Monday, July 27, 2009

Gender Relations

I was reading Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States," and it describes the culture of the Iroquois Indians, which is fascinating. The Iroquois had a matrilineal society, which should not be confused with matriarchal. Family lines were traced through the mothers and when a man would marry he joined the family of his wife. Chiefs and tribal leaders were men, but they were selected by the women and could be ousted by the women. If a woman wanted a divorce, she simply left her husband's things outside the hut. Women grew the crops and men hunted.
I reflected on this and thought... maybe they were on to something.
What if our society functioned like that? What if men held all the political offices, but only women could vote? I'm not advocating it, but I think it could work.
Men would govern, but if they deviated from the will of the women they would be replaced. It would provide a balance like two kids sharing a dessert; one gets to cut and the other gets to choose the first piece.


Some feminists want everything to be exactly equal for the genders in every aspect of society. No rights denied, but also no special treatment. The Equal Rights Amendment was never ratified because rational minds prevailed. It is OK for men and women to be different, because we are different. I'm not just talking about extra appendages or lack thereof. We are wired differently. Women are more empathic and therefore better able to console an upset child. Men are stronger and are better able to build things and defend their families. Obviously, these traits lie on a bell curve. There are women out there who could kick my ass, and there are men out there that weep openly when a fictional character in a movie loses a loved one. I'm talking about the gender differences of the majority, which are many and beneficial to our society; I say embrace them.

No comments: