Almost ending all discussions, Freud thundered, ‘Women can’t contribute to civilization’. With there being very little input from the fairer sex in history compared to men, Freud almost got scot free with his statement. However, with women going through suppression, due to, what the feminists call patriarchy, while it was natural for him to say so, as a reaction, it was not unnatural for feminists to accuse him of being a male chauvinist either. No wonder, the endless clash between feminists and Freudians reminds one of clash of civilizations.
However, irrespective of the clash, her lack of noticeable contributions to history’s pocket civilizations was not due to her innate inability. It was due to her lack of awareness. With men having the key to her awareness, feminists, again, were not wrong in blaming patriarchy for her small contribution in history. Having no education, being stuck at home and not really allowed to express their views outside, it was, in fact, difficult to expect contribution from them. In fact, with no rights, their lives at times were miserable and women’s empowerment was never even thought of.
Almost constituting empowerment of women, today we see that women are not only contributing but are fully reaping the benefit of modern civilization. With its help, they in fact, have unleashed their powers, never known in human history. Their success statistics in many fields is staggering. They have achieved this success in just a single century, when they were given the opportunity to educate themselves and work outside home. They, however, have not succeeded in politics. In fact, Afghanistan has got more female MPs than Canada. This is simply because political parties follow a process of selection of candidates and don’t give enough seats to women. Leaving politics aside, did they contribute to the formation of this civilization, which has given them so much?
Almost as an answer, while less of her education made her contribute less than men, more of his arrogance did not notice, even those.
Nevertheless, her contributions went parallel to that of men, at least in significance, if not in quantity. Interestingly, while modern civilization not managing without computers is well known, a woman as a first computer programmer is less known. Paralleling this, many other women contributors and their contributions are relatively less known. Men’s contributions, on the other hand, get luckier by the day.
It is interesting that unlike ‘pocket civilizations’, modern civilization, uniquely, has been formed by contribution of people from many ‘pocket civilizations’. Parallel to it, women from different cultures have contributed to the formation of this civilization. In its discussion about the past, present and future of mankind, noting this discrepancy, the book ‘Women’s Power: Its Past, Its present, Its Future: Femocracy’ recognises not only the contribution made by women from the west but by women from of other cultures as well.
