Men and women are not only the binaries of human race complimenting each other in their biological roles but also supplementing their respective contributions of the development of human societies. Equal as humans, both are gifted with their unique strengths by which a well-rounded progress of the human race is possible. Their respective uniqueness calls for gender equity, which is the fairness of treatment according to their respective needs and a better guarantor of gender equilibrium. This fairness of treatment “may include equal treatment or treatment that is different, but which is considered equivalent in terms of rights, benefits, obligations, and opportunities” (Forbes).
Gender Equilibrium
This makes equilibrium not a state but a process, and not static but dynamic, evolving through continuous, back and forth, and mutual adjustments between the roles of the two genders.
Generally, it is women who are at a disadvantage in the power imbalance. We envisage a safe society for women. A society safe for women is the one where women can develop their mental and physical faculties as humans, and fully exploit various potentials without fears and apprehensions; where they are not demeaned for being women, for being physically weaker, not exploited for being fair sex, and not subjected to misogynistic underpinnings of the patriarchal system. A safe society is where women are provided for their needs while performing their duties as homemakers, and they do not have to leave the peace of their homes to earn for themselves and their children; where they are not expected to perform double duties of mothers and breadwinners at the same time; and at the same time they are free to decide how and when to utilize their various potentials in public sphere; a society where as equal human beings, they are free to possess property and bank balance, earn and spend their money at will, be part of the decision making process at various familial, social and national levels, while not compromising their right to be respected and valued as mothers, wives, daughters, and sisters, so that society can also benefit from their feminine strengths. A safe society is where women are not commodified either by ages old traditional or tribal mindsets, patriarchal setups, or by the modern capitalist system on the basis of their sexuality.
This needs not only the development of women folk into educated, self-aware, and conscientious members of society, but also the moral and ethical development of the society as a whole. We cannot dream of such conditions without taking on board the male members. Comprehensive human development is only possible when both men and women are committed to an agreed plan of action. This is a point of convergence between the global program for women empowerment and our local imperatives. By all cultural indices we are a highly collectivist society; keeping the social fabric intact is an all-time priority. A framework of achieving better gender equilibrium consistent with our local sensibilities can work most efficiently in terms of sustainability.
We also need to address contemporary variants of the subject such as the social construction of gender as a spectrum and the issue of inclusivity.