Gender Equality: Paving the Way

The Masculine is always violent. It is fighting for its existence. The Feminine is sensitive, and intuitive. It accepts.

Masculine. Stop right there! What's on your mind after reading that word? A man, or qualities of a man? Maybe an image of an ideal guy would pop up, perhaps with hunky muscular arms, a great physique and all the socially-defined qualities for a perfect man.

 

Osho says, "Masculinity is much more than a man's definition." In fact, it shouldn't even be a man's definition at all. It is a set of qualities, that we have defined signifying strength, and power. Eventually, we started associating men with these qualities, and women with feminine ones, rating them based on the accumulation of these qualities in them. Forgetting the very fact that Masculine and Feminine are mere namesake representations for the 2 sets of qualities whose balance is of utmost importance.

Women were considered sensitive. Thus, when some people came out and started being strong, or being "equal", the resistance to change crept in. A justification that "Women cannot fight, and Men cannot cry" came in. A total seperation of qualities took place along with seperation of the sexes.

A wonderful yet controversial remark on Women Empowerment by Osho in his book says:

Today, women are fighting for their rights. They are competing and proving themselves as violent as the men who subdue them. Eventually, this violence would win. Gender Equality would win. But the women won't. When you defeat an enemy by being the enemy, 'you' move out of the picture, you're just another image of your enemy.

So much of violence prevails in the world. People trying to establish themselves, and the people already established trying to dominate, pleasing their own egos. Mind you, women do not only represent Femininity. 'The women won't win" implies that after the struggle, most women would be just like the men they hated: dominant, and devoid of emotions, always.

Man and Woman are two genders on one planet, and Masculinity and Femininity are two important qualities in one human.

Extremes of either element leads to imbalance. Too much of existential fear leads to violence and war, which is the present state of the world. Osho says that the correct way to establish a balance is not dominance, because we already are at this extreme. How can you balance a log by lifting the end which is already higher?
The best way to do that is to nurture emotions, intuition, and sensitivity among those who are at the extreme end of the imbalance: Over-Masculine Men. The men who have forever lived their lives trying to dominate and be strong need to have a softer core. The women who consider themselves only limited to emotions and a few worldly tasks need to be strong and dominant on the outside.
Why just them? A balance between strength and softness, logic and intuition has to be established within every individual, irrespective of their gender. Only when you start from the smallest of tasks, do you achieve the mammoth task of changing the world.

Your masculinity or femininity doesn't define your gender, but the balance of both of these defines your humanity. 

Note: The book written by Osho that I referred to in this blog is "Intuition". If you liked the insight, do give this amazing book a read. I would love to discuss more about the balance between Science and Art. I also understand that my thoughts won't necessarily resonate with everyone, and might sound wrong to some people. Knowledge is always borrowed, and I don't hold any attachments to my opinions based on such knowledge. I would be happy to have a peaceful discussion where you enlighten me with your insights on this topic.