Have we achieved gender equality up till now? Can we do more? Written by Charis, Chan Cheuk-lok
Gender equality is defined that both men and women should receive equal treatment, and should not be prejudiced against based on their gender. Have we achieved gender equality up till now?
If we put the situation in the past Hong Kong and that in the present Hong Kong in comparison, undoubtedly, there is a great leap in gender equality in Hong Kong. For instance, in the past, boys were much more welcomed by the society than girls. Boys could go to school, get a well-paid job, and enjoy many other rights such as voting. In contrast, girls could only work on the farms and were in not allowed to go to school, not to mention voting. On the other hand, in the present Hong Kong, both boys and girls have the chance to receive education, get a well-paid job and vote. However, can we conclude that gender equality has been achieved due to this? Of course not.
In the present society, males and females still receive different treatments. Girls are still presumed to have worse ability in sports, science and mathematics in this so-called “civilised” society. Girls still have to bear great hardship when developing their careers in these aspects due to this. And at the same time, boys do not receive better treatment either. Boys are usually expected to be tough and strong. When they cry, people will call them “sissy”, while that would never happen to girls. This makes boys be reluctant to express their true feelings in front of the others. It seems that they are never allowed to show their true selves. These are just the tip of an iceberg. There are hundreds of examples left. There’s still a long way to go before gender equality is achieved in Hong Kong. Then what about the other places in the world?
Let’s first take the wages of Hollywood stars as an example. Hollywood actors often get higher wages than Hollywood actresses even when they are performing in the same movie as the leading roles. Here’s another example: The prize money of male tennis players is often higher than that of female tennis players even when they are getting the same rank in the same competition. Let’s have a more obvious example. In the Middle East, especially in Islamic countries, women have an extremely low social status. For instance, married women have to be absolutely obedient to their husband and if they do not listen to their husband, their husband can hit them and do something torturous to them.(That is absolutely legal there!) And they are not allowed to fight back. What’s more, normally girls are not allowed to go to school. If you are a girl and you want to strive for the right of going to school, you may get the consequence as Malala – being shot. That is somehow miserable.
So, who set the rule that girls cannot perform well in sports, science and mathematics?
We.
Who set the rule that boys should not cry in front of others?
We.
Who set the rule that females should not get as much wages or prize money than males?
We.
We are those who set all these rules to make ourselves suffer! We wrote these rules, so we can also rewrite these rules, right?
Gender inequality or even gender discrimination begins with stereotypes. And stereotypes begin with our traditional, or even conventional belief. Therefore, to achieve gender equality, we should first change our mindsets. We should begin to understand that boys also have the time of being weak and soft. We should start to believe that girls also have great power and ability to do various things. We should always remember that males and females are born to be equal, so they should enjoy the same rights and expectations. “If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are, we can all be freer.” said Emma Watson, UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, in her speech about the HeForShe campaign at the UN conference. Meanwhile, we should not go extreme- “It is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum, instead of two opposing sets of ideals.” Emma added.
After that, we should start to take it into action and make it “tangible”. We should not judge others according to their gender. We should not deprive a person of his/her right of doing something. For example, we should not refuse to give a person a job just because of his/her gender. We should also take into consideration his/her true abilities when selecting employees.
Apart from that, we should also galvanise more and more people to be aware and support the issue of gender equality. We can never solve the problem by ourselves only. Therefore, we should promote gender equality to all our friends, families, people we meet in our daily life, and even to the people in the other parts of the world if possible. Tell them the importance of gender equality and call for their support! Gender equality is everyone’s issue! Only if we, all the human-beings on the earth, try our best to cooperate and tackle the problem of gender inequality together, will the situation be improved and we do not have to suffer anymore. We can also reclaim those parts of ourselves we have abandoned, and in doing so, be a more true and complete version of ourselves when gender equality is achieved, referring to Emma’s speech.
As males are different from females in nature, it is never possible for us to achieve absolute gender equality. Nonetheless, we should still try our very best, and make all possible efforts to strive for gender equality.
Lastly, I would like to share with you a slogan from Emma that I like and agree very much as a closing—
“If not me, who? If not now, when?”
Never hesitate to strive for gender equality.