In a world of competition between different and various countries of the world, the battle has moved on - long ago - to between the two sexes; men and women. While men have long dominated the hardships of a career-born life for a number of reasons - respect, love and pride being on top of that list - women have long over-stepped the red lines put to them by societies and communities alike to prove one thing: that they are just as strong (and at times, better, too) at men's jobs and and they deserve the chance to take opportunities such as the ones that are vastly open to 'mankind'.
And while it's commendable for such a trend to surface up in a region such as the GCC, in general, and in a country such as the Sultanate of Oman, especially, and encouragingly, so. It's consequences go to lengths beyond imagination to which this writer tries to point out. Such as resulting in bringing down the female youth's interest in settling down and leaving the matter to a higher age and possibly (although, never proven) the reach out to other methods of 'satisfaction'.
Lifestyles have changed leading to more sicknesses, more mental problems with direct relation to work anxieties leading to an increase in depression cases and higher fatality rates in general all over the Arab world and one of the main reasons this is happening is the women's loss of interest in marriage and increased consciousness of general society welfare. This isn't to say that this is wrong. Women have a basic instinct of trying to take care of things and when put to the test, they dedicate their all to it until it is achieved even if it means isolating themselves from everything else that would distract them from that goal. Even if that means going against the society, the community in terms of legal bodies, authorities and societies at one go - just so long as they believe that they going along the path of the 'greater good'.
It is understandable that current market trends have pushed both men and women to extreme measures and fashions of the working culture, to the point whereby love, feeling and all the important things in a personal lifestyle take a backseat until a certain point in time they are brought up by 'special circumstances'. But that does not mean that it should be a permanent position that our society should ever adopt - ever.
A certain compromisation should be resolved - and desperately - before things get out of hand. A man should devote to his household as much time as he can so he can set an example to his wife, for instance, to prove that life isn't always about being 'professional'.
It is life's imperfections that let us enjoy it's fruits and, therefore, we must be willing to make sacrifices in order to embrace these fruits of our long-awaited much-need natural bliss.
Saturday, October 27, 2007
changing trends
Posted by Sleepless In Muscat at 23:51
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2 comments:
Although I agree with your overall point that balance is important in any culture, I have a hard time with the burden you impose on women. I would feel more comfortable saying that kids need their parents. However, your statement, although acknowledges that men need to provide quality time at home, is a bit chauvinistic. I quote “ A certain compromisation should be resolved - and desperately - before things get out of hand. A man should devote to his household as much time as he can so he can set an example to his wife, for instance, to prove that life isn't always about being 'professional'”. I don’t think that men need to set examples that the wife should follow. I think that the workplace and society can handle both sexes working. However for the sake of family and kids, I think the issue is our surrendering of our parenting rights. If “nanny-dependence” is eliminated beyond the work hours, and family bonds are once again revived, I don’t think we would have all of the byproducts you source as issues.
Otherwise, the workplace and the home life require equal contribution from both sexes and not just for example sake!
Per Your Request:
Glad to have you commenting back on the blog - thought you had given up on me ;o)
But, more to the topic, it was never my intention to impose or devalue the importance of the female gender ever. This topic had been nagging at me to write it for quite some time and I had to think it out very sensibly because it is in it's own - as you have witnessed - a sensitive subject.
I have no objection to women working, in fact I encourage it, gives them a sense of belonging to the society that they live in and a sense of purpose in their lives along with their natural born duties. When I set the example for a man to sacrifice some time for his household it was only as that - an example. Something that could probably spark a brainstorm session among the readers of the said articles.
The article's target was to focus on how, over the years, women have been a tremendous contribution to the society in their workplace, in their households and through their children. But I see, here in Oman, the growing epademic of the singledom factor - from both sexes - because of the focus on work more and less on settling down. In my opinion, that small factor, if not dealt with now, could possibly contribute to a more huge, future problem that no one could probably handle.
Thank you for your valued comment, it really got to me. :o)
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