Women's rights

          

“Once made equal to man, woman becomes his superior”

      Human. Such a difficult and complicated creature. A tough nut to crack, hard to understand outwardly and inwardly. Sometimes, a small matter could be an issue. Even though it is destined that everyone was born with gender, male or female and characters, masculine or feminine. The uniqueness in each one of us is what called a balanced life. However, the broad diversity in billions of people needs energy and time to set it right. People turn their trust and betray one another to stand for their will and says. Some lost respect and act miserably to win the fight or argument which unnecessarily at the first place. Comparison such as between man and woman, which one is more powerful and intelligent while the other side is opposed to those standards. Whereas, one’s quality is not a measurement, simply count it into numbers and can be seen in an abstract or solid substance.

    Nonetheless, what is the actual reason Socrates, a Greek philosopher who lived thousand ago came out with these kinds of words? Isn’t it all about downgrading man’s value, so that woman is superior above anything else? No, it is not the correct interpretation but the true is back in the days, women struggled to find their places as how life was so competitive and the necessity of men was crucial during that time until the voices of women were invisible at the end. As matter of fact behind every successful man there stands a woman. A man could never accomplish his goals without support and help from others as well as receive love from people around without respect and kindness.

     In spite of that, it is not regarding the women’s hustle of the fifth century that I want to highlight since it is already become historical to be remembered, and we take it as exemplary in our life. Though, in this era of modernity, which is said to be millennium age, born with innumerable technological inventions, the fastest internet service, unlimited communication and highly advanced society, there are still some who are not in line with today’s reformation. People who yet practice discrimination against certain groups, refuse to accept the opinion of others, solely adhere to self-standings, and not try to at least open their eyes and minds to the biggest spectrum of the world. Indeed, I am myself is not the best critic but eventually, manners, etiquette and courtesy are attractive to me. But, the matters of discussion without one’s own experience is mere nonsense, isn’t it right? Words often said by the elders, like “how far do you pursue your studies and how high your job rank is, a woman ends up in the kitchen”, “girl’s fate is to be a housewife and belong to her parents to marry her as soon as possible to not lost her validity”, or “daughters are made to help the mothers with the house chores and not the boys”. Sound typical and cliché but it happened to me several times as far I could remember, how queasy I am every time I listen to those repeated words. Perhaps, expressions and verbal are no longer corrode my feelings and immune heart, but maybe the attitude and arrogance of people surrounding at some extent testing the faith and patience of mine.

     Back to the school days, when it comes to the time for making the selection of positions in club or associations and to pick participants in any sports and co-curricular competitions, usually female students are placed as vice president or secretary and sometimes happen to be the second choice even if their qualifications exceed the others. The teachers admitted themselves that they believed the boys deserve to hold the highest positions and lead their peers as one team without considering the talents and abilities they have. To illustrate, during the last minute before the upcoming chess match, our coach made a sudden reshuffle of the members where the female team was urged to disband due to the organizer limited the quota of the participants and our principal quickly decided to cut off all the girls but instead gave more opportunities to the boys as it also could be one of the strategies to win the match. Thus, we all felt sad and disappointed with the unfair treatment after months of training despite having challenges to perform well in study especially for the SPM examination which just around the corner. All the certificates and medals I have received from the previous school seem useless as the institution itself does not open the path for us to show our talents.

    Additionally, to delve into deeper issue of women’s discrimination, I personally have gone through sexual harassment at my early teenager, whereby after my parents addressed a complaint about the issue to the upper people of the school, and it became a hot topic to discuss among them, not everyone believes and favour me. Some blame me as seeking attention and failed to watch my own manners as a girl, but not viewed me as the victim. As it happened when I am just in a young and innocent age, I simply forgave them and silent myself from arousing the issues again. Hence, the lessons from all the stories are people deserve to be treated fairly and never left behind in attaining a better future.

     To end my writings, my sharing story on the issues of woman challenges is actually relatable to the sustainable development goal by the United Nations, gender equality. They are striving their best in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, colour, sex, language and religion. Furthermore, eliminate violence against women as the messages delivered during the International Women’s Day. Movements, awareness campaign, public speech and counselling are given to unfortunate women whether involving physical or mental violence. Likewise in Islam, Allah SWT has mentioned in the Quran that men and women have the same spiritual human nature and both genders are dignified and trustees of Allah SWT on earth. Prophet SAW himself is the best example of a man who always treats people fairly without judging their races, religions, wealth, and gender. Therefore, preserving our faith or religion (Hifz al-Deen) is the most important aspect we should prioritize in this gender equality issues.