There are always loud voices – more male than female – that insist that government could be brought very close to perfection if only all those other people had some clear and incorruptible moral standards. The difficulty with this is that there are no absolute standards of morality which are accepted by all of the people all of the time. There are, of course, well-meaning people who are very sure that their particular brand of religion has all of the answers and they work very hard to graft it to body of secular law. In their innocent convictions they come very close, I think, to declaring that they, and they alone, know the mind of God. Surely, if this is not a blasphemy, it is at the very least a colossal impertinence.
Whenever there is an argument about politics, somebody within or close to the centres of political power makes a public display of entrees from his morality menu. When claiming to have an infallible ability to discern what is right and what is wrong, they sometimes sermonize loudly for selfish reasons. Sometimes their reasoning is as weighty as a bag filled with feathers. What they seek is power. The male minority would do well to realize this.
The media delight in publishing accounts of prominent men with the power to hire and fire, men who subject their female associates to sexual abuse up to and including rape. Although many more women are naming their abusers, the laws of the land move slowly and uncertainly in convicting and sentencing the abusers. What women need is a country-wide law which a priorimandates that every woman in any legal form of employment have a pay scale and benefits equal to those of any man in the same employment. Having a womb in no way limits intellectual capacity.
Some politicians are still courting the anti-abortion movement. Although abortion is a moral issue, wise politicians know that, like the women who are victims of sexual abuse, a silent majority of women who vote outnumber the voluble opponents of legalized abortion. That is reality.
Another issue which comes to the fore when the political arena is involved in the hyperbolic arguments of an election is gun control. Certainly this is an issue more prominent in the United States but the controversy that surrounds guns and their use is still not over in Canada. I must confess that I feel sympathy for my rugged friends (mostly male) who feel threatened by gun control legislation, but it would be dishonest of me to wade into the moral argument. I have never owned a gun that shoots real bullets. If I were to purchase one I would need a very good reason for spending the money. Presumably, I would want to shoot with it, but I have never been able to decide whom or what I should shoot. I am unable to join in the vociferous arguments for any further relaxation in gun control legislation. The female majority, most of whom haven’t said anything, have already decided. For them, guns are symbols of male dominance and male violence. They don’t want the big boys to play with them anymore.
I have had the good fortune to live my life as a male. Most women have a harder time of it, I think. Now, women constitute a majority of voters, the silent majority, who intend to have what they want. Lordly males will continue to make long-winded speeches and strut around like peacocks, but women will be more deeply involved in all the important political decisions. Now, women are taking control of local riding associations and female candidates are being appointed. Their political opponents will discount them at their peril. This, too, is reality.
As their power grows, the silent female majorities, wherever they may be, might succeed in making this world a better place in which to live. Speaking as a male, I hope they do and I hope, in the process, they will be gentle with us.
