HOSEI WOMEN - MEN AND WOMEN ARE FUNDAMENTALLY EQUAL

All over the world, being a woman is a huge responsibility. Apart from being raised to be care-givers, home managers, obedient and dutiful from childhood, irrespective of the fact that their deeds are appreciated and acknowledged by the loved ones they labor on or not; they are saddled with cultural, traditional and religious rules and doctrines that sometimes conflict with their personal care and interest. As a woman, because of our biological composition and upbringing, service to our loved and unloved ones is what we do. It comes naturally, we don't even question it, even if we do so at the detriment of our own well-being. While this is commendable and worthy of accolades, it can be a death trap for women that:

¤ Are involved with men that do not have the same sense of obligation and duty to family and loved/unloved ones,

¤ Find themselves in abusive relationships,

¤ Are women who have not learned to love themselves.

No matter what any upbringing, culture, traditional and religion has taught us as a people, if it is burdensome, harmful, abusive or self-damaging, we have the right and duty to say No to it. Anytime a woman says no to being treated disrespectfully, or to being abused, or to being taken for granted, or being unloved by her man, she is tagged "proud", "rebellious", "arrogant", "unsubmissive" not only by the man but by the society, including her family. This is so because we have all been taught to think so by patriarchy.  

Patriarchy in culture, in traditions, and in religion. However, considering the catastrophic effects such reasoning is causing in relationships and our society today, we need to change our mentality to be more progressive and inclusive of the equality and rights of both sexes. Men and women are human beings equal in rights and dignity. One is not lesser than the other. They should be treated equally. It is their human rights. So if a man deserves love, so does a woman. If he deserves respect, so does a woman. If he doesn't want to be taken for granted, a woman does not want to be taken for granted too. If a man should be served, the woman should be served also.

For a relationship to be healthy and balanced, it must be mutually beneficial; where both parties are responsible and accountable to one another. We have to stop placing all the responsibility of a successful relationship on the woman. That is the root of the cancer destroying homes and the people in them. A lot of women have lost their lives literally and figuratively due to this unfair, unrealistic, and cruel expectations placed on them.

Life is to be enjoyed and not to be endured!