I have always been an advocate for women. Well duh, I am a woman.
We have come such a long way in terms of rights, we have a lot of opportunities that the women of past generations only dreamed of.
However, while I strongly believe that men and women should be afforded the same opportunities whenever possible, I also strongly believe that we should not be considered the same.
We are biologically and inherently not the same, it is a fact.
Our respective genders have different strengths and weaknesses, we are made to do different things. We are not better or worse than each other, but we are different.
Rather than promoting the idea that men and women are the same, we should be working towards dissolving the idea that men are better than women.
Many argue that men are simply better at more things than women, which makes them better over all.
However, I am confident that if you gave a list of 100 things men are good at, I could promptly give you a list of 101 things women excel at as well.
The roots of the view that women are inferior to men are so deep that we have given up at examining and evaluating that idea. We believe that men are better, faster and stronger, but we don’t even know why we believe that. Being a woman is a wonderful thing that is completely disregarded.
This summer, Always (a company which makes feminine products amongst other things) started a campaign which aimed to break down and redefine the commonly used “like a girl” insult.
This phrase is often used amongst young boys to ridicule other young boys. It indicates that if you do something “like a girl” you are not strong, fast, intelligent and agile like men are supposed to be.
Thus, making you weak, emotional, sensitive and fragile, like a girl.
The campaign included a video (which can be found on youtube) in which men and women of varying ages were asked to do different actions “like a girl”. For example, they were instructed to run like a girl, throw like a girl and fight like a girl.
Most of this questions resulted in dainty and even comical actions. You could tell that they were trying to be funny, but you could also tell that they acted that way because that is truly what “like a girl” meant to them.
Even the youngest of the girls had this idea already ingrained within her. She knew doing something “like a girl” wasn’t good.
So how do we erase this? Do we train ourselves to run faster and be stronger and tougher so we can compete with men?
The answer to that is, most certainly not.
By trying to make ourselves more like men, we are taking away all that is good, special and unique about being a woman. And in all honesty, we can’t make ourselves like men.
As much as I train or practice, my skills will never be identical to a man’s. But we often forget that a man’s skills will never match mine either. Maybe we can’t run as fast, but we can bear children, we can nurture, we can be leaders, we can think critically, we can pay attention to detail, we can remember even the smallest facts, we can be pretty much whatever we want and do a damn good job.
As the Always campaign video explains, “I mean, yes, I kick like a girl and swim like a girl and I walk like a girl and I wake up in the morning like a girl because I am a girl. And that’s not something I should be ashamed of…Why can’t run like a girl also mean win the race?”
Bridget Goedke
Senior Viewpoints Editor
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