As a woman, I am in favor of advocating the importance of women in the society, not because I myself am a woman but because I think she must be given the proper recognition for what she has claimed for herself. Countless women have succeeded in different fields of knowledge, contributing the most part in the society; some of which were persecuted, exploited and tortured. Yet despite of their achievements and failures, their names were forgotten, unwritten in history. Hence, I agree with Miles that she must be entitled to write history through her own perspective, not because I think she is superior or for the sole purpose of avenging her; but rather, history must be made accurate and complete because that is how we can clearly see what the future will be. And perhaps, there is nothing wrong with writing one’s own story, because that is how he sees certain things.
Miles proved an interesting fact: women were freer in earlier times than in our own. It seems ironic though since the more society advances, the freer women become but as Miles stresses, prehistoric women are more privileged. Women used to hunt and ran, roamed where they would and freely make love with the partner of their choice. Basically, they did what men did before. In contrary, male domination has later been evident in every aspect of our lives. Women are supposed to do feminine roles like taking care of the baby and cleaning the house. In other words, the more evolved our society is, the more restrictions women face, the greater the scope of man’s domination. In my opinion, I think that it is quite true, seeing some women still suffering from discrimination in many parts of the world like China and India. Arranged marriages, abortion, sex slavery and other ways of suppressing the freedom of a woman are still practiced today.
Also, I agree with Miles when she said that women are not inferior and never were; but I also think that they are not superior either and should not be. When God formed human beings, He did not create Eve under the soles of Adam’s foot or above his head but Eve was created from Adam’s ribs. She was taken out of his side. Hence, she is flesh of his flesh and bone of his bone. In fact, biologically speaking, man has six ribs on the left and seven ribs on the right. Hence, woman was ought to be the man’s helpmeet, not a helper or boss, but simply man’s equal, a complement and not an opposite. If men are not the measure of full humanity, neither are women standing alone. Only with the understanding that men and women can unite against all that drags us down will we make a stand for our common health and happiness. We, women, are here to take our full place alongside men and bear with them the weight of life in the world.
Although I am in favor of uplifting woman and treating her in a special way, I must disagree that she is to be worshipped. In my opinion, God has both the heart of man and woman. He is not entirely woman. He is both nurturing and strong at the same time because that is how He treats men and women alike. He doesn’t show any favoritism; that is how I see it, at least on my observations on people. However, I agree that the woman is special because she is the one who could nurture and bring forth life but she is not an immortal. She is not overly divine to kill men and abuse them whenever they like because she is still human, made of flesh and blood. They should not manipulate men just because they possess characteristics men don’t have. I don’t find it reasonable. I think that women like Miles are able to claim that our sex should be more valued and superior because they themselves have been hurt just because they are females. All I am saying is that to genuinely achieve peace and justice, then it would not be appropriate for woman to overpower men. In the same way, they are not supposed to be inferior too. They are to engage in the corporate, political and religious realm, succeeding at all fields without stepping on the other sex’s foot. In fact, I admire female political leaders, who have brought stability in their countries, for instance, our own Cory Aquino who brought democracy back to our land. There are some whom I haven’t even known made a difference in their own peoples – queens who fought for justice and against corruption. However, these are just some of the few women who succeeded in leadership. Generally, I think men are still more capable of effectively leading because it is part of their instincts. Based on the different men I’ve observed, they are more instructional. When conversing with them, they just want to get straight to the point and tell you what to do. On the other, girls would want to talk for a certain topic for several hours and are more emotional. Other than that, men are built with abstract minds. Although there are women that think more in a complex way, generally they are more concrete. There are several other facts that would prove that men are more capable of leading, and I myself, a woman, would adhere to that. However, that does not mean that they are more superior. All I am saying is that I do not see the point of claiming superiority over another sex. It’s too subjective for one to say that.
I’m not saying that I am pro-men and anti-feminism. I am pro-equality which is why I absolutely do not agree with the notion of man over woman or woman over man. Miles, on the other, stated that the notion of God brought about the historic defeat of women. It was because of the concept of “one God” that man ruled over women. I think that is not true because He made man and woman uniquely. Just because God created Adam first, it does not mean God played favoritism. In fact, He created Eve last because she was the most beautiful. (I think I do believe in the saying, save the best for the last) She was the crown of creation. And when she ate the fruit from the tree, she was not pushed. She fell; both Adam and Eve did. Adam was supposed to oversee every creation, so he was also responsible. Because of sin, beliefs and mindsets were twisted. Hence, religions became patriarchal, men abused women and women wanted revenge. Yet I believe that they were created to become one, meaning equal.
Although I am not a feminist, I feel enraged when I hear stories about women who were tortured, forced to marry, sexually abused at an early age, beaten by husbands and so on and so forth. In some circumstances however, I think that it is also our fault why we women are oppressed. This is because many of us still do not realize our worth, our purpose, our importance as women. We are to bring life, unveil our beauty and inspire respect from men. Instead, women especially today dress like whores, involve greatly in prostitution and pose in magazines for the urges of the other sex. How can men revere us? How will they learn how to respect us? However, I think that does not sum up the question to why women are despised. There could be a lot of opinions from different people but we just could not ignore the fact how terrible women were treated. From the child brides in Pakistan to the sexually abused females in Africa, I believe that it is about time that people come to realize the woman’s worth. She is to be free, respected, privileged and loved.
Learning about these women is vital to the necessary process of restoring women to their place in the world, for our own times and those to come. For we need this more and more as we make our way through a new millennium in the determination to achieve what we want. Feasting on these marvelous stories of what women have done for the last five thousand years will inspire us to build a new and better world. Most of all, they will remind us all how wonderful women are and how special she is.
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