Chicken Soup for the third world woman’s soul
A book that doesn’t exist, much like how women don’t exist in the pages of many books
Before I delve further, I wish to clarify that by “third world,” I mean countries that are third world in terms of gender equality. These countries are not necessarily third-world in terms of economic prosperity.
Now, this Gender Inequality Index is to be taken with a pinch of salt because, as per this index, Saudi Arabia is in the same league as the United States. Barring a few such absurdities the index overall aligns with the general perception of the masses.
From my experience of having traveled, observed, and lived in certain parts of both the green and red countries of the globe, the only way for women in red to change their social status to green is by conquering the 3Ms.
1. Money
Get into tech, whether you like it or not
Hunters ruled the Stone Age
Traders ruled the imperial age
Tech bros rule the post-industrialization age
Women from the third world need to rapidly get into tech, simply because that’s where the money is
Tech jobs are simply more scalable than any other job.
Running the risk of casting a generalization here, it is statistically true that most women have a natural tendency to gravitate towards creative and caregiving jobs. But thanks to the highly capitalistic and materialistic society, those jobs aren't getting you anywhere
Here I would like to quote our Incel guru
Like if you work in a daycare, you are gonna care for three infants. You're not gonna care for 50. Because it's not possible. Caregiving jobs are not scalable. But if you are a software designer it's infinitely scalable
-Jordon Peterson
That’s true
A software engineer designing a click button gets paid infinitely more than a nurse saving a life
A mediocre engineer gets paid infinitely more than a brilliant artist
The beauty of tech is you don’t have to be a natural or even truly good at it. There are so many resources out there that even a chimp can write an app. Simply put, there is a spectrum of jobs out there catering to all levels of tech skills.
The world doesn’t need philosophers artists or even caregivers. Why waste time in such a pabulum? Let's leave the liberal arts to the elite women in the West and let's leave caregiving to sophisticated care bots which in all hope we should start developing armed with our expertise in tech
2. Mobility
2.1 Keep Calm and Drive
An anecdote from my childhood: It was one of those nights when my parents had fought, god knows for what reason. My father stormed out with his bike keys. Eyes reddened with fury, my mum had said, “Learn to drive, so you could at least storm out after a fight.” That incident was a microcosm of how most women from my mother’s generation neither literally nor metaphorically had any power to steer, be it a wheel or their own lives. Things have drastically improved since then. In today’s India, you would find a handful of women behind a steering wheel and a sizable number of them on two-wheelers, bandaged head to toe like a mummy, so as not to risk exposing any patch of our bodies to sun and pollution (lest we want to pay a high dowry as a penalty for our dull skin).
But the progress we’ve made so far can be at best termed as, how do I put it? Cute!
It is still our men who control the roads — the veins of a nation. Be it public transport, highways, or night drives. The chances of spotting a woman in any of these are no more than spotting a trumpanzee in a Trump rally willing to use the right pronouns.
2.2 Only talk and no play makes Jill super dull
In India, right from playgrounds to parks, from stadiums to 4x4 feet alleyways, one would find males of all castes, communities, ages, and sizes playing cricket with their makeshift bats and balls. No sight of a girl, let alone a bunch of women, engaging in sports for recreation . Yes, I agree women are more verbal and less physical. We are creatures of words. We love our chitter-chatter and are not as predisposed to engaging in physical recreation as much as men do, but it’s time we start to. Because sports teach teamwork like no other activity does.
In the Middle Ages, the birthing chambers used to be a woman’s playground. Midwives, female relatives, wet nurses, and even the husband’s mistress used to keep their differences aside and enter the birthing chamber to work in synchrony. To bring one life into the earth while stopping the other from leaving. It was our adrenaline-pumping, all-hands-on-the-deck kind of teamwork. Ever since we stopped doing that, it seems like we have spiraled down the tower of teamwork. In a society that’s hostile to its women, the only way for its women to thrive is to function as a single unit.
A team sport can teach a woman to take orders from another woman (let’s be honest; we suck at that).
A team sport can instill the purpose of a greater good.
Lastly, sports hone motor skills and reflexes — much-needed abilities to master the first form of mobility — driving.
3. Mating
Since patriarchy is so universal, it cannot be the product of some vicious circle that was kick-started by a chance occurrence. There is some universal biological reason why almost all cultures valued manhood over womanhood. We do not know what this reason is. There are plenty of theories, none of them convincing.
-Sapiens,Yuval noah Harari
Well, I have a theory behind why womanhood is undesired. I call it the birthing penalty. The ability to give birth has historically rendered a woman’s most physically and mentally productive years utterly unproductive.
Up until a century ago, women were like farm animals, pregnant all the time (that’s how my grandma and her peers contributed to making India the most populous nation today). Women witnessed the world around them pass by as they sat at the window, pregnant, helpless, and immobile.
Seasons changed, boundaries changed, rulers changed, and even the world order changed, yet there they were, preoccupied in their rut of puke, push, and repeat. There was no glory, absolutely none, in being a woman.
Then came birth control, and for the first time, we gained control over our bodies. We now get to be a part of the task force driving the world order. So, as gatekeepers of natural selection, maybe it is time we address the flaws in this selection criteria.
I understand why our female ancestors stuck to a very primitive mating strategy — mate with the apex predator, and choose someone higher than you in the food chain. These women had to adhere to this primitivity because they were seeking providers and protectors, not partners. But we don’t need men to provide for us or protect us anymore (well, in this day and age, men cannot protect us any more than the UN could protect the world from war). Yet, most women continue to stick to this primitivity. Why else would a narcissistic sociopath like Elon Musk have thirteen children?
It’s time we let the good guys win. It’s time we choose a mate willing to share the birthing penalty. It’s time to revamp the rules of natural selection.
Intelligence, sense of humor, and assertiveness are all just additional perks. What’s more important is kindness, compassion, and empathy. That’s exactly what the world needs now more than anything.
Women cannot dream of an egalitarian society as long as they continue to breed with men lacking the morality needed to build an egalitarian society.
Final Thoughts
Women from highly patriarchal societies often look up to Western women for ideas of liberation and rebellion. However, when we witness our white sisters on the streets supporting abortion bans, spearheading the tradwife movement on TikTok, and stripping with an air of nonchalance on OnlyFans, we cannot help but wonder if they are not too far away from joining our league.
