“Should men and women’s equality be conditional?”

Women should be paid and treated the same as men in all walks of life. Women should be given the respect that they deserve in the form of equal pay and the confidence to women that have earned it. Women are certainly qualified, capable, skilled and educated to do the same jobs as men and maybe more so than a lot of men. Men, especially white men, have been afforded the benefit of the doubt and at times are handed opportunities that they are not qualified for. Some experts have come to the determination that white men are given opportunities simply because of who they know or the fact that they resemble those making the hiring decisions. There are career driven women and stay at home moms that provide value to their employers and their families. Are women valued the same as men when on equal footing? When men and women have the ability to be on a level playing field, then women should be both valued the same and should also have equal expectations. Women’s inequality is a subject that continues to get overlooked and swept under the rug. There are many people that need to adjust their thought process and do the right thing on both sides.

Should women’s equality be conditional? Once we fix the inequities does chivalry go away? Are women taking advantage of chivalry by benefiting from being treated differently because of their gender, using the damsel in distress when convenient? No matter what our genders are, we can all use a little help from time to time because we simply are not great at everything. Should men never be expected to cook because women are expected to do it? Should dads not be stay at home dad’s when it is in the best interest of the family to do so? Men can certainly be providers while women are nurturers; however, men should not be expected to provide all or the majority of the financial support when the woman is working and can contribute to the household. Everyone should be treated with equality and respect but there should not be conditions when it is convenient if it benefits one gender or another. Within relationships there can be a mutual benefit to equally shared responsibilities in the household or relationship. Physically couples can equally share the things that keep the house in order such as grocery shopping, cooking, cleaning, taking out the trash and laundry. Financially, the household expenses can be more than effectively managed when both persons are equally contributing to the house fund. Encouragement should come from both persons as the relationship is not in place to support only one gender. Let’s demand equality regardless of gender. Let’s change our own perspectives so we do not negatively contribute to the notion of inequality. Let’s categorize chivalry as a desired action related to the courtship of one person from another and not an excuse to benefit from gender inequality.

I would love to hear your thoughts in the form of a comment!