Birth Mark

Throughout history, many attempts have been made to render every human being in the planet as equal. Despite major efforts and changes, such goal has not yet being achieved. There are still many ways in which discrimination manages to constantly appear in the every day life. As it is well know, the victors write history. It also seems as though those who lose must endure in order to have another battle. But after power has been in someone’s hands for so long, the battles are simply a farce theatrical presentation in order to justify power holdings. There are barriers that are acceptable to be crossed so long as those at the base of the discrimination pyramid remain at the bottom. Special attention should be placed in that pillar because it would be the most difficult to destroy in the quest for equality. Women are that basis because the patriarchal society, which we inhabit, prevents women from being treated as equal from the moment of birth.
Barriers have been crossed in order to attain equality. Humanity appears to have come a long way since the days of slavery from the first recorded slavery shipment to America in 1619 to November 4, 2008 when a half African and half stereotypical American man was elected president of the United States. But that is not the only inequality that affects people. Racism is, of course, one of the biggest problems to affect the world. It still remains even though it hides in the shadows of what seems to be equality. Yet, there are other types of inequality that still have a very strong hold in the across borders. Jean Jacques Rousseau wrote about natural inequalities, which were to be age, intellect, and health, while he also spoke of unnatural inequalities, which are contrived and come from acquiring property and enhanced by said equal inequalities. Poverty levels rather than decrease seem to increase as days pass by. The world is not the world of the merchantilist. As a result, the amount of wealth is not believed to be fixed anymore; yet the attempts to alleviate poverty fail. Perhaps it is simply because the correct ways to lessen the problem are not the ones used. Rousseau’s writing might be taken as a blue print for how to solve the problem through the healthy, intellectually capable and who are an appropriate age to rigorously work on a solution. This should not be taken to mean that Thomas Malthus’ idea of letting the poor die should be implemented because poverty does not justify death.
The separation of classes is taken as the most common or well-recognized form of inequality. Then, there is the division of the races, which is extremely prominent in the matters of discrimination. It was thought to be the biggest obstacle to surpass in order to achieve equality. It is also irrational since we are all one race: human. But most people pretend to have amnesia when it comes to recognizing sexism. The preference for the men in the world as opposed to the women is strictly evident in the double standards in which society is ran. It becomes clear that fear is what triggers such detrimental treatment of one of the halves that ensures the continual existence of the human race. Patriarchal society allows for men to step over women as they please even though women strive to end such violation of their rights on an every day basis. It is true that measures have been taken in order to address the problem and put an end to it. Nevertheless, those are baby steps compared to the equality that is to be reached because women still remain second hand citizens in any county around the globe. Women’s accomplishments have been so great that many countries have already been lead by women. But there is the key of the problem: it is an accomplishment. It should not be so. Since we are all supposed to be all equal, then the opportunity for one sex or the other to become the head of state should be, redundantly, equal. But such is not the case: for men, leading a country is the norm; for women, is a triumph that must be marked in history.
The difference that must be recognized and overcome is the one that marks a newborn girl as someone whose achievements would be out of the ordinary and unexpected, and a newborn boy as destined to be successful.


xoxo,
Poison Drops


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