Second Dream Out of Ten: Freeing Gender From Cultural Correctness "The boy takes his time to get married. The girl is constantly reminded in stealthy ways that she is getting old! She might graduate from college and get married... Small test question for men: Can you cook and wash dishes without feeling a loss of your masculinity?" 11 August 2016
By Dr Alfred Sebit Lokuji (August 11): Think a while about the lip service paid to gender equity, at work, in education, in church, in life and in death! Examine the entire spectrum of South Sudanese life as it relates to gender. It’s comedy! We started paying attention to “girl-child education” even before the CPA, but now feel challenged about noble employment percentages for women in the work force - 25%, 35%, or 50%? In most societies females tend to outnumber males! So, why are we not talking about 50% or above? The answer is both complicated and simple! The simple answer is that we have NOT prepared women the way we have prepared men for work outside the home. Furthermore, when it comes to qualifications, we wish to hold them to higher standards than men, thus disqualifying them at higher rates – and resorting to quotas for an answer. The complicated answer is that we are all arrested by a mystical belief that woman should be at home, cooking, cleaning, raising children and staying attractive lest she be devaluated in the eyes of the husband and significant others. Why else would many women spend so much time and money trying to look “right”? Much more complicated to explain, if at all, is the notion that a man cannot do housework even if logically he should take over while the woman becomes the bread-winner. The quickest explanations that would be shouted out by most men and some women is that it is “our culture” that the home-slavery status should be retained. Bear with me! Your 10-year old daughter has to wake up very early to help her mother sweep the yard, make tea, or wash the dishes from last night’s meal – while her 12-year old brother stays longer in bed and can demand that his tea be served. The girl leaves later for school and might arrive late – with consequences! At the end of the school day the girl has to rush home or she will be questioned as to where and why she delayed! The boy might keep company with his friends or play football. He gets home late and expects that there is water for his bath – not so his much younger sister! She will be helping her mother prepare the evening meal or do other chores till she drops dead! The boy might have time to do some homework, chat some more with his friends or prefer to sleep early without being called lazy! He does better at exams and it is concluded that he is naturally smarter than his sister. This parallel life-style follows these kids even to university, if she has not already dropped out. The boy takes his time to get married. The girl is constantly reminded in stealthy ways that she is getting old! She might graduate from college and get married. After all that investment on education, instead of utilizing her skills at work, her husband demands that she stays at home – after all, who will host his visitors! A tough call, but this deep-seated mind-set must be changed if we want to see women and men contribute equitably at home, at work, and wherever men and women are called to serve the nation. Small test question for men: Can you cook and wash dishes without feeling a loss of your masculinity? Posted in: Opinions - See more at: http://gurtong.net/ECM/Editorial/tabid/124/ID/19753/Default.aspx#sthash.WIxkJAdg.dpuf -- To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/d/forum/southsudankob View this message at https://groups.google.com/d/msg/southsudankob/topic-id/message-id For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "South Sudan Info - The Kob" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/SouthSudanKob. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/SouthSudanKob/CAJb14oqtiYQbUAxQ8QJQeJpG-D8yfB-bL5_q2in45OnufFsfvw%40mail.gmail.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
