The perks of being a woman

Women — imagine a world with emotional crying men in high heels and lipstick. It won’t take long to realize most of us probably aren’t too enthusiastic about the idea.

The women’s movement has come a long way from the days when the female gender was discriminated against politically, socially and in civil areas. And in the developing world, there is still much more to be done. But the level of equality that the Western, developed world seems to be striving for should be looked at a bit more closely. The advantages of being a woman and the disadvantages of being a man are often overlooked.

The social expectations and pressure on men teach them that they have to be strong, tough, confident and ambitious, not show their emotions or cry and to be the provider and protector of the weak (aka women and children). It is often overlooked just how great the pressure is on men and what the consequences of these expectations may be.

If women want to alter male domination and machismo, they need to start advertising that they like “soft,” “weak” and “emotional” men that put their feelings before their ambitions to be successful. In a world with total equality, women would be socially required to buy expensive diamond rings for their fiances, take their boyfriends out on fancy dates, buy their husbands expensive presents, open doors, give up seats, no longer enjoy “ladies get in free” events and so forth. It could be easily argued that such perks constitute a pure advantage, and rarely belittle the recipient.

Total equality will be reached either when women no longer have the socially accepted option of staying home to raise the kids, or when men start saying, “If this career thing doesn’t work, I can just get married and be a househusband.”

Even when we talk about the work force and wealth distribution in this nation, many facts are often overlooked. It is true that men make more for the same jobs as women, but they are also much more overworked, contributing the labor force’s bulk of overtime hours. Men pay 115 percent of the taxes in America, yet women make up the majority of the voters who decide how this money is spent. Men may be earning the majority of income, but women own 65 percent of its output. Women might have lower paying jobs, but they work less hours, and end up owning most liquid and hard assets acquired by men.

The Western world has reached a turning point, and we are starting to tip the scales. If feminists want to create total equality between men and women, and eliminate all inherently different gender roles between the two sexes, it must result in changing them both. The “feminization” of men and “masculinization” of women is already becoming apparent in well-developed countries, from family life to fashion.

This balancing of gender roles does not mean we should stop fighting for women around the world to have the right to vote, get an education and lead the sort of life they choose; it simply means that true feminism, in a developed society, is brought about by embracing the femininity of women. Staying true to what makes them who they are, embracing the well-deserved respect, support and protection they get from males, without overlooking the many advantages that come with being a female, is the best way to preserve quality of life and a more balanced equality. The saying still stands: Men control the world, but women control men.