SHOULD WOMEN BE EQUAL TO MEN?

According to The European Institute for Gender Equality, the term Gender
Equality refers to when men and women enjoy the same rights and opportunities
across all sectors of society, including economic decisions, decision making and
social life.
Article 149 of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana's Constitution, states that
no citizen should be discriminated against on the grounds of race, gender, religion,
etc. Article 149F specifically states that every woman is entitled to equal rights and
status with men in all spheres of political, economic and social life. All forms of
discrimination against women on the basis of women or sex ​is illegal.
Therefore, within the context of Guyana, women by law are equal to men.
Thus, the argument ‘​SHOULD ​women be equal to men?’ is already a moot point
within the context of Our Laws.
For the purpose of this debate, I will outline the various reasons as to why
women should be equal to men. These include the fact that women were
considered equal to men in past time periods, there are many other international
treaties that have paved the way for gender equality and although men may be
strong in some areas, women have been able to even out the playing field in
various other sports.
Firstly, it may be seem to be an outdated notion that women are not equal to
men, yet there are multiple historical eras which have suggested otherwise. For
example, in the Viking society, men were traders, farmers and fighters, yet the
women held a gargantuan amount of power over the society. Women were
essentially the managers of the society and often took over the trading and farming
if the man died. In addition, according to the records of historian, ​Johannes
Skylitzes, many women devoted their lives to learning swordplay and becoming
fighters, therefore fighting alongside the men of their clans. These women were
called shieldmaidens and their fighting skill was so impressive that we often see
embodiments of them through Norse Literature, that is, The ‘Valkyries’, who were
fierce warrior women who fought with great vigour with the Viking men of
legends. Moreover, there were the ancient tribes of huns. In these tribes, women
often hunted and fought along with the men of their tribe. There were also many
powerful Hun leaders who were women and held court and held important
meetings with diplomats.
Secondly, In recent times, international treaties and conventions have given
life to the already existing premise that women and men are equal. These treaties
and conventions include: Article 5 of The European Convention of Human Rights,
Article 26 of The Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, Article 3 of The
International Covenant on economic, social and cultural rights and Article 23 of
the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The general message
received from these covenants is that every individual has the right to favourable
work conditions and pay, equal protection before the law and the equal rights to the
enjoyment of all economic, social and political rights, regardless, of race, sex or
gender.
Finally, although men are often considered stronger than women, that is not
always the case per se. According to Judith Lawrence et al’s , ‘Fundamentals of
Health and Physical Education’, women are better at regulating their use of body
fats and temperature than men, resulting in women having better endurance.
Therefore, what it can really be explained as is men being more advantageous in
some sports while women are more advantageous in other sports, therefore the
genders are on par with each other. However, there are also occasions in history
where champion males have been defeated by the hands of a woman. Such
examples include, the ‘Battle of Sexes’ tennis match as it was termed in 1973,
where Billy Jean Keats beat Bobby Riggs 6-3 in the finals at the Houston
Astrodome. Another such case is car racer Danica Patrick who competed in the
Japan Indy 300 in 2008 against men, but brought first place. Moreover, in the year
1999, there was a famous wrestler by the name of Jeff Jarrett who degraded
women in and out of the ring. Yet in a World Wrestling Federation match, he went
against a female wrestler, Chyna, in which Chyna successfully defeated Jarrett,
earning her the WWF Intercontinental Champion Title.
Additionally, there have been so many women who impacted the world
positively. Florence Nightingale, who pioneered nursing, Katherine Johnson, who
brought more attention to STEM, Marie Curie, who was the only person to win two
nobel prizes in two sciences (Physics and Chemistry), Jane Austen, who used her
novels to reveal that women should be able to speak their mind, Amelia Earhart
who pioneered flight and so many more women who heavily influenced history.
In conclusion, women play a leading role in society today and historically, it
is my belief that women should be equal to men in all aspects of today’s society,
because women can change the world for the better and although we have been
doing this since the beginning of time.