For
every culture, country, civilization human being have realized that the Man and
Woman are different. They are different physically, psychologically thus
leading to different responses to their externalities, often complimentary. It
is the way they are born, way they are destined to live their life on earth. It
is also a realization that both Men and Women are necessary and sufficient for
the continuation and existence of humans as a species. Culture to culture this
difference have been celebrated in multiple ways, in terms of dress code,
societal conventions and so on. Problem comes when some societies in their
primitive understanding of life sometimes forget that Men and Women are also
similar in many ways. In every male, there is an element of female and vice
versa. Human brains are a mosaic of male and female structures. There is no one
person that has all the male characteristics and another person that has all
the female characteristics, or if they exist they are really, really rare to
find.
"Gender
is not an attribute of individuals but a social relationship, historically
varying, and encompassing elements of labor, power, emotion and language; it
crosses individual subjectivities, institutions, culture and language" : I
disagree. My understanding is that maleness is the principle of pure
consciousness while female is the principle of matter. It is the female as a
substrate accepts the male. Yes, Vedic thought. Biological differences between
males and females can relate to behavioral dissimilarities (such as in physical aggression and
aspects of reproduction), but the majority of our biological characteristics
(like our brains) reveal that males and females are much more similar than they
are different. So, how should society and religion handle this aspect of
dualism and similarity. Jobs should be allocated (or chosen) by each for their
natural ability until at a point, the job itself evolves into a state where
both male and female can participate equally. When that state is reached, then
both (male and female) should have equal opportunity to participate, it is only
this way that the society can maximize its ability to survive and thrive.
Religion should accentuate this. The change in the nature of the job is
primarily brought in by Technology: a case to the point is that of the work of
a soldier. A soldier is somebody who at a point of time, needed , a
considerable amount of physical strength, and that is why in early days there
were no female soldiers . In modern times, because of technology (battles are
fought today with automatic weapon vs swords like a couple of hundred years
ago) to become a soldiers one does not need lot of physical strength, bur more
endurance. Thus, we see a lot of female soldiers.
As sex differentiated
comparative advantage in tasks is dissolved, we enter should enter into a world
where we perform the work that is best suited to our abilities and where an
individual in a position of authority receives the same respect, regardless of
gender.
Then why keep (or rather celebrate) dualism of male and female
alive. If not for anything else than just to avoid wearing unisex clothing.
Diverse perspectives, almost always can inspire creativity and drive
innovation. In the case of male- female, this existence of diversity is
not case of controlled expansion of entropy, rather complimentary and necessary
for human existence. For every event happening in life, I would rather
have multiple (at the least two) interpretations as opposed to one, as this
will make life interesting, more avenues to the ultimate truth (which is the
true purpose for all life) will open up. It will bring in an essence that
is in balance and unification of masculine and feminine principles – a dynamic
interdependence that pervades all life. The march of technology is changing the
very nature of our existence and dissolving differences under the purity of
reason and rational thinking. However there will always be the universal
principle that is unchanging, uncaused but is present everywhere and because of
that there will also be the purpose as to why change happens, transforms
and transcends all of the time. This is why there is “cause and effect”, the
basis of rationality. It derives from the very existence of male and female,
whether we celebrate the difference or not, it will exist in spite of it,
otherwise we as human species do not survive.
Let's embrace this
difference, allow reason to exist and make life diverse and interesting.
