It's a man's world. Even today. So where are the women? Look at any group of leaders and note the percentage of women representatives. The scene is glaringly barren. Men write laws using their own male perceptions, it's unavoidable no matter how "fair" they attempt to be. Men wrote the bible, men wrote the Koran, men wrote the Constitution, and men write the laws today. Male bishops, male popes, male presidents, male dopes.
Look around and see what this has wrought; never-ending strife and inequality, partial solutions that come about at the expense of large swaths of others; threats, posturing and incitement; murders, mass killings, exploitation; twisted absurdities to keep women out of mens’ domains. Whatever comes for free, men often take for granted. Women are not angels but when do you hear of women shooting into a crowd of people at a mall or at a workplace? When do girls shoot down their own classmates en masse? Women have as much access to weapons as men yet they don't kill indiscriminately like men do.
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There are many good men who realize that male dominance is toxic and they, as much as women, wish to see more female intervention and participation. Women have been silent for too long. Women have been shy about coming forward and taking the lead with men. But women must realize that embarking on any new practice takes time to learn. Women must go forward anyway and learn as they go. The good men will help out.
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Women must not think they have to be able to do everything right. Men don't do everything right, even after centuries of practice. But women have earned their place in society and in the echelons of power because women have proven they do not succumb to the most destructive practices and are not guilty of causing unspeakable pain and suffering to anywhere near the degree that men do. The women who did are women that were handpicked by men in a male framework. We need the ratio reversed at the very least.
Women have stood by and allowed men to dictate everything, what they do with their environment, their money, their families, their education, their country, their jobs, their clothing, and their bodies.
How dare men rule on contraception? How dare they rule on pregnancy whether wanted or unwanted? And how dare they do so without any consultation with women. They dare only because they can get away with it. And they get away with it only because women let them and because women do not involve themselves enough in the political and monetary system.
It's not enough to protest. A million people protested against the Iraq war and the war still went ahead regardless. Protest if you must, but remember that protest only allows lawmakers to know the level of disgruntlement, it does not change the way business is done. Women should know by now that men that rule have no interest in the disgruntlement of others, they act only to satisfy their own motivations and urges.
Men that rule judiciously would always include women in the process.
Women have to come forward and claim their power now. The world desperately needs the influence of women. Look at the children starving in places like Africa, even though we have enough to feed them. Look at the children living in poverty in America, a poverty that is growing at an unprecedented rate. Look at the posturing that plunges the world into death and destruction. Can women sit around while testosterone rules the day? While the poor and the deprived are left to go on without food or opportunity in an age with so much available and with sophisticated technology that is touted as the answer to practically all our woes.
Men suffer under this system too.
There is plenty for everyone. The gluttonous want it all but the glutinous can never be satisfied, no matter how much they "achieve" or accumulate or are fed. Obesity exists outside the body as well as in. It behooves us all to realize that this kind of toxic hunger will never be satisfied, even if it were allayed temporarily. The orthodoxy has everyone believing that this is the way life must be, that splintered societies must exist with - on one hand the entitled, and on the other - the disenfranchised. The rest of us know otherwise. Now it's time for the rest of us to stand up for equality and put some curves back into the linear. Nothing in the universe is straight. Everything is curved. Rectangles do not exist in all of nature. Boxes are things only humans create.
It's time for a new paradigm, if you've got the grit.
To women the world over, consider taking a leading role in society. Don't concern yourself with inexperience or making mistakes. Breathe deeply and go for it. Laugh about flubs and keep on going. You have many strengths that have not been acknowledged and many of our attributes are not valued in this system at all – society still expects it for free or at less value. Give yourself confidence. You have been courageous before - you have given birth. Now turn your immense creative propensity, your compassion and vivacity into art. And as you travel on this journey, always remember the important role you play in not just the family, or the company, but also the world. Never allow hubris to tarnish your heart but don't back down from your ethical stance either. As I ask this of you I also ask it of myself, being unashamedly woman.
The orthodoxy has sold us a rotten bill of goods, filled with inconsistencies, delusion and misery. But orthodoxy is being challenged and new visions will come into reality. These new visions are needed now. We can see what the current system have produced. We can be bitches but at least we don't kill people when they don't do our bidding.
"You can't change a problem by using the same thinking that created it". We love fashion - courage can become the next thing in style (we can wear nail polish and still run a nation). This challenge makes some quake in their shoes but that will reveal who is reliable. Have you noticed the onslaught of women, sending us back to something like the 1950's? The emperors will soon be exposed having no clothes on. Those that cannot win when the rules are based on consensus and justice should not prosper any more. The rest of us who play fair need to know who the dominators are to prevent more havoc being wrought upon us. We can do this now with social media. We have all the tools. All that's needed is a decision.
The world is awakening from the delusions based on male ego and all the pandering that goes with it. This awakening is just beginning. Women are emerging from the shadows, gently but resolutely. They will create a world that is safer, more equitable and more cheerful. Unlike the men they will not bestow these rights just upon themselves but upon everyone. We can at last enjoy this incredible planet and our lives in peace and harmony. For probably the very first time in human history.
Stay tuned as women usher in the new dawn.
Suheir Hammad: Poems of war, peace, women, power:
