DEBOLUWAJI: Who says it’s a Man’s world? Think again!

If it comes to sheer muscle, and bullying, there’s no contesting man’s relative superiority over the opposite sex, in a universal sense. But in almost every other attribute outside physical strength, a woman measures up to her male counterpart level to level. Indeed, accepting that no sex has an edge over the other in the light of prevailing realities is merely being charitable. Let’s face it, shall we? There’s a sense in which we must admit that a woman has a clear edge, all considered.

You don’t need to be a feminist to know that the age-old talk of male superiority flies in the face of overwhelming facts and grossly underrates women’s credibility, power, control and overall credential, to such level that men are beginning to be the worst for this machoistic assumption.

Let’s look at the FAMILY for instance. In articulating the strength of the average woman, there is no better place to start than here, for obvious reasons. Family is the bedrock of the society. By the way, the family as we know it in my nation Nigeria has a female as mother, male as father and their children. If we agree with the assertion that man is basically the product of nature and nurture, then the dominant behavioural pattern discernible in our people within our various communities are largely a reflection of our upbringing coupled with environmental influences and conditioned by the rule of law.

The values we promote at home and in our schools are what we carry into our broader communities. These are ultimately the stuff our men are made up. It is indisputable therefore that the dominant foundational block for societal values are mothers.

Women’s ability at multi-tasking is unmatchable, which explains why they can be mothers, wives, grandmothers, great cooks, counselors and career leaders all at the same time with near perfection. Man’s nature is too conceited, temperamental, hasty and rash to combine half of these roles without losing his cool.

Good mothers are ever so conscious of these basic obligations, that no matter how their spouses turn out - good or bad, supportive or abusive, only the woman is blamed 100% should her children turn out badly. This responsibility has a biblical root too: Proverbs 13:1 says “A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son is grief to his mother”. How true this is! Have you ever seen any father who publicly identifies with a rogue son? Yet, you’ll find him in the forefront of the camera for his celebrity children, even if he was largely an absentee father for much of their growing up years.

Personally, I think the odds stacked against women are unfairly high. However, the unintended consequences are that they have become the better for it. Within the context of the Nigerian family, pervasive doctrine of a man being a superior specie, starting with the profuse adulation at his birth and the exceptional pampering while growing up, these have worked largely towards his disadvantage. The final product is often an indolent, barely ambitious, unaccountable, egoistic, some woman’s burden, who often overrates his achievements.

On the other hand, the combination of societal bias and spousal problems have often fired up women to exceed expectations and dispel prejudices. When you feel the need to prove a point, no obstacle is insurmountable. In a natural sense, how far and fast can you run when nothing is pursuing you nor are you in pursuit of any? The result is that today, women are front liners in virtually all professions and careers, recording outstanding achievements, matching men, at any level and in any capacity.

Yet, there an edge that must be credited to women: they also constitute the unseen power behind the visible POWER. Few men in their exalted positions in government, industries, enterprise, ministries and any calling across the world would deny the profound roles of their wives in their rise to stardom.

Hundreds of men across the ages who fell from Olympian heights to disgraceful lows on account of the opposite sex, given the choice again, would have wished to handle matters relating to women with greater discretion. Samson in the Book of Judges 13-16 was a man of tremendous strength who could not be defeated by nations but fell to the intrigue of a woman! If this story seems far-fetched, just look all around you and see how many great ministries and great leaders have crashed, victims of vengeful women.

In the area of SPIRITUALITY and having less inhibitions relating with God, on the balance of numbers, men are arguably in the minority. it is incontestable that wives are in the forefront in most homes when it comes to who keep a prayerful watch over the family. This explains why you are always likely to see more of praying mothers and praying wives. The publication on the power of praying husbands stays longest on the bookseller’s shelve.

Bringing our comparisons closer, history was made today 30^th May, 2020 as Elon Musk’s SpaceX propelled two American astronauts – Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken into Orbit from Florida, this being the first time in 9 years such is happening on US soil. Yet, space exploration has long ceased to be the preserve of men. Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet astronaut, was the first woman in space. Since then, there have been about 40 women from the US alone who served on various space shuttle flights between 1983 and 2011 following the footsteps of Sally Ride, the first American woman to go into space.

In POLITICS, women have held their own fairly well. Some nations in their most prosperous years have been led by women. Margaret Thatcher of United Kingdom (1979 -90) India’s two -time Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi (1966 -1977) and (1980 to 1984) Golda Meir of Isreal (1969 – 1974), Vigdis Finnbogadothirn of Finland (1980 –1996) and Corazon Aquinno of the Philipines (1986 to 1992), among others.

Women at the top echelon of governments used to be few and far between. It was considered a rare feat. But not anymore. You only need to look at the statistics in recent years to know that the trend has changed, perhaps irreversibly. There are far more American women at different levels of governments now than at any other time in that nation’s history.

Theresa May, UK’s Prime Minister (2016 to 2019) is without doubt another example of a remarkable leader, even if much of her administration was enmeshed in the Brexit brouhaha. As I write this, there are at least 20 countries around the world where women are the Number 1 citizen, each having outstanding results to show for her leadership.

As against the tough-talking, do-little, sheer bravado of many of their male counterparts, women’s leadership style is decisive, compassionate and resourceful. No wonder they have gotten better results in the handling the Cocid 19 pandemic so far in almost all the countries they lead.

A cursory look at current figures of fatalities in the US (103,000 deaths), United Kingdom (38,161deaths) and Brazil (25,000 deaths) contrast sharply with countries that have women as presidents or prime Ministers. Notable among these worthy examples are Saara Kuugongelwa’s NAMINBIA (0 death), Aung San Suukyi’s MYANMAR (6 deaths); Jacinda Andem’s NEW ZEALAND (22deaths) Zukana Caputova’s SLOVAKIA (28 deaths), Katrin Jakobstotir’s ICELAND (10 deaths), Sheikh Hasina’s BAMGLADESH ( 610 deaths) and Angela Merkel’s GERMANY (8,594 deaths).