If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.) - Part 6

If Women Ruled the World - Sheila Ellison (ed.)

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 113

  April 23, 2017 

Book 32 - If Women Ruled the World -
How to Create the World We Want to Live In
Sheila Ellison (ed.) (2004)
 Part 6 - pages 217-260
Reading Time - 45 minutes

The last section has expanded out to the International level. There is one quote that really struck me in here... "the sword of murder is not the balance of justice". Going out and bombing the Taliban, killing innocent women and children as "collateral damage"... murder... is NOT justice. Putting inmates to death for their heinous crimes is NOT justice. What would we come up with instead? One of the stories suggested an General Congress of International Women to settle international questions... to address the issue of peace. An intriguing idea.

There is, of course, the growing issue of gender inequality... purely in terms of numbers. Throughout the world, there are an average of 1050 females for every 1000 males. That is considered "normal", I think (although Wikipedia does not agree). Anyhow... bear with me... in China, there are 100 females for every 117 males. In India, there are 927 females for every 1000 males. There is a sex ratio imbalance in some of these countries. Mostly, it's because girls are seen as less desirable than boys. China imposed that 1 child rule a few years ago and couples then wanted a male child as their only child. Lots of aborted female fetuses. The thing is... in Wikipedia, as of 2014, the global sex ratio is 107 boys to every 100 girls. Given the huge population of India and China... makes me wonder if the global numbers have been skewed since this book I'm reading was written. The thing is... it means there are a lot more men out there, men who will have a hard time finding a wife. But... if you're looking for cannon fodder to fight wars... you've got a tonne of young men at the ready. Sooo... if Women Ruled the World... we'd make sure that baby girls were always a cause for celebration!

There are a bunch of other cool things in this chapter... but it ends with a sobering thought. Women are not morally superior to men... there have been cases in history of crazy power-hungry women (think the Borgias in Italy). Neither end of the pendulum is the answer (men rule or women rule)... we need to rule Together... valuing each others gifts and talents. It's the only answer....