This is the age of the computer. Information is available throughout the world via the internet. Education is more readily available today then it was a hundred years ago. Women now contribute to the society not simply by being homemakers, they are out there making up a huge percentage of the workforce. There are women now in all walks of life. It has become commonplace for women to be in law enforcement, quick response teams, the military and many other fields which were previously dominated by men.
The women in these professions earned their places by hard work and dedication. Sometimes, they sacrificed everything they had to do their jobs. This has made it easier for other women to follow in their footsteps. Yet still all over the world women are oppressed. They are looked down upon in many ways. They are considered incapable of looking after themselves. Women are patronised and not only by religious fanatics who misinterpret the holy word but by well educated men and other women.
I have recently met a few people who consider the women they are dating to be totally incapable of taking care of themselves. One of them use the poor excuse that the woman he is dating is young and immature. While that may be true, she is not a total imbecile. This is just one of the many ways that women are looked down upon. Why is it that people are slowly accepting a woman's place in the workforce yet, consider women still totally incapable of self preservation?
It is in not merely annoying, it is insulting. Imagine telling a young professional man that it is not safe to take a cab home at night alone? He'd laugh. However, no one thinks twice about telling a woman the same thing. What makes a woman more vulnerable? This is the day and age where men are raped as well as women. We perpetuate the image that women are weaker and easier targets simply by handing out this random bits of advice. If more people started advicing men to be mor careful as well as women, perhaps a criminal will start thinking that maybe a women is not such an easy prey after all. People are people the world over. The fact the they are male or female is just a random choice of nature. Women don't have the words 'weaker sex' tattooed across their forehead and men are not stronger simply because they are men.
Start treating people as individuals and not as male or female. There are strong individuals and there are weak individuals, what gender they may be is completely irrelevant.
Just Me.