Fight for gender equality!
“We cannot succeed when half of us are held back.”
-Malala Yousafzai
Hi there, folks!
If you live in a developed country like we do, then you probably think women have equal rights as men. At least that is what we believed for many years. That was up until a few weeks back, when we were shocked to realize that there are many companies in our country where men are paid more than women for the exact same job.
After that, we looked into it a bit more and found out that this goes for many developed countries. We simply couldn’t believe it. We were born in late 80’s and grew up in a belief that a full gender equality has already been established in developed countries. And we must say, we find it extremely sad and disturbing that this is not the case.
“Feminism is equality: politically, culturally, socially, and economically. That’s it, that simple.”
-Emma Watson
As long as gender equality is not fully exercised, women simply aren’t treated fairly. That’s a fact. A very sad fact indeed.
We are aware that there are many countries, such as Iraq, Pakistan, Somalia, and many others, where women have very little to no rights. And it might seem a bit silly to make such a big deal over the economic gender inequality when looking at this countries. But at the same time, it seems hypocritical of us to try and teach them to treat women the same as men while we are not fully exercising gender equality ourselves.
“If it is true that men are better than women because they are stronger, why aren’t our sumo wrestlers in the government?”
-Kishida Toshiko
What can you do to support gender equality?
The first step is to learn about the gender equality in your country. You might be shocked too over what you might find. Then, do the best you can to help achieve total gender equality.
Below you can find some simple suggestions or guidelines on how to support and practice gender equality.
Ways to support gender equality
- In case you have children, make sure you are an equal parent. Dividing childcare responsibilities with your partner is super important. Also, make sure you both spend an equal amount of play time with your children.
- Do not limit your children to playing only with gender-specific toys. Let your children pick up their toys.
- Share the workload at home. Of course, there are some chores that might be more of a physical nature and might be more easily done by a man, however, most of the chores at home can be done by both genders. Make sure to divide them equally.
- Use social media to spread the word on gender equality. Social media are a very powerful tool available to each and every one of us. Why not use it to spread the awareness by promoting and sharing the cause.
- Break away from gender stereotypes. Gender stereotypes are a huge obstacle to gender equality.
- Help fight harassment. If you encounter any type of sexual harassment, make sure to raise your voice against it.
- Participate in creating an open-minded work atmosphere. Point out issues like harassment and gender bias.
- Talk about income inequality. Raise your voice against this injustice and support equal pay for equal work, or at least spread the word among your coworkers. Together you might be able to do something about it.
- Make sure you vote for those who support gender equality. Lawmakers have the power to make things better but they can also make them worse. Keep that in mind.
Do your part. We should all work for that goal, the goal of gender equality all around the globe.
Men, we must do all that is in our power to show women how much we respect them and how important they are. And this can not be done without achieving a complete gender equality. If anything, “women” are more than “men”, just a “WO” more. 😉
“All men should be feminists. If men cared about women’s rights, the world would be a better place.”
-John Legend
Take-home points:
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There are still gender inequalities present in many developed countries.
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Men get paid more for the same job, practically all around the world.
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Support gender equality as much as you can.
Have a nice week. Treat each other with respect and kindness.
Love,
Good Earthlings