16:33 Gulf News: No, true equality would only be achievable if we were all born with the same abilities, talents, and strengths.
16:36 Fatima Khan: I disagree because being the same does not necessarily mean being equal. Fish and crabs both live in water, eat almost the same food but they are as different as chalk and cheese. Men and women are different but that doesn’t have to mean they are unequal.
16:36 Prachiti Talathi: Boys and girls are born with same capabilities but it is society that differentiates them.
16:36 Elizabeth Eapen: If that was the case, we would all be clones and as a result be grossly imbalanced with being highly effective in some areas and extremely weak in others. And that would not result in equality.
16:37 Mohamed Al Hajeri: I agree because even in one gender, there are physical and psychological differences.
16:38 Ayesha Naseem: We have all been given the same brain and thinking ability, but we differ because we are able to utilise our abilities to develop a key strength. Further, if everyone was the same, he or she who chose to differ, would end up ruling the roost, sooner or later.
16:41 Gulf News: No, in order to achieve gender equality, women must first learn to treat each other equally
16: 44 Prachiti Talathi: I agree to a certain extent because it is a mother who teaches her children, in terms of telling her daughter that she needs complete certain tasks because she is a girl and her son should not do certain tasks because he is a boy.
16:44 Prachiti Talathi: I think there is another aspect to gender equality, which is teaching men all jobs that women were traditionally responsible of such as taking care of the household. However, it is still an area which is mostly female dominated. Although, there are men who treat women equally on a professional level but when it comes to the house and day-to-day chores, they still think it is a woman’s job and that she would be better at it. In order to get rid of that notion, boys should be raised to be familiar with the same tasks that a girl would.
16:45 Ayesha Naseem: I think, it’s more of a fight of the sexes now. When we say gender equality we automatically assume, every woman out there wants to achieve the same thing, the same goals. We need to align the thinking, not converge it to a point.
16:46 Fatima Khan: The problem lies in the mind-set. People need to start educating their sons and stop questioning their daughters and this will save them quite a lot of trouble. And the complacent attitude widely prevalent that ‘boys will be boys’ needs to be as unacceptable as cannibalism.
16:46 Mohamed Al Hajeri: I disagree because this is not only gender specific, but should apply to how all human beings treat each other. Parenting is not necessarily the issue here but the community as a whole.
16:50 Prachiti Talathi: Upbringing is responsible because if parents treat their daughters equally to their sons and let them play all sports, go abroad for higher studies, then society starts commenting on that. Maybe sometimes, it is the matter of societal pressure which will doesn’t allow parents to exercise equality.
16:50 Ayesha Naseem: A recent ad titled ‘Like a girl’ put all the stereotypes in the spotlight. What does it really mean to punch like a girl or to run like a girl? The problem lies in whether people are willing to change what has been passed down for one reason ‘It’s always been this way’, and embrace more logic? You praise women in public and then shame them in person – it doesn’t work that way.
16:51 Gulf News: Yes, if women can join the army, then it’s proven that women are as strong and motivated as men in their work force.
16:52 Fatima Khan: I definitely agree because our society loves to believe in illusions and gone are the days of women in the kitchen and men working in the fields. Instead, men have proven to be excellent chefs and women to be amazing business managers.
16:53 Elizabeth Eapen: Joining the army is not a benchmark of strength, rather the fact that women bear children and bring them up against all odds, which is a proof of her strength.
16:53 Mohamed Al Hajeri: It’s always been always a societal issue. In the Gulf region, there has been the issue of working women but now with societies advancing and mixing people, it is not possible and it is no longer considered a scandal or something to be ashamed of.
16:54 Prachiti Talathi: When a woman can fly a plane, fight in the frontlines, be a scientist - She can do everything that a man can do.
16:54 Ayesha Naseem: As men and women have different strengths and capabilities, there is no such thing as a gender specific job. Emma Watson also emphasised on this when she explained what it means to be a feminist. Join the army, fly an airplane, be a professional chef - as long as you do what you love and not what you’ve been told to do.
16:55 Prachiti Talathi: It is society which created these walls around women, maybe because men feel unsecure about their future?
16:56 Fatima Khan: And then there are some jobs that only women can do - like giving birth to a new life…
16:56 Gulf News: Yes, because women have potential to strengthen the world economy by earning money, owning property and growing the work force.
16:57 Prachiti Talathi: I agree and certain studies have showed that women are better managers than men as they can manage and take decisions more wisely.
16:58 Elizabeth Eapen: Even when a woman chooses to stay at home and educate her child, she contributes to the world economy, though not necessarily the way the world perceives it.
17:00 Fatima Khan: Men and women are two wheels of the same bicycle. If one wheel was going by the speed of 5 miles per hour and the other by a speed of 1 mile per hour - What happens to the bicycle? Similarly, imagine what happens to the world if men and women are judged by their gender?
17:01 Mohamed Al Hajeri: I disagree and just like men may not necessarily be better than women in the army, what makes the women better than men in administrative work? We are eliminating the equality here…
17:01 Elizabeth Eapen: Women and men are not identical, rather two sides of the same coin, so different yet equal in their own way.
17:03 Fatima Khan: Do ladies who choose not to work but devote all their time to their homes also forego their right to respect?
17:04 Prachiti Talathi: Fatima, unfortunately the answer is yes.
17:04 Elizabeth Eapen: Absolutely not. House work is no less respectable or demanding than any other Fatima.
17:04 Prachiti Talathi: But when she is at home, she is doing nothing and has lots of free time and the work that she does has no real economical value.
17:07 Fatima Khan: Prachiti, there is a huge economic value attached to what a stay-at-home mother does. If we were to calculate the money, she could demand for all her services, I doubt most will be able to afford her and this idea needs to change because stay-at-home women are not worth nothing.
Facebook comments:
By making civil liberty a basic way of life, gender equality is possible. Actually a country whose leader is a female, demonstrates an equality alone.
From Roland Chua
Abu Dhabi
Generally speaking, women are not as strong as men. Even though there are certain women who do very well in the army and there are many army jobs they can do, armies everywhere will always be composed of mostly men. It’s just a job that men are better at. There are other jobs that women are better at. Men and women should have equal rights, but men and women will always be different.
From Julie Machnik
UAE
Define equality - Are you asking women to be more like men, men to be more like women or asking us to respect the differences and separate roles versus destinies?
From Iessa Abdul-Malik
Dubai
Man and woman are non-comparable elements in this world. This should not be a subject of discussion or debate. Mutual respect is essential.
From Himal Babu Khanal
Ras Al Khaimah
- Compiled by Donia Jenabzadeh/Community Web Editor
