Today my day began with great news! Malala Yousafzai was announced the winner of 2014 Nobel Peace Prize, becoming the youngest Nobel laureate ever. This award salutes the enormous courage and conviction displayed by a young girl who stood up for the cause of women’s rights all over the world.
In a way this award symbolizes the victory of human rights over gender discrimination.
But this news and the recent ‘He For She’ campaign by the UN also brings to light another glaring fact; that even after more than 5000 years of civilization, the idea of ensuring human rights for both men and women still remains a matter of debate rather than an accepted way of life.
How do we even question the prospect of denying equal rights and opportunities to 50% of our population under the cloak of morality or tradition, escapes me?
While we may be different, one is not more equal than the other. We are both essentially the sides of the same coin and complement each other.
By denying rights to women, we deny rights to the whole of humanity. We deny the contribution of half of humanity. It is in fact a denial of our own existence. Because we don’t live in neatly punctuated silos of being a ‘man’ or being a ‘woman’.
Our worlds intersect not only on the outside, but also on the inside.
For the simple fact, we are all born of both the mother and the father. We have both the masculine and feminine element in us; only one is more dominant than the other.
And to deny a part of you is to deny your totality.
When a father is with his children, doesn’t his love, his care, bring out the feminine aspects? Similarly when a woman is standing up to defend her rights, or becomes aggressive to protect herself or her loved ones, the masculine in her is brought alive.
In fact when I talk of the term Corporate Sufi – it brings together both the male and female aspects of life to present a unified whole.
While the Corporate aspect might express the masculine through its emphasis on drive, determination and focus, the softer feminine aspect shines through the Sufi element, with its focus on compassion, creativity, giving or looking a the big picture.
Also we have to realize that when we try to enslave the other, we too become enslaved. You have to give up your own freedom too.
I had a friend who spent a large part of his savings on buying his dream car – a brand new state of the art BMW. Not a day passed by; when he was not consumed by worry that someone would bang his car or damage it in some way. So much so he hardly drove his car and would prefer to use the subway to work. So now the question was about ‘who was owning whom?” Ultimately what you want to possess, ends up possessing you in return.
When men deny the right of women to be themselves, they somewhere have to compromise on their individuality as well. For example men are not allowed to cry, express their grief, or express their sensitive side, all in a bid to be more manly or authoritative.
One cannot be free unless the other is free too.
I am blessed with two children, a girl and a boy. While my younger son is studying, my daughter has graduated and working as a brand manager with Johnson & Johnson.
From a young girl in pigtails she has blossomed into this intelligent, articulate, and confident young woman, full of compassion and warmth. It’s a pleasure to see her evolve and grow everyday. When I think about their future, I want to ensure that both my kids have equal opportunity to express and live their complete selves.
In my own life, I would have never been able to live my dream of becoming an inspirational speaker, author and coach if my wife hadn’t supported me and taken the reins of our accounting practice. My life would be incomplete without her support.
If we all look around, we will find innumerable examples of how the women in our lives have supported us, nurtured us. Their contribution cannot be denied.
But it is a strange world we live in, where the idea of right and wrong is based more on the questions of race, ethnicity, religion or gender rather than on collective ideals of freedom, compassion and courage.
Across the world, women have lesser options in the most fundamental areas of their lives including health, financial freedom, taking family decisions, or freedom from violence.
I think it is time to unify our efforts. We all need to stand together as humanity and work together to eliminate all discriminatory laws, prejudices and out-dated social norms that limit our potentiality. It’s not their battle alone; it is a challenge we all have to overcome together.
Only when both women and men are able to participate fully and freely, can we then imagine living our totality.