How About We Give Greater – Not Just Equal – Rights to Women?!

Post Summary: Men holding the power is the fundamental structural impediment to ending global war and poverty and extending good health to all.

The Second(ary) Sex

Which astronauts will be the first to go to Mars, men or women? Seems like women win this race.(“Study finds female astronauts more efficient, suggesting future space missions with all-female crews”). But in politics and in leadership generally women have almost always been relegated to subordinate roles.

The US still doesn’t have any constitutional right to equal rights for women. That’s not just a legal issue; it’s the most powerful systemic reason that humanity as a whole will never be able to achieve peace and equity for its inhabitants.

Activists have been trying but failing to pass an Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) for women. The last attempt failed, albeit narrowly, in the late 1970s. But, as they say, a miss is as good as a mile.

Now they’re trying again, bless their hearts. Maybe I’m a just a curmudgeon but I don’t think an ERA would bring the social benefits I would want, even if, as the snowflakes melted in hell, it actually got passed. Here’s my reasoning.

It seems to me that as long as men are in power, we will continue to exercise it in the aggressive and warlike way we all know and understand, because that’s the wetware that men are born with. Warlike isn’t only about wars abroad, it’s about wars at home, such as guns, systemic aggression, domestic violence, sexual domination and so on.

End the Men’s ERA

As long as men are dominant in the political, social and economic spheres, humanity can never achieve the noble ideals that religion, philosophers and idealists have dreamed of since the beginning of Man. It’s only if we hand the reins to women that we have any chance to overcome the malign effects of the cognitive biases that drive most men, and some women too it must be admitted.

However, we were designed and created, it wasn’t because the designer necessarily wanted to create people who would make things better. It’s just that the creator wanted a class of humans who could conceive, develop and care for children and in the process, do the same thing for their other fellow humans. That’s what women were initially designed for.

If you give the power to men, you get societies just like we have today, and that will never change, because we will never change the brains and behaviors of men, constitutional changes notwithstanding. The only hope we have to rejig the deck chairs is to hand that power over to women.

Not give equal power and rights to men, because the men will always fight that to the grave. That’s the way we are designed and made. So, ERA, for all its enlightened idealism, isn’t the answer. It’s just another step on the road to ultimate perdition.

Plus ça Change

You have to give women more power than men if you want this all to work, otherwise if they’re equal, it’s the same old s***.

Once you give women more rights, they have the wherewithal to promote peaceful and caring behavior to most men. It’s not a guarantee but it’s better than what we’ve had for the past few hundred thousand years.

De-Man-ize

So, what does it all take?

Most senior level appointments in politics economics, education and the rest should go to women with men encouraged for the right behaviors but with women holding the reigns to make sure that those who disobey are suitably treated and if need be, punished. At least 50% of corporate directors should be women, as a matter of law (the Scandinavians got that one right).

I’ve been talking specifically about women. Maybe we should limit our chosen ones just to mothers, not to women generally. 

It guarantees we’ll get the right strong mix of caring and love that will foment the right social and behavioral practices that nature snuffed out in so many men. We’ll get the right mix of emotional and mental health along with the better physical health that women generally insist on.

Sustainability vs Safety

So much is made these days of the importance of what we call sustainability in acting as the steward for a badly diseased planet. But we have lost sight of the fundamental human need for safety. What does a sustainable planet count for if none of us are safe? From war, violence, oppression, sickness, poverty and so on.

In seeking sustainability, we have prioritized the physical condition of the planet and ignored the importance of safety which predominantly and ultimately derive from female cognition, behaviors and mentalities that are needed to create loving, caring and safe societies.

We need to elevate these safety issues to the top level of society and enshrine them in our laws and behaviors.

Giving women superior rights to men is one of the first steps we need to take to achieve this progression.

It won’t be easy but everything else doesn’t work.

Cherchez la femme.