Equality is a right and like all rights needs to be upheld and protected in and outside, social, informal and formal institutions.
Our vocabulary is expressive of our deepest generational biases and we’re not even aware of these. All of human life is called, “Mankind” and all of Nature, is referred to as, “Mother Nature” and then, God, the Prime Mover, is a “He” or Father. That was not the way always. Ancient cultures had a unified view of life and its inherent balance. If there were Zeus and Jupiter there were, equally, Artemis and Diana. If any of the Indian deities had to be called upon, their very names commenced with their wife’s names, Uma-Maheshwara, Lakshmi-Narayana, Radha-Krishna. Mother Mary has held the the Numero Uno place for over two millennia and we hear Ave Maria resonating with bliss across hallowed cathedrals and humble homes. I’ve learnt during time living in the Middle-East that when the Prophet Mohammed’s wife walked into the room, he would stand, out of respect for her…and there will be quite likely such enrichment to be gathered from folklore of the Maya, Incas and people’s of the First Nations. Wisdom is never imbalanced for it has known the tests of Time.
There’s great comfort is looking back at data-points. If the inexplicable-shift created an imbalance and resulted in gender-inequality at some unknown moment in time, then by that same logic, a reverse shift is equally possible and balance can be without question, restored in full-measure.
Once we make the journey from “wish” to “will”; to set right the balance, to educate, empower and employ women, the rest, simply follows as a natural consequence. Integrating social-education into business-practice, all engagements and indeed, no less than, into the fabric of our lives must be at the heart of any movement that is to set-right this imbalance that Man, not Nature, intended.
Together, we can all go further.
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