That we are a male-dominated society is beyond question. In our homes, men are self-appointed heads of families. The male word is the law, his finger is the power/command. The bulk of household chores is in the hands of women: cooking, laundry, washing of pots, pans, dishes. Women tidy residences, sweep yards, huts, houses or bungalows. For granddads, dads, husbands, sons, uncles, nephews on the other hand, theirs is to relax, play, read, watch TV, now and then entertain male friends with drinks and gossips. Yes, it’s not only women who gossip, men gossip big time! Some men may volunteer to do household chores, those are exceptions. Normally, women are house-slaves.
For reward, women are berated, abused, beaten up, scandalised and not infrequently murdered for no rhyme or reason, except that they are hapless women! Women are unrepresented in local Government Councils, Parliament, Ntlo ya Dikgosi. They have no consolation in religious institutions either. Men treat women like doormats. Why is this? My wife often teases me when I pester her for a favour: “I don’t know what you’ll do without me…!” I am not such a useless bugger as she insinuates. She is aware I play a complimentary role in our relationship. She knows there are things she can do or do better which I may not be capable of doing or capable of doing better; just as there may be things I may excel at. The unvarnished truth is, much of the time we compliment each other. In the absence of either of us from the companionship, the isolated one is likely to suffer inconvenience of some form. Why won’t men admit the incontrovertible fact? Population demographics show that men and women are in equilibrium. Here and there women may be in excess in one place and men more than women in another place, but to a large extent there’s balance between female and male components of human population. More importantly, without male and female, procreation wouldn’t happen. We would become extinct as a species. Why then, has there to be this conflict that men wage interminably against their partners? Why do we discriminate and oppress our counterparts? Often we seem to be intent on annihilating them.
