Of women and bananas

Women only coaches. Women taxi drivers for women travelling alone. A radio station for women.

As a woman, I will be the first to tell you that there are many prejudices against women, and many perils that women must face on a daily basis – unwanted stares, ‘accidental’ touching in a crowded LRT, unequal treatment, sexual harassment, snatch thefts, rape, murder, ethnic cleansing, genocide. And so the safety measures undertaken by the Government, and the radio station for women discussing issues relating to women, are all steps taken towards the protection and betterment of women.

But it is superficial. Women’s biggest enemy is one that is not so easily rectified, because it lies in the mind. For a change in mindset, education is key and must be instilled in the young from the earliest possible stage. The day it is instilled in the future generation that women are equals, is the day women will truly be empowered and free. Women need not be protected anymore because they will be respected enough not to be violated in any way.

Rather utopian but that is the only long term solution as I see it. Sadly I don’t see it happening. Educating the young is not only telling them that men and women are equal, but also actually treating men and women equally so for example, sons should be told to help in household chores and daughters should be encouraged to play soccer if that is their interest. How many parents are courageous enough to do that?

Until there is a complete change in the mindset of human beings, you will continue to have idiots that try to stop women from buying or eating bananas and cucumbers. It is not women who need protecting, it is bigots – men and women alike – who need protection from their own twisted minds.