Women should be restricted to work connected with the home and children. They should not engage in politics, commerce or industries. Do you agree?
The given statement might have been correct long ago, perhaps till the end of the last century. In so far as the family was the unit and the bringing forth and rearing of children rested on the women’s shoulder, her place was always relegated to the home. She played many roles, none of them demanding. She was the housewife, mother, manager of the household and the first educator of children. Her minor role as a knitting woman or a washer-woman was recognized but not mentioned.
Those days are gone, and nobody who is educated and civilized looks upon woman as a doll to be kept at home at the will and pleasure of men folk. Of course there are exceptions in certain societies where the in-laws play a dominating role. With the education of women and the change in economic status, women are enjoying a lot of freedom. There are many up and coming women in the world in recent times. Women are in politics today and some have gone to become prime ministers.
There has been strong resentment among the women, about the way they have been treated. There is the women’s liberation movement called Lib Women. One of their major platforms is equality of status, equal pay for equal work, and the security.
Some old societies still treat women as chattels who could easily disposed of. In very primitive societies even today women are treated as a commodity which could be bought and sold, and even loans are raised on the security of women. These are far and few between. At the other end of the scale some women want complete freedom to live as they please. They want to have freedom of sex and do not want to be bound by wedlock. This is only extreme view and not so common even among those who vociferously cry for women’s freedom.
Women have all ling been treated as a weaker sex. The connotation changes from person to person. Physically of course they are not hardy as men but that does not mean they do not have a strong heart. In fact, they are stronger than men in certain aspects in that they are able to stand physical hardships. In their make up they are equipped for certain nature’s ordeals which men are not subjected to. Whether they like it or not, generally women have more to do with children especially in their infancy and early childhood. This makes women distinctly different from men; their being soft and kind need not be taken for their weakness. If they appear weak sometimes, it is to maintain the dignity of family life, so that children do not become a bad copy of their mother. Motherhood is so sacred that trying to tamper with it in the name of the lib movement would make society wild and disorganized.
Women’s finger of accusation in the matter of employment and security is correct. There are jobs and jobs, but only a few of them are really suited for women. Take for instance, mining, lumbering and fishing. These are definitely men’s areas. But when women can be employed, let them have their chance. Where they are employed, they have definitely proved better than men.
What makes women appear in bondage is the tradition and culture. Man is the only animal who has got the institution of marriage. Marriage is not for simply the propagation of life but its main aim is the preservation of stock, safety of children and their upbringing. Marriage is not a contract which can be dissolved at one’s whim and fancy. Unless it is looked upon as a bond of love for life, children will suffer first and society ultimately. Some of the Western societies are paying the price heavily for their free notions of marriage.
Men themselves are not so free. Wherever they work they find opposition, injustice and exploitation. The mental strain which they hear is heavy, which women at home are spared from.
Under the present laws of the world, no nation bars employment to women in the name of sex. Nowadays we find women in many walks of life which were once the preserve of men.
