A Curse To Share The Burdens But Not The Rights
Life is unfair and one of its manifestations is inequality. Inequality always subsists in life, and it has been prevailing in several parts of our daily activities. Inequality had its dark shadows over the rights of men and women in the history of mankind. Women needed someone to speak up for their rights opposing the biased system that was being practiced. Elizabeth C. Stanton was among the few who took part in the first women right movements in the United States. She pioneered to resolve the unjust by drafting the “Declaration of Sentiments”. The Sentiments made a noticeable impact in which today’s women in the United States are experiencing rights they never had in the days of Elizabeth Stanton. Although this sentiment has brought an incredible impact on the rights of women in United States, there are a lot of women who are suffering being under the absolute tyranny of men all over the world. Speaking of suffering women, most women in Ethiopia are deprived of their most sacred rights. Just like those past days of Stanton, the worth of a woman in Ethiopia is measured based on the role she plays as a wife and as a mother, and in some regions of the country women have a next to no value. A law that is similar to the “Declaration of Sentiments” should be implemented in Ethiopia because they deserve to exercise their rights to earn equal wages and own property, their right to claim authority in church, and their rights to equal educational access.
Throughout history there are moments were humankind has been in a constant battle over things that create differences among a community. One significant prejudicial problem causing the world a hassle is the lack of justice in the workplace among men and women. Unequal pay for equal work has been a practice bleeding out the courage and commitment out of women, impoverishing their competitiveness. Stanton’s statements enlighten that “men have taken all the women’s right in property, even to the wages she earns”. A woman is a person just as a man is a person, if an individual takes care of the job right, he or she ought to be paid for doing as such, if not, that person receives the consequences. As long as women are doing the same work as a man and sometimes even better, it should not be acceptable for a discrepancy in the wage difference allowing one to get a lower income. Equal pay for equal work is the best policy to create unbiased society. As clearly stated by Stanton, “man has monopolized nearly all the profitable employments, and from those women are permitted to follow, women receive but scanty remuneration”. Compared to the old ages a few changes can be seen in the urban zones of Ethiopia where there are technological advancements, mechanical headways, providing them access to education and employment. Nonetheless, even when they get the opportunity to be employed, they hold occupations with extremely poor pay.
As Stanton stated on the sentiments, “man has denied women the facilities for obtaining a through education, closing all the colleges against her.” Apparently, most women in Ethiopia are not able to make it to secondary school let alone colleges. Staying at home, women experience extreme hardship doing everything from carrying heavy loads over long distance to manually grinding corn. Being considered as the weak creatures, parents give several excuses to keep their daughters at home doing housework instead of sending them to school. Some of the excuses are that she might get rapped, hurt, or kidnapped on the way to school considering boys are strong enough to practice whatever they wanted. The facts may demonstrate that women are physically weaker, but it is not because they lack natural fitness, but they are discouraged from building muscles resembling a man’s figure claiming that building strong muscle is for men only. A society and governmental leadership without the insight of the importance of educating women will never be able to achieve its goal and is likely to disintegrate into pieces because women have their own key roles to play.
Women being created equal by the creator with similar capacities, and a similar sense of accountability for their activity, its palpably the right and responsibility of women and men to embrace each moral means. When referring to the church system and administration in Ethiopia men claim that women are subordinates and man is the representation of God here on earth making himself god over her. This concept of inequality in the church is not based on the original religion concepts but rather through cultural influence and social manipulations. The culture that pertained in the country is mainly dominated by masculinity and using this as a cover, men have developed a monopoly over women. For example, in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church women are not allowed to be in the high administrative organization of a church because men are the only ones believed to be chosen and ordained by God. What made everything worse is our representation of the higher spiritual beings and how they relate them to gender. When it comes to Ethiopia, God is mainly represented as a “He” which paved a way for men to reflect dominancy over women. For years men overruled women. Women have been given a common image as someone to have children, to cook, to clean, and someone who does not deserve to have rights. On the other end of the spectrum, men are taught to be someone to rule over women, to vote, and allowed to speak in public. However, the contributions of women for the development and advancements that The United States has attained now is evidential proof of what women can do when given the opportunity and privilege. Ethiopian women also deserve just treatment as human beings and the rights as citizens. It’s a wise move to give women the worth of their value.
