Gender
GenderGender
Where does the word Gender stand these days? What does it mean, and how important is it in our society?
Men need women, and so do women. You can never imagine how great full I am to my mother for bringing me to this world; on the other hand, I could never forget that my father was also part of it. I was brought up in a house where my mother stood next to me, took care of me, fed me, and loved me. Sometimes, she used to spend her entire day in the kitchen cooking one of her children’s or husband’s favorite dishes. As for the rest of the day, she would spend it looking after me, teaching me right from wrong, and protecting me from any stupid action that I could have committed. As for my father, I can’t tell you much about him because I rarely saw him. He used to leave to work early in the morning, even before I woke up, and by the time he came back, it was already dark. He committed his life to his work; Moreover, he would spend months traveling around Europe for business conferences and only show up on events. He was the family’s guardian, the one to be responsible for every action that takes place at home, and his word was the final one. It was just like a kingdom of Murads (my surname) and my father was the one sharing the thrown with him self.
That was the kind of home I grew up in. The woman was committed to her home and children, where as the man was carried away by the outside world, fighting for his family’s survival. In other words, he would work all day long in order to feed his family, support his children with the best and highest education, and provide them with all other essentials.
As a result, in my society the father stands as the representative of the family, where as the mother rested under his mercy. I find this as an inequality between the two sexes, but the funny thing is that back home, women accept this status of living and do not mind about the inequality. In fact, they would even prefer that their husband controls everything, I have asked Lebanese women about it and their response was that it made them feel more secure, safe, and protected when their husbands act superior on them. I have even met women that preferred to marry men that are at least ten to fifteen years older than them, and that is because they believed that in this case their husbands would certainly take control over them.
On the other hand, this does not mean that females do not play any role in the Lebanese society; on the contrary, it is well expected from any Lebanese girl to complete her education, find a job, and could even participate in the parliament for example. But once she gets committed to her marriage, it would be very hard for her to keep up with all these activities in our society.
This is where a woman would exactly stand in our society. She stands behind her husband’s back, but once she is free, or not married, she could easily and freely participate in any social activity.