WOMEN ARE NOT A MINORITY

Women are not a minority. I have never understood how the current leadership of “Woman’s Movement” has allowed itself to be subsumed, politically, into the smaller entity of minorities. That certainly wasn’t the case with the Suffragettes, or the World War II women’s movement identified by “Rosie the Riveter”. And, in any case, logically and statistically women are the majority: In the United States, African Americans/Blacks are 12% of the population, and this percentage will be static into the future according to demographics, Hispanics are about 25% and rising rapidly. WOMEN ARE 53% of the population!! Men, in fact, are less than 50% and, at least statistically, they are therefore more eligible to be classified with Hispanics and Blacks as minorities than women.

      An interesting possible consequence of this statistical reality is that if the current U.S. Administration policy of deporting minorities who have criminal records is implemented across the board, then the President of the United States should be deported. I think Scotland would have apoplexy at the thought, but it is a logical conclusion!!

      Joking aside (maybe), why on earth have women let themselves be pigeon-holed in this manner. You would think that the “Me-Too” movement, and even the conservative “Tea Party” female Republicans, would have learned how to use their majority status, but they don’t seem to do so. I can’t believe they haven’t thought of it. They even have a beautiful historical precedent in the Greek play “Lysistrata”, an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, first performed in 411 BC, where the women of Athens banded together to deny sexual favors to their men in order to stop those men going to war. Hey, ladies, it works … and very effectively!

      Women are in the majority in most aspects of life in the Western world, and in many other countries as well. Yes, there is still a heavy “glass ceiling” in the business world, but even that is under continuous assault. Women make up almost 56% of college graduates, with men trailing way behind at 46%. The future appears to be theirs, so why aren’t they taking advantage of their commanding position?

      Ah! Well! I hear you cry, they have to stay home and look after the kids and the home, but even that obviously condescending comment ignores the fact that even women who choose to do that, or, as in many cases, are forced by society to do it, control the whole household, and their men, who are out working, normally just visit the house for about half a day, most of that time asleep. Women know their power, but they have been trained by their mothers, and society, as well as by their husbands and boyfriends, to ignore it. Perhaps, the 21^st Century is the time when they wake up. It wouldn’t take much, the power is already there, it just needs recognition and organization.

      In the meantime, in my humble opinion, the women’s movement, in the broadest sense of that term, has to separate itself from the cause of minorities, valid though that cause is, because: One, that cause doesn’t reflect women’s reality; two, it abrogates women’s power and their contributions to society; and three, it is a stupid waste of a valuable, perhaps critical, resource for the improvement and perhaps even survival, of the human race.

      Am I being melodramatic … yes; am I right … yes; am I calling for a takeover for which I am on the wrong side … yes; is this a stupid idea … no. What have we, as society, got to lose, apart from our male machos … and look where those have got us historically.

      Fifty-three per cent (53%) of the world’s brainpower and energy is being underused at present. With all the problems we face, socially, economically, environmentally, and most-of-all politically, can we afford to let women stay in their historical roles. Even us men need all the help we can get, and the answer, in significant part, is right next to us. Ladies, please wake up and exercise your power and abilities.