by Ian Roth

Created on: August 27, 2008

Our culture has a tendency to get so caught up in ensuring equality that we will conflate being equal with being identical. Being equal is not the same as being identical.

Equality ought to be the right of every human being regardless of gender and current legislature in the western world has made great strides to making gender equality a reality. A woman should not feel that her liberties are in any way restricted because of her gender and I feel our society is progressing in this respect. However, in the midst of this progress we need to remember that males and females are not the same. The difference between genders far exceeds genitalia and pretending these differences don't exist is repressive and closed-minded.

There are a number of fundamental physiological differences between males and females that should not be ignored. The example I will use is hormones because it is both obvious and significant. Almost everyone is aware that the higher levels of testosterone present in males allows them to build muscle mass at a higher rate but it also affects performance in other areas. There is plenty of evidence to suggest high testosterone levels also increases aggressiveness and competitive drive. Estrogen, by contrast, is believed to encourage maternal feelings and empathy. While the affects of these hormones might not be drastic enough to be noticed on a case-to-case basis they can be used to draw general conclusions about genders such as "men make better boxers" or "women are better at raising children." I am aware that as soon as generalizations like those are made it is the reaction of nearly anyone to begin thinking of exceptions. You may know a woman who can out fight nearly any man or a stay-at-home father who has raised excellent children, but that is entirely beside the point. Most generalizations have exceptions but that doesn't make them less useful. The purpose of making generalizations is to have a basis on which to understand individuals without studying every single individual separately. In the case of genders it is important to understand and acknowledge what it means to be male and what it means to be female because it is an important aspect of human nature. For some reason in our culture it is okay to make stereotypes like "short people make poor point guards in basketball" but as soon as you say "women aren't as good at lifting heavy objects" you're liable to be crucified. This clinging to ignorance instead of accepting gender differences is ridiculous.

Males and females should have equal rights and should be free to pursue whatever careers or lifestyle they wish. It is wrong to impose roles or restrictions based on gender but it is also wrong to blindly ignore the differences between men and women. We need to accept that males and females are equal but different.

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