Times Of Swaziland: TIME TO DROP INFERIORITY COMPLEX

TIME TO DROP INFERIORITY COMPLEX
================================================================================
Editor on 05/08/2024 07:34:00


Sir,
The world has been on an impending war, with women in the forefront fighting
against men. They are fighting for equality. Women are saying they want to be
equal to men, this states the notion that women see themselves as inferior to
men. That they believe we are living in a society that places men on a higher
pedestal. How true is this? Should women even want to be equal to men? This has
been a subject of debate for the longest time, it is as old as the subject of
world war, where women were merely minimised to household work and rendered too
weak or too emotional for other jobs – unless it was to become a nurse.
Rights
The fight for equal rights for women is an acknowledgement that women think of
themselves as inferior to men, that by wanting these rights from men they become
the yardstick or measurement of the extent to which women can begin to view
themselves. This is an acknowledgement of wanting validation from men before
women can feel ‘equal’ or as ‘important’ as men. Therein lies the
problem, in believing ourselves to be inferior to men; and in wanting to be
equal to them, we cannot be dictated to our values and capabilities. We are not
in a society that brings about change in fighting. We are in a society that
accepts change in actions.
A society that needs us to see ourselves in our highest glory, doing everything
the old generation said we were not meant for, and then watch how society bends
the rules for us. You cannot fight for an esteem you are not. Be what you fight
for; see yourself in the winning line of that regard and see a change that would
begin to radiate. I do not understand why women want to be equal to men, I
believe this ongoing battle has dragged on for so long because women want to be
viewed the same way society views men. While at face value this may be endearing
and sought to be attained, this is simply because as a society we have implied
that differences mean one is inferior to or one is great than – and sometimes
it’s just different.
Unlearn
Now we must redefine and unlearn the old paradigm that projects differences as a
standard of rating importance. Things can be different and equally important –
because they do not possess the same qualities. It is because of this inferior
complexity that society has misplaced the difference of a woman from a man.
These differences simply exist to show the equal importance among men and women,
that a society without one cannot function without the other. They are there to
complement each other and not to minimise the functioning and capability of one
and limit it to one spectrum.
While women argue that men think we exist only for their desires and
satisfaction, this is because of the paradigms adopted from older generations,
where a woman’s feelings were not valued and her existence was limited by
society to their husbands and further endorsed by their husbands.It is
ridiculous for women to want to be equal to men, to want society to perceive
them as equal to men. It is minimising self to perceive yourself of a lower bar
when you are great before you even lift a finger to do anything. When your
existence, on its own, is the power of manifestation and creation.
Equality
Women are fighting for the wrong thing; we are fighting for equality when we
should be fighting for equity. We are fighting to be seen and treated as men in
all complexities; we are fighting to be less ‘women’ or ‘feminine’ as we
were created to be. In actuality we should be fighting for fairness, the
conformity of rules or standards to make way for us to be anything we see
ourselves aspiring to be, the same way men are given that opportunity - and that
is equity - the fight that we should be fighting.