is that the pursuit of gender equality is defined by only female concerns of equality. It implies that women uniquely suffer from the inequalities of traditional “patriarchal” culture. In its infancy, this made perfect sense, since women were denied very basic freedoms and representations that affected their well-being in very obvious ways. And they still have very legitimate complaints, but with the advent of the application of feminist principles to our culture, inequalities that men have suffered under traditional society have emerged.
Here is another problem with feminism, as a man I am usually vocally behind women liberal issues, but now I feel attacked, as a man. I think that captures something that’s still going on in our gender equity cultural transformation, only initially it was a subconscious phenomenon. Only recently is this frustration being defined, legitimized, and put into theory by people concerned with men’s issues. So for many decades, it’s been a long transition, during which many men, along with society in general, have capitulated to the clearly equal-minded aims of feminism, in an earnest desire for equality. During this time, however, they’ve endured a position of moral inferiority as the so-called “privileged” gender–men are bad for being unfair to women, and they are wrong for not just changing the status quo, since they hold all the power. And while they don’t individually have that power, and they have their own unspoken and unrealized issues of inequality, and while most women continue to rely on the “niceties” of traditional society even while they demand justice for themselves, they have understandably become frustrated with “feminism,” reacting in many ways against the pursuit of gender equality.
The thing gender equality is as good a goal for men as it is for women. Because it doesn’t just involve women making as much money as men or women being free from unequal pressure to look attractive, etc. It also means men can be released from so much toxic competition with each other. It means they can be free to express emotions and have close and healthy relationships. It means they can be released from the burden of being sole provider for their family. It means they can be respected for nurturing as fathers as much as mothers are. It means they can be free to become fully realized human beings with no apologies. But unless the pursuit of gender equality clearly includes the needs and concerns of men with equal earnestness, it can’t succeed. It absolutely NEEDS a gender-neutral title, like egalitarianism, or humanism, or whatever, but one that states outright the inclusion of men for the cause of equality.
Big Daddy Juix, as he is mostly referred to on his various Radio/TV shows, is a creative writer a Broadcast Journalist, Master of Ceremony and an award winning Media Personality. When he is not writing, creating electronic media content or being an event host! He makes time for his hidden passion; performing with the fictional Rock/Afropop and R&B Band ‘’Left overs’’... ‘’Welcome to my world’’
Twitter: @BigDaddy_online
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