The 'Superior' Gender
I remember the stressful days of Chemistry practicals when I was in secondary school.
After the practical, the teacher in charge (let's just call him Mr. Jide) would ask us to stay back to clean up the laboratory.
Mr. Jide would divide us into groups of five and he would give us specific apparatus to return to the storeroom.
We would do this. All of us. Girls and boys alike.
Then came the issue of sweeping the laboratory.
Mr. Jide, ignorant as he was, would ask the boys to leave, and when he was challenged by us, the girls, he would say
"Boys aren't supposed to sweep. That's a girl's job. Have you ever seen your father sweeping?"
This happened every time we had chemistry practicals.
This experience made me wonder what made boys better than us, than me.
Most of the boys would agree with Mr. Jide and would go back to their classrooms smirking.
A few would however beg to differ and would even sweep the laboratory.
I still remember this and it saddens me that most of these boys would grow into adulthood with that mentality.
They would see themselves as the superior gender and would treat their wives, daughters and maybe even their mothers with disdain.
Mr. Jide was not the only teacher that implied the superiority of boys.
A healthworker, a female one to be precise, a mother, I might add, came to speak to us in our dormitory.
She made a statement that struck me and made me realize that the rot runs deep.
We had complained to the school management, I don't even remember what the complaint was about, but she was sent to speak to us.
She said and I quote ". . .Girls are supposed to be seen but not heard. . ."
I didn't listen to another word from her.
This haunts my thoughts till date.
The sad truth is that people like this still exist and are everywhere.
They are the reason why there's even a need to battle for equality of the sexes.
Comments
Post a Comment