IT WAS NATURE’S WAY
You can often see male dominance in several animal species. Males are generally larger, stronger, and more aggressive than their female counterparts. This provides them with a considerable advantage in asserting dominance. This behaviour is also observed among one of our closest living relatives, the chimpanzees. Common chimpanzee groups are manifestly patriarchal. Males are vicious towards females, they take their food, forcibly copulate with females that are ovulating and even kill them merely for spending time away from the group. Males also spend their lives in the group they were born into, whereas females leave at adolescence. This is eerily similar to a human behavioural phenomenon called the patrilocal residence; where a man remains in his father’s house after reaching maturity and brings his wife to live with his family after marriage. Though it is tempting to assume male dominance as the natural state of human society, it isn’t. The only job animals have for their entire life is to survive; and find food and shelter, hunt, and make sure that they do not become prey to predators. The strong look after the weak. So it makes sense that the stronger, more powerful members of the family take charge. Leaving the males in control and creating titles like the “alpha male”. But in our case it’s different, we have something that no other animal species on the planet has: The gift of intelligence, the ability to think and invent. We, humans, have climbed so high on the evolutionary tree, that we require a little more than just staying alive to survive in society. We no longer have to fight for staying alive( at least not literally), this is a civilised society where there are rules protecting people, and people have certain rights, “human rights” they call them. Starting with the very basics, we need food and shelter to survive, for which we need to pay, to do that we require money which can be obtained by working. Work that women can do as well as any man. Then why discriminate? We are clinging to these wild and primitive patriarchal practices and saying that it is nature’s way. It WAS nature’s way now it’s not.
-Vimmi Bhuva X
