EQUALITY SHOULD GO BEYOND MATERIAL POSSESSIONS

               I am a great fun and supporter of equality and empowerment of women. I love this and will always support any move to realize it. But it should be understood that women empowerment doesn't mean 'fighting' men or thinking in a manner to mean that you are in 'conflict' with the dividing lines that define and separate men and women. To do this,I think, is symptomatic of intellectual poverty. Why? Lets look at what is happening in Norway.

                Here,I'm told, is the cradle of all feminist thinking and practice. This spirit is felt across the populations. It is more  than a mere philosophy. Girls are 'inducted' into men-like thinking at infancy. They are taught to keep looking at what men do. This,they say,will allow them do as they(men) do. For instance,if a brother comes home at 4.00 AM, girls too can do the same 'because that is equality'. This is their interpretation of equality of women. I will call this conflict of thought and practice.

               To equalize men and women is not to equalize them materially. Equality comes from the need to give and allow all humans do what they can do best. It is not an avenue to demolish the fundamentals of life and create a niche that is incoherent and confusing. To equalize humans materially is to mean that since Mr X has this,Miss Y must have it too. Methinks this is foolhardy. Equality goes beyond this material equation. It questions  the ability of Mr X and Miss Y to use that which they all want to possess. 

                For instance, it is understandable to say that if a father gives a cow to his son,he should also give a cow to his daughter for the sake of 'equality'. But the question is how able is the son or daughter to benefit from the cow? It is the answer to this question that guides my understanding of equality. In simple terms,equality should not stop at allocation of materials,physical or otherwise, it should interrogate the ability of each party to utilize it positively. Doing this is beneficial for it will not create a generation that is in conflict with itself.