Battle Of The Sexes

My college had a unusual position in its Student Council. Ladies Representative. I grew up in Dubai - a Muslim city, however just as cosmopolitan and contemporary as New York. So to come across this title was unexpected. Even for India, as conservative as it is deemed to be.

My first thoughts? Which century do these people think we live in? We don’t face any inequalities anymore! Women are given equal opportunities and are equally capable at occupying positions of power.

This was my firm belief. I believed that when I walked into a room, no member of the male population looked down upon me, believing me to be inferior or incapable of competing at his level.

So why have such a position? It was simple - have a president and a vice president. If it is occupied by two males, great. And if it is occupied by two females, equally fantastic. I would not feel any less represented if male members of my class occupied these positions.

I later discovered that this position was created owing to a dearth of female leadership, forcing a woman to be involved in college politics. But I made a much more significant discovery as time passed.

A male leader was respected more than a female leader was.

Apparently being in possession of male genitalia was elemental in efficacious decision making.
Cynicism aside, there is some truth to the statement. I’ve observed that to get an office attendant to move, it needs to be a guy giving instructions. To be taken seriously by a faculty member, you need to be a guy. To convince a faculty member to change things, you need to be a guy. To be considered as a force to reckon with, you need to be a guy.

And I felt ashamed to reach a point where I had to admit to myself that this in fact is the environment I live in.

It boiled down to the relationship that was formed with each of these people. With female faculty, the male leader is adorable and flirtatious, hence influential. With office attendants, he is their buddy, hence influential. With the male population he is ‘the man’, hence influential. With the female population, he’s a guy, hence influential.

Consider a female in all these situations. The predominantly female faculty would not heed to special requests as the woman is neither adorable, flirtatious (thank God) or the embodiment of strength. With office attendants, she is unable to attain the ‘pal’ status. With the female population of the student body, she’s a bitch. And with the male population, a woman in power.
Okay, so I’m being petty. But think about it again. Am I really?

Let’s zoom out of the tiny sphere that is my world, and onto the global platform. A current issue - the future President of the United States of America. Hiliary Clinton is running for the position of the first female president of the USA as well as the most powerful woman in the world. Now that, is scary!

To demonstrate my point, note the number of articles that question Hiliary’s ability to occupy such a position. Let me reiterate. Articles exists that question her ability to occupy the position to begin with! Did anybody ever write an article questioning whether George W. Bush, being a man, was capable of running the country?

Example no.2: Segolene Royal. Sure, she lost out to Sarkozy. But during the race for presidency, the greatest cause for worry was Royal’s ability to run the country. Was she too soft? Was she capable of making a difference, pushing reform? Did she have the strength to push reform?

A fact that is noteworthy: Men are usually physically stronger than women.

This somehow, has mutated into the belief that men are stronger in character as well. And the translation is incredibly fallacious. Being able to lead a country into war has become tantamount to strong leadership.

Sigh.

It exists. In my world and in the international scenario, it exists in a significant way. It dictates presidential elections, the business world and perhaps even social circles and family life.

Maybe there’s no way to change it. Or maybe it will sort itself out eventually as women slowly gain footing in this Man’s World through education and increasing job opportunities. But change is sluggish. It is happening, but at snail’s pace.

Do not lose faith, however. It is happening. And you know it’s happening when out of three hundred students, the top ten scores in an examination were obtained by only the female population.

And they thought we didn’t have the ability to study.