I know I'm going to stir the Hornet's Nest with this post. But, I have no other choice other than doing so. Off late, I have been reading a lot of posts that portray men as dictators with no soul. Well, I might not be able to paint the whole picture of this issue but I can always write what I personally feel.
I've read about various instances where women are not given their proper rights and are treated as inferior by the men folk. These are omnipresent, i.e they happen in rural and urban areas, in educated and uneducated families and in rich and poor societies. So, if we can find out the number of men involved in such heinous acts, we can prove that a majority of men are not from Mars but are from Venus itself. With this assumption, I'm proceeding forward and to any of you, who do not agree with me on this theory, everything below is going to be Greek and Latin!
I dont want to be beating around the bush for long. The first and foremost thing to be done is to list down the various problems that women folk face due to men,
- Physical - Be it beaten up, sexually harassed, made to do hard labor etc.
- Mental - Curtailing their freedom, forcing something against their free will, curbing their rights to decision making etc.
Now, its time to figure out what kind of men are involved in such atrocities,
- Uneducated men who have been brought up in a conservative environment and are in desolute conditions are forced to vent out their anger on their spouses. The main reason for such behaviour is the fact that they are so much downtrodden in the society, that they are left with no other choice but their sheepish counterparts to vent their emotions. The spouses in these cases are generally uneducated, jobless and are dependant on their husbands. This gives the man an edge to think that his woman is inferior to him and cannot live alone without his help. Considering the fact that India is a developing nation and more than half of its population are in the rural areas, we can assume that close to 7 % of the male population fall in to this category.
- Immoral men who cannot afford a living by moral ways force women who are dependant on them or are helpless in to prostitution and other kind of flesh trades. Based on the fact that flesh trade is not so predominant in India as it does in other east Asian countries, we can assume that only 1 - 2 % of the male population in India fall in to this bucket.
- Men who feel inferior to their spouse because of their spouses' education or by their social statuses. Since this is based on a character of a person, it is hard to come up with an accurate count of men falling in to this. But assuming 2 - 3 % in this category would be close to reality, I guess.
Apart from these all other reasons would be very infinitesimal and can be ignored.
Now coming to the fun part of the game, Lets sum up the percentages of the different categories of men who illtreat women, we get a value close to 10 %. Now it means that out of every 10 men a woman meets, 1 is going to be a moron. This number might be alarming. You might be forced to think that out of the 10 male collegues whom you might work with, one is going to be of this kind!
Now wait, dont jump in to conclusions. This 10% might not be geographically distributed evenly. Out of this 10%, 7 % might be in rural areas and 3 % might be in urban areas. Assuming that most of us work in posh urban areas, you will find only 3 of this kind among the 100 men you meet. And more over there could be overlap between these three categories. So the final percentage is going to be lesser than 3% in urban areas. Thats not bad..is it?
So, instead of blatantly blaming men in general to be abusing women, lets restrain ourselves and be warm with the other 97 men. After all, woman was created from the body of man and a man who is harming a woman without knowing this is ignorant. Lets work towards shooing the darkness from such people's heart by educating and explaining them the basics of human civilization!
8 Comments:
Naveen, am I right in assuming that my last post triggered this off? :D
"Considering the fact that India is a developing nation and more than half of its population are in the rural areas, we can assume that close to 7 % of the male population fall in to this category." Only 7%? Where did you get your stats from?
I adisagree with your understanding of 'education' as well. It is not correct to assume that only the rural poor are uneducated. There are plenty (more than 3%)of uneducated men amongst us in urban areas as well. Going to college and getting a degree and settling down with a good job does not constitute education. Real education has to bring about a change in attitude. This change in outlook in quite imperceptible in these so-called 'educated men'.
Think about it!!
Be warm with the remaining 97??
You gotta be kidding me.
3% in urban areas? U sure about that?
Considering the number of perverts you see on the road everyday...including auto walas, cycle wala, college boys, school boys, strangers on the road, men in subways, trains, malls, office colleagues...should I say more. Everyday u are commented upon, looked at -be it be a well dressed man with a laptop bag hung over his shoulder or some boys on the road.
It just doesn't change. It’s all in the head. Every guy harps upon 'oh I am very broad minded I am not like those cheapos blah blah'
But when it comes to their own wives, sisters, girl friends then comes the change- Mr. broadminded is not that broadminded anymore. Don’t walk like that, don’t dress like that, don’t go there, don’t do this, don’t talk to him…
I mean come on, we do know how to take care of ourselves you know, we have been doing it for a long while and also taking care of our men folk in the process.
You don’t see us leching or beating up men or harassing them do u? Why do men do it then? It’s all in the head! Men are from a different planet. Education cannot change the way ppl think. No matter how much u study if it’s inside ur head nothing can change that.
well, to begin with..
"So, if we can find out the number of men involved in such heinous acts, we can prove that a majority of men are not from Mars but are from Venus itself. " LOL!
i'm not even sure what that means but it sure sounds funny.
secondly, man! you gotta get your stats right. i'm guessing they're from off the top of your head but still come on! those are far from realistic.
then there's this whole issue of how Patriarchy is so internalised by everyone(not just men here) that a lot of things just seem normal - for example chivalry, or the concept of "marriagable age" for/of a woman. these are just very very minor examples. and all of it counts boss. believe me. i agree with Rita, "Real education has to bring about a change in attitude. This change in outlook in quite imperceptible in these so-called 'educated men'."
hi naveen,
you are way off target here. Rework ur stats.
Second, you are quite naive aren't ya????
CHeers
AquaM
Why is it so hard to find men who are ready to be 'househusbands'?
Rita,My Ramblings, nothings aplenty, aquaM, Shika
- First of all, I agree with all of you that the stats were just my 'deductions' .
But, this is my personal opinion that a person who is well educated and who is brought up in a good environment would not be indulging in such acts..Atleast, I can corroborate this with examples of people I meet...
So, I assume that education will make a man understand women's equality and rights.
From here, according to the OECD survey of literary rates in India, 39 % of our population is illiterate. And it also says that only 54% of the Indian females are literate.
So taking these figures in to consideration, we can assume the close to 20 % of the Indian men are uneducated. Then, based on some trial and error method, I split this 20 % in to the 3 categories of men, I spoke about!
Yea, I agree with you that there are many school boys, college boys and so on misbehaving with girls. I still feel that only proper education can eradicate this.
A child is the same when it is born, be it a girl or a boy. Only the things that he/she sees/experiences changes the 'attitude' or the 'character' of the child.
A male child is not born with an attitude that women are inferior to men. But it is the environment that infuses that kind of thoughts in him.
This is one of the reasons why I strongly believe that men who are brought up in the right way will never behave so cheap.
And, if you read the last para of my post, I have clearly said that 'we have to educate men who misbehave'.
The numbers here are just 'plain figures' derived out of my own experiences and thoughts. Though, this might not be very accurate, Im sure, it is closer to reality, if you agree with my point of view that education is solely responsible for this.
And to answer Shikha's question, Why is it so hard to find men who are ready to be 'househusbands'? - mmm, well, I dont know. Though this looks so lucrative in the point that, house husbands need not have to work in offices instead they can 'work at home'. It is up to you girls to market this idea :). Personally, It would become a problem to the wife in the longer run. I feel that the man-woman relationship will work out only if both of them have their own goals in their lifes. The man must be excited to help his woman achieve her's and viz-a-viz. They both must be independant and that would build an ego-free and an everlasting relationship!
@Nothings Aplenty - "So, if we can find out the number of men involved in such heinous acts, we can prove that a majority of men are not from Mars but are from Venus itself. " LOL!
i'm not even sure what that means but it sure sounds funny.
I meant to quote the name of John Gray's book just to justify that men are not that incomprehensible when comes to relationships.
And when I said 'EDUCATION', I meant a wholesome education that streamlines a person's thoughts and characters. Like Rita said, if a so-called 'educated men' misbehaves, then whatever he has learnt has had no effect on his character which makes his education useless. I cant think of any any ways to correct them :(
@AquaM - what makes you think I'm naive ? Perhaps the environment in which I live has only 'not-so-bad' men, that might have tempted me to write this way and made me look naive. :)
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