Her Majesty’s Return To An Original State

As a sociologist by education and an activist by passion, I tend to follow talks and views about society and the mind quite a bit. Mainly to know when my personality type becomes endangered (just kidding). I do this mainly to understand at large the world I live in.
Ref image: Queen Amina was royalty, warrior, visionary & leader. She lived and reigned in 16th century Zazzau known as Zaria in northern nigeria. She is attributed for establishing the first government in Hausaland (Pre-Nigeria), the cultivation of Kolanuts & known as a brave warrior. Difficult to believe this woman was from a region where today women are not allowed same freedom as men based on religious belief and doctrines. If the tales of her love life are half true in today’s Nigeria, she would be stoned to death.
In line with this, I came across Jordan Peterson’s interview with Cathy Newman on Channel 4 earlier this year. Peterson it seems is a bright clinical psychologist and I would definitely like to learn from him how to keep cool during an interview.
This write up is not to prove Peterson wrong or right but purely to direct based on history that there are different viewpoints to his. Like my husband says, “it’s all a spectrum”, find your place on that spectrum.
I do applaud Peterson’s attempt to use data for his analysis especially when asked about gender pay gap and his response was there are multiple reasons why gender pay gap exists which includes gender as one them. I do agree there are other variables responsible.
My focus on this write up is Timelines. I find that when certain psychologists give their view on women/gender issues, they seem to focus on a specific timeline which seems to hover at about 2000 years ago and maybe not so far back. Basically, the era of religion and industrialization. I do not know if this is because data collection is easier from this period or because they think data prior to this time is irrelevant to predicting outcome of today.
For me this is an important element considering that humankind has existed long before this time. Before we dive into this period, I will take a minute to focus on an experiment which Peterson holds as a strong example for his view on equal opportunity but not equal outcome. I agree with the conclusion outcome which he references but I find it odd to hold this as a strong basis for his thought process without looking at the possible root causes such as the following:
Sweden gave equal opportunities and the outcome was not equal. More females chose to be nurses than males and more males chose to be engineers than females. This outcome is flawed in my opinion if the following areas were not considered:
Did the parents of these individuals raise them as gender neutral individuals or they fell into the typical boy/girl social conditioning at an early age? What we learn in early years form unconscious biases in us.
Was the environment sterile? Meaning were these individuals cut from social & external influences? News, internet, what is a female supposedly good at and what is a man supposedly good at? Does a female fit more in nurturing role etc?
What was the statistics prior?
Unless we take a clean set of individuals, reset everything they know, put them in a bubble like the movie by Jim Carrey (The Truman Show) with no parents, no siblings, no internet or external influences, try this experiment again over different race, geographical locations and across half of the world population before it can be said equal outcome is not possible. Again, I am not saying it is or it is not. I am saying we do not have sufficient data to authoritatively make such a conclusion. I choose to believe it is possible to have equal opportunities lead to equal outcome. By throwing such a serious conclusion out there further reduces the possibility of equal outcomes from equal opportunities.
Interview of Jordan Peterson with Cathy Newman of Channel 4 News
Back to my point on timelines. I use religion as we know it today, but my focus is mainly on Christianity as that is the religion I have been most exposed to.
Prior to the advent of religion men and women were equal in all ways. Basically, the concept of equal opportunities and equal outcome existed. Women were warriors same as men, women sat on the table of council, this can be seen in Africa & some parts of Rome. Women were Queens, killers etc. The “how” a woman killed did not make her less a killer. The concept of femme fatale did not start with the French. In these societies individuals were chosen for their contribution to society and not gender. If you were an intellect then you contributed, if you were a skilled fighter then you fought. Though these selections were further segmented into the social class one was born into. Women had multiple partners same as men. A woman chose the father of her baby based on certain attributes she wanted in the child.
CHRISTENDOM
Come knocking Christianity/Christendom. The church has not been a force for good in the owrld: Evidenced by one of the biggest points of early Christianity and even today is that a woman is below a man and cannot or should not lead him. A man is the head and she is to submit (open to interpretation). Women were excluded from the presence of men.
The great age of the witch trials in Europe which was also practiced in Africa during slave trade. Europe saw the execution of over 40,000 witches (females). Christianity has bloodshed of thousands of women on its hands. Where a man was found to be influenced by a female, he was accused of being weak and whispered the word witch into his ears. So many so-called witches prosecuted by Christianity. It is a wonder few or no wizards were prosecuted. If a woman was intelligent, she was a witch, if she spoke out in front men or showed a behaviour which seemed brazen, she was either unruly or a witch.
In early 2000, Pope John Paul asked for forgiveness (he must have seen the light) on the intolerance towards women, Jews, immigrants etc. The oppression of women was & is real, and they had to acknowledge that. Christianity enforced on society that a woman is less than a man by fear. Even if other women felt otherwise, in time they learnt to get with the program and it becomes the way it is. You become agreeable as Peterson says or you burn on a stake, your husband could divorce you or even kill you, sleep with someone before marriage you were spoilt goods or have an affair oh no. The list is endless on what was termed as a witch. My point here is a woman has been conditioned to become agreeable not that she is born agreeable. This state is similar to the mythical five monkeys experiment (debate is ongoing if this experiment happened at all).
The first woman Eve did give Adam the apple and he was agreeable (relax, just humour).
This is the same religion which promotes, and I quote from 1 Timothy 5:8 “But if any provide not for his own and specially for those of his house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel”. Take a minute to let this sink in. Imagine the pressure this puts on men. Equating the ability to provide as a key criteria of being a man and women tow this line.
A lot of men have been conditioned to feel inadequate if a woman provides and he stays home.
INDUSTRIAL ERA
The industrial era had a man literally owning his wife/daughter as a property which he could do with as he pleased. We still see this today across the world. A female cannot make decisions on her own, own a business, even allowed to go to school. A generation of women who have been owned, married off, paraded to suitors by their parents, told to sit quiet at dinners, how a woman should sit (remember a lady crosses her feet at her ankles? Who comes up with these stuff?), how a lady should conduct herself (Conduct in this context is a word I like. Annoys me to bits). These women have been conditioned over the years by men (not lumping everyman into this basket) but men have ruled since Christ came and went, hopefully when he comes back, it will be a different world he meets.
This momentum of the so-called feminist movement is yet to complete one generation cycle. I still have worried conversations with my mother on how my behaviour sometimes does not conform to what society expects from a woman and a lot of women I know have the same worried conversation with their mothers:
1. You work so late
2. You are getting older and your eggs are shrinking
3. You should not put your career first
4. No man wants to marry a rich/successful woman
The list is endless. It’s like they are saying, we support you sweetie for taking a stance but just don’t take too much of a stance.
I am of the opinion that what is happening right now is a return to the true state by women. Standing side by side or in some instances being the leader and the men follow.
Humans have existed for millions of years but somehow when we draw conclusions on gender, we focus on the last 2000 years which is but a drop in the timeline of mankind. Just as it took 2000 years plus for males & females to be conditioned into the way they are today, so will it take women at least 3 to 4 generations (hopefully less than 2000years) to even begin to make a dent in social change and conditioning.
All I can say is pass the baton to the next generation. Raise the girls you come across in your lives either as a man or woman to stand tall to believe she can be whatever she wants to be. Raise the boys whom you come in contact with to accommodate a woman who wants to be whatever she wants without him feeling less of a man. Together both gender can achieve greatness and one does not need to subdue the other for society to function successfully.
A society designed by skill and innate abilities is the society I strive for and not one designed by perceived gender relevance.
