It is a truism that the world would be a better place if there was more gender equity. I recently read that even the arms industry is introducing LGBTQ days and looking for female CEOs. Apparently they find some women CEOs, occasionally.
On this 8th March 2022 my mind was occupied with the war in Ukraine. Women and children are suffering, men are fighting. Without a shade of doubt, there is too much Testosterone in politics. War is a male thing.
The image below was taken at a lunch meeting of a side-event of the recent OSCE (Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe). For those not familiar with Europe, the OSCE is something like a mini-UN for Europe, having emerged from the Helsinki Conference. There has been a discussion, in German media, on the possible association of some of the participants with the arms industry, but this is not the point. I do not want to hazard a guess on how many of the participants were genuinely interested in peace, but I am fairly confident that the majority of guests were in favour of showing strength. The only invited woman – who was late and faced with this scenario – decided to skip lunch.
I am sick and tired of this war business, posturing, and alpha males who feel the need to compensate for the size of their manhood.
I am sure that there are many men, who think similar. Together with the 50 percent of the world population that happens to be female, we constitute the majority of people and we abhor the use of violence for solving conflicts or nursing our egos.
For world women day, I would wish that women do not strive for claiming a place in male governance and leadership. But for defining leadership and governance in a new way. Feminist foreign policy is a very good start. Every day should be women’s day.
It might be possible for women to enter, influence and eventually take over the current system of power. But I would favour a different system of authority, competence and inspiration. If this fails, let’s go for a broad-based feminist revolution….
More Insights from Outside the Bubble
Detlef can be contacted via detlefpalm55@gmail.com .
I wonder what the 13th floor might have to say about this article ? It cannot be challenged demographically, so when might we expect them to take your lead ?
ReplyDeleteFor many of my 27 years in UNICEF, I fought to incorporate women into leadership positions in the offices where I represented UNICEF. In Guatemala and Central American, women made up the core of our leadership heading up 3 of the 5 countries; in Pakistan our key top 4 positions were held very capably by women; In Nairobi, I was the sole male on the management team of the R.O. In Bolivia our team consisted of 4 men and 5 women. Two strong and intelligent women held the position of Regional Director in the Americas. Tongue in cheek, I have ranted often that women should be charged with running the world while men can make the coffee, cut the grass, run errands, be stay at home Dads for their young children or play golf and I am convinced that our world would be a much better place. And tomorrow (3/12) my dear wife and I will have been married for 58 years. Much of my success and happiness has depended on her toughness and intelligence during 9 moves around the globe and how we together raised 6 children.
ReplyDeletegood argument, Detlef, and poignant photo
ReplyDeleteYes, feminist leadership now. Before it is too late.
ReplyDeleteAs always, Detlef's makes points that make us think or rethink issues and take different perspectives. While there is surely not much to argue about in terms of testosterone driven male behaviors, the contention that female leadership would be less confrontational or less warlike is a point we can debate. In so many cultures, we have in addition to the usual nurturing role models for women, also powerful images of powerful female dieties: Diana, Athena( ?) ..Durga etc. Also, the very qualities that we think marks women, also make them for example, superb snipers. In WW ll, as you all will know, some of the top snipers in the Soviet army were women. And then we have the Women who led their countries in war in recent years: Indira Gandhi; Margaret Thatcher, Golda Meyer etc. Surely, the issue is that while we have both male/female attributes in different proportions, its the socialization that matters. Its the militarization of culture that makes societies more open to and permissive of conflict as a first rather than last ditch option and goes hand in hand with being able to position the other as somehow demonic and so less deserving of our humanity....We also have to ask how the 1949 Geneva Conventions are being administered? Do we need to amend these to now take hybrid warfare, civil war, ethnic conflicts and the actions of non state actors into the equation? The Churchillian dictum that Jaw Jaw is better than War War seems not to resonate with leaderships, whether in Russia, Yemen, Ethiopia, Tigre, Myanmar etc....Again, thanks Detlef....
ReplyDeleteOn women in leadership positions, I can attest after years of working on the ground with urban poor women in Philippine ciites, to their impressive capacities to address and manage their communities effectively in the context of poverty, discrimination and, most recently, the pandemic. When organized into women-led People's Organizations, they are able to contront power in strong but non-violent ways. They know how to keep unrelentingly persistent in asserting their perspecitves (after years of doing the same with their husband-partner-father-brothers), how to assess the official power-holder's weak points and pressure there, negotiate cleverly, and still remain friends with their "oppressors" afterwards. The same applies when they get into highler positions of government power (with only a few exceptions) If women ran the world (and the Catholic Church, as I keep telling my bishop and priest friends since I teach at a Jesuit university), it would be run more efficiently, democratically and compassionately, resulting in more inclusive, non-warring and just societies. So there! Mary Racelis
ReplyDelete