This article in the Weekly Georgian Journal caught my eye. It was entitled Gender Equality in Georgia. By Nugzar B. Ruhadze (an elderly gentleman by his picture). I am not going to comment on this. I leave it to your imaginations. I will say that the language is somehow charmingly Goergian.
“Gender equality has always been a big talk of the world, slightly modifying the term at times and adjusting it to various interpretations of the notion, like gender equity, gender egalitarianism, sexual equality, etc. Whatever the word, discussion of the theme is usually connected with injustices, perpetrated by men against women, and women’s rights, which will always be an issue as long as humanity continues functioning. How about gender equality in Georgia?
The level of veneration of women by men in this culture has always been extremely high. In words of course—not in deeds. I would dare say! Is the picture changing today? Yes, it is, but only in a weird way. Up until the time when westernization (Let’s not confuse it with modernization) made its way into our society things were stable—a man ruled the roost and a woman delivered in compliance with what the dominant bread winner deigned to design and speak. Not any more! And still, most of the families in Georgia are moving at a snail’s pace in this direction. The tradition of male dominance is so strong here that it will probably take a while until we are completely westernized in this respect. The situation is changing in a totally different direction though. Some of the transformations in our national way of thinking and the new trends of economic development are bringing around funny little things that were not heard of before. The result is that gender equality has totally disappeared in Georgia—women have lately become so much better than men in this country. Women have turned themselves into breadwinners—not cocky and dominant as man, by the way. They are doing their wonderful job in the role of faithful and industrious daughters, wives, and mothers, doing this without even the vestige of self-conceit and haughtiness. They are making all the money in the house and they still continue serving their husbands like slaves. They are taking care of their families and still keep being obedient servants of their kids and loafing spouses. Coeds do much better at schools than their male counterparts, trashing them academically and utterly defying the traditional thinking about the difference between male and female smarts.”
(From The Weekly Georgian Journal, Thursday 18-24 February 2010, 6(137) 1-2.
Now I will post a comment to my own post. I don't know if this perspective is accurate. Most of the students in my doctoral class are women, by far the majority. I don't know much about family life. I still see plenty of middle aged women in babuskas shopping for oranges and mushrooms at the same shops I go to. I see both men and women picking up their kids at day care centers. I will observe that there is probably a glass ceiling in the highest reaches of government. But in the middle reaches, women have a prominent place.
ReplyDeleteMiles