EQUAL IN RESPECT,
DIFFERENT IN ROLE
The term ‘gender equality’ was used for the first time in Europe in the late nineteenth century. To begin with, it was used only to argue for women’s right to vote. However, it later came to be adopted to describe the equality of both sexes in every respect.
This term spread rapidly all over the Western world as an expression describing the ideal status of men and women. In the second half of the twentieth century, extensive research was carried out on this subject, and this concept began to be doubted. The latest study on this was done by an IIT-Delhi alumnus, which the media extensively covered.
A study team led by Ragini Verma, associate professor of radiology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, has revealed stark differences between men and women in the structural connections linking different regions of their brains. Verma and her colleagues are among the first to demonstrate differences in the brain’s hardwiring to support long-standing observations of gender differences in functional tasks.
Their findings appeared in the US Journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on December 2, 2013.
The researchers’ findings only confirm the Islamic position in the first quarter of the seventh century. Islam says that men and women are different by birth rather than being identical. Both are complementary to each other. This fact is referred to in the Quran in these words, “You [men and women] are members of one another.” (3:195)
According to another verse of the Quran, everything has been created in pairs: “We created pairs of all things” (51: 49)
In the material world, every atom consists of positive and negative particles. In the plant and animal worlds, there are males and females. The human world consists of men and women. This pairing system of the world means that everything functions in a pair fashion. In other words, nature works on the principle of complementarity rather than in an independent manner.
Observing this natural fact, one can say that using the term ‘gender equality’ to express the relationship between men and women is not realistic. The correct statement based on nature is: ‘Men and women are equal in respect and different in roles.’
