Discover the man within Discover the woman within

The feminism of the post-world war II decades profoundly transformed the lives of women throughout the world. It brought about upheavals in law and the customs of everyday life, and altered the consciousness of women themselves. Obviously, such momentous changes did not spring from unprepared ground.
The world’s first organized movement on behalf of women was inaugurated in 1848 at a small chapel in the sleepy village of Seneca Falls, New York. There the twenty year old Elizabeth Cady Stanton delivered what she described as her first public speech, confessing that she was nerved for the ordeal only by her conviction that the time had come for “the question of women’s wrongs to be laid before the public” and by her belief “that woman herself must do this work; for woman alone can understand the height, the depth, the length, and the breadth of her own degradation.”
Stanton’s statement was not hyperbole. Women at that time were barred from attending educational institutions of higher studies, from voting in elections from participating in legislative bodies or from serving in the judiciary. They lived under a double standard that tolerated a high degree of sexual freedom for males but none for females. Married women were obliged to obey husbands, who had almost unlimited control over their wives’ activities and finances.
The campaigns waged by Stanton and her comrades met with belligerence and ridicule from journalists, politicians and churchmen alike. Sentiment seemed overwhelmingly hostile. Nonetheless, the women persevered, calling conferences, delivering speeches, circulating petitions and making arduous journeys to far flung towns and rural districts to address small groups in churches, halls and even barns.
After long hue and cry, after a long struggle, the United Nations affirmed “ the equal rights of men and women” in its 1945 charter and a few years later established the U.N.Commission on the status of women to advance this ideal.
Decades have passed since this first recorded struggle. Women have made inroads into traditional male professions. Condoleeza Rice is listed among the most powerful people in the world. Hillary Clinton is likely to be the first female President of the US. Parents no longer dream of marrying of their daughters, as every year throughout India, girls fare better than boys in the 10th std exams. Men are increasingly reporting to women bosses dressed in smart designer shirts and trousers with skills and attitudes to match. The non sexist ‘Ms’ is substituted for the traditional ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’, while gender inclusive terms such as ‘humanity’ instead of ‘mankind’, ‘chairperson’ instead of ‘chairman’ are slowly becoming part of our daily conversations and usage.
However, equations are changing. Men are becoming like women and women are becoming like men. The suppressed man or woman tries to free himself or herself from a perennial bondage of cultural stereotypes. We begin to hate and love ourselves all at the same time. The society as a whole is trying to balance its male – female energies. A perfect yin-yang is in the offing.
We are reminded of the powerful portrayal of Portia in the Shakespeare’s play, ‘The Merchant of Venice,’ pleading for the life of Antonio, the merchant of Venice from the incessant demand of Shylock, the Jew to kill Antonio. We see the silent and receptive role of Mary at the house of Lazarus. Above all, we see the powerful sublimation of Mary, our blessed mother, in the Gospels for the sake of God’s plan. We see her interceding particularly at Cana. These were the women of substance solving problems tactfully with their own ingenuity not with the imposed male psyche. It is obvious that women have the power to solve issues in umpteen unbelievable ways. Even her guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty, as Rudyard Kipling puts it.
With all these new found understanding, power, freedom and creativity, life emerges as strong as ever for both men and women. This life demands for a balance in the society and within each individual. Every person begins to realize that he / she is an androgen having both the male and female natures at various proportions. Essentially the masculine side comes from a place of strength and the feminine side comes from a place of goodness. Humanity, just as each individual, must have them in the right proportion. Let us discover the man and the woman within. This discovery will make life beautiful.