International Women’s Day March 8th 2014 - and we mark another year in the struggle for equality. Make no mistake: some men fear women so much they would do everything in their power to keep women silent, illiterate, emaciated, enslaved.
The fact that 90% of the world’s poor are women and children is proof that the world in which we live is grossly distorted in favour of men. Men control the wealth. Men consume the resources. Men dominate through violence and intimidation. And I know many men who feel caught by this reality. Good men are tainted by what bad men do.
Surely the time has come for all of us to look at the treatment of women and commit to change. Things cannot go on like this. Not if we want to call ourselves civilised.
It must come from those of us born female. And it will take bravery and tenacity and strength.
It must come from men.
Men must stand against the men who perpetrate the injustice. They must tell them that to give anything less than equal rights and opportunity to women is to show cowardice and greed.
The world is full of cowards.
It’s full of men who take from women.
Things need to change. For all our sakes.
Ask yourself what future you want for your daughters?
What world do you want then to grow up in?
What would you be prepared to do to ensure they have equality?
And your sons? Do you want them to carry the collective guilt of being born male in a world where men do terrible things to women? To children, sisters, mothers, wives, grandmothers?
Every time we treat a woman differently we perpetuate the injustice.
Every time we excuse or ignore misogyny we make the world poorer.
It’s time to make a stand.
The fact that 90% of the world’s poor are women and children is proof that the world in which we live is grossly distorted in favour of men. Men control the wealth. Men consume the resources. Men dominate through violence and intimidation. And I know many men who feel caught by this reality. Good men are tainted by what bad men do.
Surely the time has come for all of us to look at the treatment of women and commit to change. Things cannot go on like this. Not if we want to call ourselves civilised.
It must come from those of us born female. And it will take bravery and tenacity and strength.
It must come from men.
Men must stand against the men who perpetrate the injustice. They must tell them that to give anything less than equal rights and opportunity to women is to show cowardice and greed.
The world is full of cowards.
It’s full of men who take from women.
Things need to change. For all our sakes.
Ask yourself what future you want for your daughters?
What world do you want then to grow up in?
What would you be prepared to do to ensure they have equality?
And your sons? Do you want them to carry the collective guilt of being born male in a world where men do terrible things to women? To children, sisters, mothers, wives, grandmothers?
Every time we treat a woman differently we perpetuate the injustice.
Every time we excuse or ignore misogyny we make the world poorer.
It’s time to make a stand.
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