Since the emergence of the #MeToo movement we have witnessed an awakening as we face up to the brutal reality in place when it comes to the female half of the population. Since time immemorial the male half of the human population have enjoyed a favoured status which has varied in scale across the planet. Some cultures have developed a more equal status between the sexes whilst others have chosen to persecute women in favour of men.
I’ve been an advocate of equality in the work place and I’ve seen this as a necessity and not just something that is nice to do. In any relationship we all strive for one thing above all others and this is fairness. According to the Oxford English dictionary the word fairness means acting impartial and ensuring just treatment or behaviour without favouritism or discrimination. So why do the male species deliberately set our not to be fair to women?
Examples of unfairness are being exposed daily across the world. We have 62 million girls around the world who are denied an education, which often dooms them to a life of poverty and dependence. In England we have witnessed the BBC coming out and admitting to wage disparity with different pay for women doing the same job as men. In India we are all now much more aware of the failure of the justice system to deal with rape cases. Child marriage is on the decline worldwide, but it’s still a major problem in a lot of countries. Unicef estimated in 2016 that 200 million women living today have undergone a female genitalia mutilation procedure.
The good news is the fact this ingrained unfairness is now being talked about and actions are being taken to improve the life of women. We have a very long journey ahead of us, and social media has had a major part to play in exposing many of the truly awful examples of abuse women have to suffer.
So often we hear about maids being abused in this part of the world and I cannot come to terms with the mental torture some young girls have to deal with when they arrive in the GCC from far away to take up a job in a household where the reach of the law is almost non-existent. Many must endure long hours with little rest, sexual abuse, physical abuse as well as mental torture.
It is not just here we have such problems. The BBC have a shocking expose on slavery currently being aired and I’ve just watched a story about Marish. She has been doing backbreaking domestic work seven days a week for a family who keep her enslaved. She is allowed to eat crumbs of food swept from the family’s table after they have enjoyed a hearty meal, which she has cooked and served up. She even tells them to “enjoy their food” before waiting outside, starving, until she must clear the plates away and eat the scraps. This is not some backward country but modern-day Hungary at the heart of Europe.
We can no longer turn our heads the other way.
Gordon is the former president and chief executive of BMMI. He can be reached at gordonboyle@hotmail.com.