Marginalized commodities

Addressing the issues which affect women and the matters which make them second class citizens, is a problem that spirals and whirls around leading back to a single point (the beginning if you will). A problem that is rooted in cultural customs and traditions. It is the problem / injustice of valuating women based on an antiquated concepts which leave them as commodities, worth only what they can offer their male counterparts in the way of children (oft times male children). This is a complex environment where-by the exact reasons for valuing women is the same reason she is marginalized and belittled. I dare say, disenfranchised. She is prized for her ability to, submissively perform her cultural “duties” as child bearer. Yet the sword is double edged… For that same reason is her condemnation.

Countless countries make a practice of polygamy (men having more than one “wife”), which in turn causes surges in populations. In countries where men’s virility is based in the number of wives and children he has, it would seem to be a huge benefit to the “men” to follow customary traditions. (It has only been as necessary to do so by those who felt they had the most to gain from such subjugation). The strains of population and the effects this population has on resources are devastating, on many levels. However, the women in these environments risk ridicule, ostracism, and even being cast out of their homes if they are not compliant.

When populations are in need of modification, women’s wombs become the topic of patriarchal policy. In instance after instance one need not look too far to find evidence to support this fact. If a population believes there are not enough members of a said community (or there is projected to be a future deficit, with in a given generation) the demands are placed on her to procreate, where- by giving a false sense of value to those who comply and ostracizes those who cannot or “will not. In other instances, if a community is believed to have too many members (or it is projected to have a future surge within a given generation), the sanctions which are placed are strategically placed on the woman. The penalties are heavy and severe, for violating or choosing top make independent decisions on her own reproduction.

For this same reason, when countries, which consider themselves more progressive and places itself in the position of “Parental-Leader” to its people, have substantial population surges… Their answer is to impose laws which strip the natural reproductive rights of women, from them. In these instances, if a woman chooses to reproduce (conceive a child) without governmental consent she has one of a few options… 1.) abort the pregnancy (and there is no set time frame in which this is done. Whenever she is caught she will be forcibly aborted) 2.)Pay fines which can equal to 5 years salary and if unable to pay all property and possessions are taken and surrendered to the government (so it is obvious who benefits from this ) or 3.)Secretly give birth in unhealthy and of times unsanitary conditions (by way of going into hiding). This option runs the risk of trying to raise a child that is considered a non person who is not entitled to legal, educational or governmental options. This last option has led to extremes in familial decisions. One decision circling back to another horrific outcome.. Of which is the selling of the child (usually by the male “head of the household” and the child is usually a female child or a subordinate male child) to a trafficker, for less than one years salary.

This has led to a disproportion in gender (gender imbalance) whereby leaving one to two generations of males without options to marry “traditionally“. Thereby opening the market to traffickers, even further, to kidnap or purchase unwanted young girls for the purpose of future marriage. In patriarchal cultures where the male child is valued more highly than female children, the practice of aborting unwanted genders (female offspring) has increased exponentially (we have modern science’s free handed intrusion on reproduction to thank for this option). Entrenching the disparity in the appreciation of the plight of a women’s value.

To speak to gender imbalance and empowering women, from a matter-of-fact and more appreciative perspective, there is a logical solution. Polyandry…In this a woman has the option to have multiple husbands. This satisfies the fundamental need to group in family units and controls the population (Logic: A woman can only reproduce on average once per year or 18 months, not counting the nursing period where by the ability to reproduce is severely diminished. This in stark contrast to polyandry‘s opposite whereby one man can reproduce with “all” of his wives in the same time frame whereby having as many children as he has wives, in that same year.). This approach shifts the valuation of women from being possessions and second class citizens to being principal owners of their lives and existences.

As it stands in many countries, today, the voices of women are heralded as insignificant and often go ignored. It has long been time for a reconsideration of the patriarchal societal hierarchy and for that same pachrioracal societal hierarchy to relinquish the strangle hold that believes itself entitled to have, on the women it desperately needs for without whom, said hierarchy, could not survive. This would, in turn, cause a reassessment of traditional priorities and their relevance to the actual world around them. Yet, this seems more than logical. It is necessary. For what are traditions? They are guidelines set by ancestors, long since departed, created to assist them, in the world in which they lived, expected to be followed by their descendants. There is no crime or dishonor in adjusting and modifying those traditions to fit the present day and age… If we do not address and correct what is horrifically wrong, what are we truly leaving as legacy for our progeny?

What is more important, doing what is necessary to adapt, survive and evolve? Or preserving some false sense of superiority over a power source which you cannot, and will not be able to bridal, harness, restrain or contain? In essence the object of patriarchal divergence is their single most important (and necessary) being… WOMAN.
A call for addressing this maze of lunacy which surrounds the valuation of women, is not only over due but inevitable. Viewing women as commodities and our wombs as political platforms is no longer acceptable. I must reiterate. the exact reasons for valuing women is the same reason she is marginalized and belittled. I dare say, disenfranchised. Change comes in one or two ways, amiably and voluntarily or through struggle and conflict. This change must be met amiably.