Should Men be made equal to women or Women be made equal to men or Both made equal to some thing in between?

Question

I know in the present times gender equality is not yet achieved in most of the societies. What should be our action plan to make this happen?

Franzia Kafka, What prevents you from empowering *the have nots* with "special unearned advantages"? An advantage is an advantage, special or otherwise and earned or otherwise. Why make people lose it?

If you have an advantage in a paricular thing compared to others, to make all equal it is possible to (1) take away that advantage from you or (2) others canwork hard and procure that advantage on their own and make them equal to you.

in the second case above (2), you stay put and you were not subjected to any change, though the end result actually caused a change in everybodys position (created equality)

Answer 1

Most of us look at "power" as something that a person "possess" or contains within him/herself. This "linear" model is poor and oversimplified; Michel Foucault has suggested a more complex and perhaps more useful one:

"We often talk about people as if they have particular attributes as 'things' inside themselves -- they have an identity, for example, and we believe that at the heart of a person there is a fixed and true identity or character (even if we're not sure that we know quite what that is, for a particular person). We assume that people have an inner essence -- qualities beneath the surface which determine who that person really 'is'. We also say that some people have (different levels of) power which means that they are more (or less) able to achieve what they want in their relationships with others, and society as a whole.

Foucault rejected this view. For Foucault, people do not have a 'real' identity within themselves; that's just a way of talking about the self -- a discourse. An 'identity' is communicated to others in your interactions with them, but this is not a fixed thing within a person. It is a shifting, temporary construction.

People do not 'have' power implicitly; rather, power is a technique or action which individuals can engage in. Power is not possessed; it is exercised. And where there is power, there is always also resistance" (http://www.theory.org.uk/ctr-fou1.htm ).

So I can't answer your question exactly and say this and this is what needs to happen in order for women to "gain" equality, but I can say that we need to begin thinking of power NOT as something one possesses and "gains" and "loses" over one's lifetime, but rather as something that *happens* (we exercise - not possess - power) in very specific instances involving multiple complex interacting factors, especially knowledge and language (discourse).

I rather like to consider privilege something extra that a person does not "need" for equality but that does, at the same time, oppress or disadvantage others. So rather than a privileged person feeling like s/he has "lost" something in "giving up" his/her privilege, s/he should understand that s/he has really only lost what no human being should have ever had in the first place, which is special unearned advantages.

Anyway, my final point is ... *everyone* has to change. The most important change we need is for people to be compassionate to and considerate of others and to help out - not screw over - their fellow men, not just be eternally selfish and greedy (as our culture encourages us to be).
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You are still looking at power as something that one *possesses* that can be "gained or lost." As I just explained, this is NOT how power works.

In addition, you think there's no difference between unearned and earned advantage? There's a *tremendous* difference. One you've gained legitimately through your own work and doing; the other you've gained "secretly" in a system that teaches you (and everyone) not to recognize such unearned advantage. You've also gotten your unearned advantage (unknowingly) at the *expense* of someone else (you may have gotten your earned advantage at the expense of someone else, but at least you *earned* it; it was not part of the society and culture you were born into). The United States was BUILT at the expense of blacks' unpaid slave labor. Why, when whites leaned on this labor to build their country and have already reaped the rewards of it, should blacks have to "work on their own" against racism while pretending racism doesn't exist to "earn" what should already, in a way, be theirs?

Not everyone can "be raised up" to obtain the same special privileges possessed by the privileged class. Many privileges are tiny, imperceptible things that one does not notice or think about on a daily basis. For example, it's something of a privilege that historically men were not expected to do any of the housework or actually help parent their own children, though it would make sense that a couple would split all such work in half - and also *both* take part in wage-earning work, something which women were limited from doing. If we "raise women up" to this privilege of not having to take care of the house and kids, then nobody takes care of the house and kids. Some things are more difficult to rectify than, for example, simply allowing women to attend school now and study traditionally male subjects when they couldn't before ("raising" women up to men's status). And why must one group be "raised up" to the other's status, as though that top group somehow naturally earned its unearned privilege? It is NOT naturally possessed privilege. EVERYONE has to sacrifice in certain ways.

Answer 2

The idea of equality isn't that everyone should be the same, it's that every person should have the same opportunities.

Let's be real here. Some people are good looking, some aren't, some people are smart, some aren't. Some people are good at math, some at languages, some a mechanics, some at theoretical thinking. Without that diversity and the opportunities to allow everyone to excel at what they like and what they are good at, we would be a very bland and backward society.

Answer 3

Your question assumes some group is NOT equal.
In the U.S.A. all are equal under the law, but not all are the SAME. THAT is a fact of life.
If you think one is SUPERIOR to the other, I would like to know your opinion as to which it is.
Both men and women serve different purposes in procreation, strength, character, and skills. Neither can replace the other. Both are valuable and essential.
The only difference measure that can be made is when you speak of a specific activity.
A man will be better at hunting a beast or digging a ditch.
A woman will be better at nursing a child.
Both are needed and both benefit society and humanity.
Modern society and technology blurs those differences, but they remain a fact of life. When it comes to VALUE and EQUALITY, they can only be discussed in context. Your question does NOT give context.

Answer 4

There is not a country on earth that has achieved equality. We strive for it, make mistakes on the way, have to fight for it, but it is worth it. Equality is not like being a man. That was the reply of many chauvinists in the 70s. Equality is about having the same rights and opportunities. In the world today, women have less education, lower literacy levels, fewer economic opportunities, earlier marriages, own less land (although they have high rates of producing food), specific health problems (maternal mortality...), and insecurity (violence waged against women at home or in the community). Worldwide, we need to raise the status of women. It is proven that when women's status is raised, her children are healthier and there is less domestic violence and more respect for her. Everyone wins.

Answer 5

"Made equal" by whom? Your question sounds to me as if it presumes the existence of a coercive society, which, I freely admit, would be anathema to me. I cherish liberty.

The last remnant of a free society is the space between what is permitted and what is required. When that space is large, people have a great deal of freedom of action.

When it is finally squeezed to nothingness, all that's left is the motto of the totalitarian state: "All things that are not required are forbidden." At that point there are no longer any situations where nothing is required of us and nothing is forbidden to us, and we are free to choose our actions. At that point uncoerced action is no longer available to us.

Answer 6

How come people do not understand that equal does not mean the same?
Men and Women are NOT the same and cannot ever be truely and completely equal.

Not to mention that your question assumes that women are inferior to men and that we have to get up a peg to get to their rank. -And you call yourself a feminist. Empower yourself, don't ask others to empower you.

Answer 7

I like the something inbetween bit- by the way whose the one making everyone equal to the thing inbetween

Answer 8

Why should men lower themselves to be equal with women?. Women should work harder to become equal with men.


Heehee.

Answer 9

Even most women happen to be socially beneath me, I don't even deserve the right to vote.

Answer 10

The societies that don't have gender equality can't afford to have it. It is quite expensive.