SHOULD GENDER ROLE BE A THING?

Gender roles are just a thing. They’re a concept that we crafted, mostly non-consciously, but certainly consciously. They existed during a period of human existence in which certain pressures forced our species to conform in order to survive. One half of all humanity would perish before their 15th birthday. Just to ensure population growth (which was required given the economics of the era), a woman would need to be pregnant basically non-stop for over a decade. To ensure that there were enough children to till the fields and marry off to some fellow down the road, a woman would need to give birth to at least NINE children.

 

That pressure forced women to stay at home. Food was scarce. There were no public schools. There were no hospitals as we know of them. The #1 killer of women was child birth. There were no modern diapers. There was no modern breast milk replacement (formula). There was no baby food. There were no day care centers. There was ONLY a mom who was frequently pregnant, nursing and/or caring for an elderly relative. That means, no time for education, working in government or waging war.

Power collected around men, who had free time and —it just so happens— lots of upper body strength. So gender roles existed for thousands of years NOT BECAUSE THEY WERE GOOD OR BAD but because they simply were needed for survival. Today, we’ve crossed a point in technology, medicine and science where those specific gender roles are not only unnecessary, but they’re oppressive and humiliating. This is our world. We live with different pressures.

Gender roles were a necessary thing. Then they weren’t. Now they’re fading, however slowly. This is how history works. The environment is the agent of selection. Once an agent of selection fades, the quality it forces to persist fades as well.

 

 

Orehware Abdulazeez Haruna

Os/21c/1355

Quantity Survey

University of Ilorin

Kogi State