Women

Before Jack Tan and Mary Yuan finally decided to get married, they had a long discussion about how marriage might affect their future careers. "We had always believed in the equality of sexes," Jack explained with a glance at his wife. "We couldn't see any important reason why either of us should give up a promising career." Mrs. Tan nodded in agreement as her husband continued, "We assumed that there would be problems if both husband and wife had full-time jobs but we thought that we would be able to solve them."

"At the time of our marriage," Mary said, "I was a research analyst for a financial services company. My job was to research companies in Asia, so this involved a lot of travelling. Jack was an assistant professor at a local university, specializing in microbiology. His work involved trips overseas to attend conferences and meet colleagues working in the same field. Sometimes we didn't meet for a week or more. Life was tough at first."

That was eight years ago. Jack and Mary have kept to their belief in equality. Jack is now a professor with a growing international reputation. Mary has moved on and is now the chief executive officer in a big firm with branches throughout Southeast Asia. Her sharp eye and (so she says) female insight have helped her company to spot new markets and make some highly profitable sales in them.

On the home front, the young couple have met most of the problems they expected to come up, and have been quite successful in dealing with them. Much of their success is personal to them: their joint income makes it possible for them to employ two maids. One maid doubles as a cook. The other takes their two children to school, brings them home and helps to bring them up with both discipline and real affection.

Jack and Mary are intelligent or lucky—or both. They have shown that it is possible for husband and wife to follow a career while raising a family at the same time. Some couples are not so fortunate, and the question of the role of women in the community is still being hotly discussed.

In the early part of the 20th century, women were not allowed to vote in most Asian and Western countries. They were viewed largely as possessions of their husband or family. That attitude has almost disappeared but the change has created a number of problems, not all of which have been fully recognized or properly solved.

There are some jobs for which women are more suitable than men. Women tend to be more sympathetic and less aggressive than men. They are more affectionate and patient with children. Thus women are in the majority in such fields as nursing and teaching. They are more honest than men in jobs which involve handling money. Thus they are preferred to men in posts such as those of cashier, bank teller and check-out staff at supermarkets. In most other fields (including the police and fire service) women are gradually proving that they can do at least as good a job as a man.

But has equality brought some unexpected problems with it—problems which affect the community and the women themselves? The number of single-parent families has risen greatly. In North America and Europe, as many as a third of all babies are born to unmarried women. The mother then has the extremely difficult job of earning a living while running a home and looking after her children by herself.

While equality of the sexes has been beneficial to women in many ways—particularly in the job market—it has brought some unpleasant results. Apart from the increase in one-parent families (in which the woman is the one who suffers), it has also led many men to abandon the normally polite treatment of women. At one time, men would give up their seat to a woman on a crowded bus but that politeness has all but disappeared. "If women are equal," a typical male argues, "let them stand like we do."

The concept of genuine equality of sexes is a comparatively new one—and one which has not yet been fully accepted in many parts of the world. In the U. S. A., UK and several other countries, sexism (or unfair treatment of either sex) is not allowed by law but still occurs in various unnoticed ways. In many large businesses, fewer women are promoted to senior positions. If they are promoted, their salary may be less than that of a man doing the same job.

While it cannot be denied that the cause of equality of sexes has come a long way in a comparatively short period of time, the victory is not yet complete.