Some Logical Fallacies in ‘Anti-Feminist’ Arguments from Indonesia
I was born and bred in Indonesia. A country that ranked 72 out of 78 in PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) 2018. A country that still bears strong patriarchal ideologies and beliefs. Being born and bred, and now currently residing in Indonesia, I’ve grown up with traditional anecdotes and idioms that instill this belief system that I would once absorb without question. Yet progressively over time, I’m fumbling around inconsistencies in these stories. I can’t help but to express…
The Marriage Life
(1) ‘Man is head of the family, women is duteous to her husband’
(2) ‘Men who got married will find clarity in his life, he will be more focused and successful in whatever he does’
So…. The first one is pretty much the standard traditional-patriarchal understanding of men and women. We all know the story. Women’s primary purpose is to serve her husband; the husband is the authoritative figure of the family, he who leads and so on, and so forth.
But the second one is interesting (by that I mean, very uniquely Indonesian). The traditional belief here is that a married man’s chances for overall prosperity is higher than if he was unmarried.
The common tale goes, Mr. A, a genius and workaholic, despite his enviable salary is unable to purchase a house, a car, any productive asset. Mr. A marries one fine day, and since then his luck seems to have greatly improved. He now owns 5 houses, 10 cars, 2 MNC companies, is politically involved, and discovers the vaccine for Covid-19 (it’s a hyperbole, but you get my point…). In short, Mr. A’s life is far more fulfilled after having a wife.
Now, those who understand methodology will simply conclude that the first statement (women follow men) is a false hypothesis, it should be revised that MEN SHOULD FOLLOW WOMEN based on the story of Mr. A. Because in this sense without intervention (without the presence of a woman as the life partner of Mr. A) he got nowhere but after the intervention(the presence of a woman as the life partner of Mr. A) he could be more focused in his life thus allowing him to achieve great things… It’s like saying that Mr. A is a talent and his wife is a resourceful manager… The manager does not succumb to talent, talent follows the direction of the manager… So… I guess based on the logic of Indonesian society, the first statement should be reversed to ‘Men should follow the direction suggested by women’
On Managing Emotion
‘Men are more logical than women. Men tend to rely on logic than emotion while women tend to give in to their emotion’
Okay. I am not an expert in chemistry, hormone, and menstruation cycle…
But what I know is that women went through menstruation cycles every month. A (commonly) 3–5 days in which there is a substantial change in their hormone which affects their mood and in some cases their physical health. Something that men can’t experience.
Buuuuut, it is common to see women still going to school, to office, or to take care of their families. And although in some cases there are discrepancies in the quality of their performance, mostly women just handle the emotional and physical roller coaster and get the job done…
Yes, most men will say ‘but my gf is super emotional during her period’… But then again if you think about it, could it be that the woman is carefully calculating as to how to channel her emotion so it won’t affect her performance in her professional life? Cause if that is the case, then women are all magnificent logician, able to calculate the risk and reward of containing and releasing her emotion (something super abstract and difficult to measure) to achieve her goals.
Meanwhile… it is common to see men reporting sick when he feels like not working due to massive drinking he did the night before…
So… Who is actually better when it comes to managing emotions?
Men are Smarter than Women
Okay, this one is just pure bullshit. But I will play with this.
So, it is common to say that women are less intelligent than men, thus women should not be a leader, be it in the family, society, and country.
Let’s see who is considered as ‘strong male leader’:
Donald Trump — US, Boris Johnson — UK, Joko Widodo — Indonesia.
Do you see any similarities among these male leaders? Let me tell you, they struggled to deal with Covid-19
Let’s see the case of women leader
Jacinda Ardern — New Zealand, Tsai Ing Wen — Taiwan, Angela Merkel — Germany
What do these supposed-to-be-less-smart-than-men women leaders have in common? Oh right, their actions and policies became the role model for containing the pandemic. What’s that? The economy you say? Surprisingly the recession brought by the pandemic is relatively milder in their countries. NZ is reported to bounce back with a V shape, Taiwan is expected to recover with electronics industry, and Germany is…… I mean it’s Germany, they might sacrifice their growth to pull the whole freakin’ Europe out of recession. In short, not only these women leaders managed to deal with the pandemic, they also managed to reduce the impact of the pandemic toward the economy… Wow. Saving life and livability at the same time! Something that is considered as a trade-off by most other leaders (mostly men). Imagine that! Oh wait, why imagine?, just see how these women did that.
CONCLUSION
So… Can we argue that men are better than women? Nope. Are women better than men? Nope.
We can’t determine if an individual’s more empathetic, intelligent or ambitious based on their sex organ. The cultural gender stereotyping needs to be derided and challenged. Why? Because it only limits us from achieving what we, humans, can do as a group of intelligent and capable creatures.
I know that this writing suffers from generalization and hypothetical reasoning, but hey, if such weak ideologies can be the guidance in Indonesian society then I don’t see the reasons as to why this better-argument-of-mine couldn’t.
