Having their say

This is something of a response to last week's "Where have all the women gone?" by Plato's Girl. For those of you who weren't fortunate enough to read the enlightening piece by this young lady who claims she is not a feminist and yet has a clear bias towards the fairer sex, here's a small recap:

Our female protagonist gets to an interesting start by recounting her somewhat disillusioning experience at a gathering of some rich, dolled up women celebrating the so called international women's day over a few glasses of champagne (girl power, anyone?). However, for reasons best known to her she goes on to talk about some bloke who snatched a poor little rich girl's necklace and why women should be allowed to wear what they want.

With all due respect to Plato's Girl, I must say I fail to see the connection here. (And I'm certain I'm joined by many others of the "darker" sex out there in this conviction – or should I say confusion.

What on Earth has some petty crime like stealing a necklace got to do with liberation of women who, as we're constantly reminded, are being oppressed by men on a daily basis? (Note – this is not to say that women are not oppressed at all or that crime of any nature, petty or otherwise, should be tolerated).

No one in his or her right mind will disagree that women have their fair share of problems, and that there are still some cultures (and certain individuals) that are hell bent on keeping women where they don’t belong – in the gutter of civilization. And, no, I'm not singling out one particular culture or nation here. Every cultural and/or religious establishment has been guilty of assigning a position of lower significance and importance to women (ever wondered why there are no prominent female religious figures even in this day and age where words like equality and harmony get thrown about freely? But, forgive me, I digress.)

But, really, is antogonising men the answer?

Let's forget about the Middle East or India or even some parts of Europe, where women are clearly not treated like royalty, for a moment and have a look at the situation here on our own soil. (Let's face it, there's really not much we can do about the plight of men and women in other countries, is there?)

A majority of our population (51%) are female. Post-independence Sri Lanka has been ruled by women twice (by mother and daughter, no less). There are women heading major business organizations and holding many powerful and influential positions in both public and private sectors. We have popular actresses and singers entertaining the entire nation and peace/women's rights activists who are a thorn in the flesh of the powers that be.

But then, there is the less fortunate. And I'm not just referring to women here. Millions of Sri Lankan men, women and children are victims of the ruthless monster called poverty. It is poverty that leads to oppression (the have-nots continue to be oppressed by the haves in order to maintain the status quo).

In our country, it is really not a question of women being oppressed by men, but a question of money doing the talking. (You might argue that I've conveniently left out rape and child abuse issues here but, if you think about it, you'll see they hardly have any relevance to what I'm trying to say here. The disgusting acts of a few men forgetting that they're human beings and not wild animals can hardly be called an issue of one gender being better or worse than the other. Anyway, the true culprit here is poverty, is it not? When poverty raises its ugly head and sinks its sharp claws into the unsuspecting masses it doesn't discriminate between such trivialities as gender, language or ethnicity. It just goes for the kill. It drives friends apart. It creates divisions among families. It destroys relationships. It can make you do things you never imagined you could.

It was probably poverty that led the man in Plato's Girl's story to snatch that girl's necklace. He probably had a little daughter of his own to feed and send to school. However, the writer was quick to label him a drug addict. Was it just because he was a man and not a woman? Would a woman in our country ever be accused of being a drug addict? Is it only men and that are guilty of such acts?

It is such stereotypes and divisions that have brought unnecessary grief and suffering to this great country of ours (look at the war, 60, 000 lives lost and we're still nowhere near a lasting solution). Sure, taking the occasional crack at the opposite sex is pretty harmless. It can be quite fun even. But seriously, it is high time we left aside such petty differences and moved forward as a nation.

My request to all men and women out there – please unite and put a stop to all the bickering. Seriously. Just like me and Plato's Girl will be doing after she's done screaming at me for daring to rebut her article. We're going to patch up our differences, and guess what, we'll probably be writing a story together for next week's issue (that is, if I survive her wrath).