Introduction
The broad issue of gender equality and empowerment of women has been discussed in length and depth by various stakeholders in society. In fact, the topic stands out as one of the most highly debated issues through the years. The continued occurrence of incidences of gender discrimination clearly points out that the debates are yet to yield their ultimate objectives. The primary contention in all such arguments is the continuous portrayal of women as a lesser gender and thus belittling the morality and feminine’s obligations in society. Male chauvinists, who consider themselves superior and more potent have continuously clung onto the belief that women are meant to be under men, and there is no single time at which the two genders will hold similar status or roles in society (Arunachalam, 2005). As a result, therefore, the participation of women in leadership and political matters of most nations have been significantly curtailed by such chauvinistic minds.
On the contrary, feminists believe that women, just like men, are equal and there should be no any other point of differentiation besides sexuality: what a man can do, a woman can do better. In the same regard, some theories have been put forward, to among other things, the champion for the end to discrimination of women in employment, access to education, leadership roles and even reproductive rights.
Ethical issues
This paper will address two major ethical issues surrounding equality of women in society: access to education and equal access to leadership roles and positions. Nelson Mandela, the first black president of the independent South Africa once said that education is the only weapon an individual can use to change society as it has the power to alter the mind and trigger ideas that not only seek prosperity but also nurture similar minds to follow suit. Segregation of women regarding access to education is not only retrogressive but also unethical as it denies women an equal chance to participate in development programs within the community. Similarly, leadership is not reserved for one gender alone. In fact, in all democracies of the world, both women and men have equal rights to vote and choose their leaders. It thus sounds quite ironical and further beats logic that women can only vote to elect male leaders and have no right to either vie for or vote for fellow women.
Access to education
According to the World Bank report of 2012 on poverty and literacy levels in the world, women constitute more than two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population. In Sub-Saharan Africa for instance, retrogressive and archaic practices such female genital mutilation and forced marriages have been cited as the major causes for low literacy levels amongst women. Young girls as young as ten to fifteen years are pulled out of schools and married off to old men in the guise of upholding customary practices and culture (Gerhard, Brown, & Cooper, 2011). The case is no different in the Middle East; educated women are considered violent and rebellious. Young girls, rather than being allowed to attend school are therefore abducted and taken to provide sexual satisfaction to extremist fighters such as the Jihad and the Islamic State militants. In such Arabic countries, the role of women continues to be siring children and providing sexual satisfaction to the husband. In extreme cases, a few women that defile all odds to pursue education are denied employment and instead reprimanded by society as being bad role models to others. The issue of access to education, therefore, remains a thorny issue that has constantly been used by men to demeanor women in society.
Access to leadership roles and positions
In the entire 18th century, and even some parts of the 19th century, there was no single woman head of state. In Africa for example, the first woman to attain such a position was Her Excellency, Madam Hellene Johnson Sirleaf who contested and won the presidency in Liberia in 2011. Women are not only segregated against in politics but even in religion. For example, the Catholic Church, the perceived universal church, does not allow women to take up the priesthood. The same case applies to the Muslim religion; there are no women Kadhis. The broader society has thus been manipulated to believe that leadership is the unique preserve of men. Throughout history, women have been perceived to take up complimentary roles to those of men but not the central positions. Failure to implement an all gender-inclusive leadership in society has its drawbacks. Able women who have all it takes to provide visionary leadership cannot exercise such abilities since the societal forces do not allow.
In a move to accept failure, the men-dominated society has resorted to affirmative action where certain leadership positions have been created to try and attain gender balance. In Kenya for example, the national government with two hundred and seventy members of parliament had only sixteen elected female members of parliament. In a quick response, the constitution was altered to create the position of women representatives in each of the forty-seven counties so as to bring the total number of female members to about one hundred. The above highlights are apparent confirmations that even in the 20th century; some regions of the world believe that leadership cannot be entrusted to women.
Ethical theories
Besides the efforts of the various feminists, there are some ethical theories that attempt to expound on the need to implement equality in society. The manipulative notions that one gender is more superior to the other are in fact the causes of the constant conflicts in society. Issues such as domestic violence can be a thing of the past if gender equality is upheld. In the same way, family conflicts relating to property inheritance can be amicably solved if all people accepted that no unique role in society is reserved for a certain gender.
Utilitarianism Ethical Theory
According to this theory, the level of personal happiness or suffering as a result of individual actions is what matters most in any given situation (Geirsson, & Holmgren, 2010). Based on this definition, acting right is thus thought of as maximizing the level of happiness while minimizing or totally eliminating the amount of suffering. Utilitarian theorists further assert that for one to achieve such a status, he or she might be forced to either break or go against some of the traditionally accepted moral rules.
Utilitarianism Ethical Theory can be an apt persuasion to make people realize that gender equality is an ethical behavior in society. Think of a situation where a twelve-year-old girl is forcefully married off to a man the age of her father. Or worse still, a case where a young lady is denied opportunity to further her education just because she is of the feminine gender. In such situations, the instigators of such discriminative actions do not consider the level of suffering they inflict on the recipients of the actions. It is apparent when a conservative father marries off her daughter; he is only after receiving numerous heads of cattle as bride price and does not think of the psychological trauma he subjects the daughter to in the process.
Ethics demands that a harmoniously and cordially existing society is one in which every member is motivated to attend to individual roles. A motivated individual is the one who finds happiness and comfort to attend to the various assigned duties. In this case, therefore, the moral and most ethical solution would be to try and make everyone in society happy; let the girls pursue their studies and marry off when they are mature and ready. Similarly, there will be more happiness and suffering if women, just like men, are accorded sufficient platform and freedom to sell their political ideologies, gunner support and take up leadership positions. Continued segregation and discrimination of women on whatever grounds only increases suffering amongst women and hence goes against the Utilitarianism Ethical Theory.
Contract Ethical Theory
Contract ethics theory revolves around agreements between two conflicting groups or people. In any given instance, some rules and regulations govern such existence (Fakhry, 2011). If one group does the right thing, then it means such group is abiding by the laid norms and regulations and thereby brings agreement. Contract theorists, therefore, believe that ethics is not only about virtues such as characters, causal effects or principles but goes further to encompass all that eliminates conflict and yields agreement amongst rational members of society.
Going by the values as held by contract theorist, any form of gender discrimination, whether access to education or leadership roles, would be considered unethical for the sole reason that such acts breach agreements and yield conflicts. The case of the composition of the Kenyan national assembly was concrete evidence on how gender discrimination can easily yield a constitutional conflict and crises. Society is not made up of a single gender but instead two genders, male and female, which are expected to complement each other and not the current scenarios where the masculine gender has taken up patronage roles over the feminine gender. Contract theorists would expect that all members of society seek consensus when drafting and formulating policies and rules in society so as to guarantee individual comfort to each member.
When all members of society are comfortable with the moral principles governing the society, there are bound to be very few conflicts. There is likely to trigger minor conflicts when the same members get to understand that ethics sometimes demands going beyond the standard expectations of the society for the sake of making the entire humanity happy (McClain, & Grossman, 2009). However, the case is different where a few individuals force others to abide by what seems appealing to them. Hence, there is every need to enforce agreements in the society by ensuring that women possess such academic qualifications necessary for them to participate in policy making processes as well as hold leadership positions that allow them audience whenever there is a need for them to voice their compliments, concerns, and discomforts.
Conclusion
It is surprising that the issue of gender inequality has never found a concrete solution even in the 20th century. Even in the countries that are considered most democratic, there are still traces of gender prejudice meted against women. As a result, therefore, there is a need for global efforts so as to fight this menace. No gender is less superior to the other. It is only that people develop different personalities and abilities due to different circumstances, culture, and environment. The entire society should be made to accept the fact that given a similar platform, both women and women can compete favorable for the common good of society. Healthy competitions are not meant as a display of might or superiority over others but instead to ensure that the community gets the best out of the available options. I firmly believe that the starting point, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East would be the internalization and the implementation of the two ethical theories as discussed in this paper so as to eliminate conflicts and disagreements and subsequently encourage happy and cordial co-existence of both genders.
References
Arunachalam, J. (2005). Women's equality: A struggle for survival. New Delhi: Gyan Publ. House.
Fakhry, M. (2011). Ethical theories in Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Geirsson, H., & Holmgren, M. R. (2010). Ethical theory: A concise anthology. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview Press.
Gerhard, U., Brown, A., & Cooper, B. (2011). Debating women's equality: Toward a feminist theory of law from a European perspective. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers Univ. Pr.
McClain, L. C., & Grossman, J. L. (2009). Gender equality: Dimensions of women's equal citizenship. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University Press.
