The Truth Revealed: Women ARE Different Than Men!

March 8, 2011, is International Women’s Day. For the last 100 years, this has been a day for celebrating women around the world and the progress that women have made socially and economically. Having grown up in the United States, I can look back and see the progress that women have made in terms of reaching higher levels of equality and being more empowered, but still it seems as though women are not yet considered equals with men. This is even more evident in other countries around the world. So I wonder, with all of our industrial and technological advances, education and conscious growth, why can’t we overcome this issue?

I think the most important point that we keep on missing both with women’s rights and equality issues in general is that differences in people do not qualify them as more or less important than each other. Women keep asking the world to see them as equally important, and the world keeps answering with “but you are different.” It is as if there are two different conversations going on. Women are not asking the world to ignore that they are different than men, just as a person of color is not asking other people to see them as white.  

The problem does not lie in noticing differences. In fact, as human beings we are great at noticing the differences between other people and ourselves. We are programmed that way. Psychologically speaking, it is this ability to notice differences in others and compare others with ourselves that helps us to build a concept in our minds of who we are. The problem with this is when we put things on a “better/worse” scale or a ladder of hierarchy. Instead of just noting differences, we want to judge them as better or worse, stronger or weaker, etc. than ourselves. Unfortunately this distorts the reality of the situation.

The reality is that humankind exists not on a ladder of importance but in a shared plane of existence where although we are nearly identical in our genetic makeup, each is unique as well, and can thus make a unique contribution to the whole.

Take a look at the human body for example and decide which organ is most important. Some will argue the brain, some will say heart, and others still will give another answer. The realistic answer to this question is…the most important part becomes any missing part because without all parts, the whole is diminished or dead.

The same is true with humanity. Each member plays a significant part in the completion of the whole through their unique contribution that is their life. This includes men and women of all origins alike. Everybody is somebody. Every one is interdependent with the other with the actions or inactions of one always affecting those around them. We are one race…the human race. It is not now, nor has it ever been a question of who is more important.

So, how do we really get there? How do we get to a place where we no longer have to concern ourselves with who is more important? The good news is that we don’t have to shut our eyes and stop noticing differences between ourselves and others. In fact, that is counterintuitive and counterproductive. Noticing the differences in others allows you to see their strengths and how they contribute. It helps us to deeply love, respect and appreciate one another. It also helps us to see our own uniqueness. It might even help you see where you can help someone else.

Using words such as “same” and “different” are not dangerous when we compare ourselves with others. They are words of observation. In fact if we remember that we as human beings are both “same and different” and this in no way affects our equality with one another, it helps us to avoid the dangerous words such as “better” or “worse”.  

Gender differences teach us this lesson better than any other example in the universe. When comparing men and women, any remotely observant person can recognize that there are not only differences in appearance but fundamental differences between men and women. Thankfully so. For it is these differences that literally make it possible to continue on with the human race.