GIFT TO HUMANITY: – By Joe Van Langenberg

By virtue of the fact that International Day for Women falls today, it is only fitting to extol the virtues of one of God’s greatest gifts, if not the greatest gift to man in particular & to humanity in general. In medieval times, women were more often than not, regarded as second-class citizens, who were expected to serve their husbands hand & foot.Those times have since been buried in the limbo of forgotten things, with the skeletons not only biting the dust, but literally turning to dust in their entirety. We now live in different times, when past injustices towards the fairer sex, have since been chalked up to experiments gone horribly wrong. And we also live in an era, when women can exercise their rights; including the freedom of expression & movement, without let or hindrance. To get down to essentials: Regrettably, even at this point in time, when intolerance & discrimination towards women should be non-existent; vestiges of bigotry & male chauvinism emerge to the surface in dribs & drabs, reducing women to virtual irrelevance. And that is a crying shame, which needs to stop pronto. Hearteningly though, with the emergence of womens’ emancipation movements & females securing positions of power in high, enviable places, the pendulum has swung full circle, giving women a place in the sun, a place which they so richly deserve. A woman’s work is never complete. She is the glue which keeps the family together, when situations threaten to go pear-shaped. In the workplace, a woman at times faces sexual harassment from those finding it hard to control their biological urges; while turning a deaf ear to inappropriate, unsavoury remarks, with suggestive connotations. And this she does with dignity, tact & finesse, while suffering fools gladly, just to keep the peace. Women don’t deserve to be publicly ridiculed Nor should they be taken for granted, under-valued, or used as door-mats.They are people with feelings, no different from their male counterparts.They are an integral part & parcel of creation, who need to be respected.