MY KIND OF (WO)MEN

March is International Women's Month as declared by the United Nations. It cannot be denied that many women worldwide had been victims of gender bias in the form of sexual, phsyical, verbal, economic and other forms of abuses. The United Nations and the different governments have no choice but to exercise their police power. It is necessary for them to regulate human behavior especially how men treat, perceive, and love women. The following is an adaptation of my earlier article published in Manila Times Regional Paper, Vigan Edition. Of course this would not have passed the editorial standard of the paper without the assistance of an esteemed friend who happens to be a writer, Teddy Molina. Here's the article:

Let me not pass this chance to extol the women in our universe for their great achievements in society, the state, and throughout the global village. No, I’m not referring to the traditional view of women that simplifies them as a mothering group.
I like to believe that gone are the days when women were regarded as inferior to men, as was the case in ancient Japan when they would walk behind their men in public.

In fact, I’m afraid the day will come when men will end up as the marginalized sector in society. When that happens, the sexist and gender bias phrase, “behind the success or failure of a man is a woman”, will become obsolete and irrelevant. It would be the other way around!

The picture is scary. Past and present successes of women in fields dominated or had been lorded over by men are very telling. It can be said that some of these women achievers emerged in the “battle”, while men watched or, at least, dillydallied. Let me mention some of them whom

I admiringly call "my kind of women."

First in my list is Joan of Arc, a national hero in France. She lived between 1412 to 1431. She was on earth for only 29 years, yet hers was a life well-lived, making history in the process. At age 19, she commanded French soldiers and emerged victorious at the Battle of Orleans. The battle was part of the French struggle against British invaders.

I should take off my hat, too, to Rosa Parks who didn’t yield her seat to a white individual in a bus full of people as was the regulated practice in the US then. Her single act triggered the Montgomery Bus Boycott, highlighting the US Civil rights movement. She was a strong advocate of human rights concerns.

In the political world, I have special esteem for Indira Gandhi and Margaret Thatcher. Gandhi is India’s pride, while Thatcher, sometimes called “Iron Lady” for her consistency holds the distinction of being the first woman prime minister elected in Europe.

I yield to physical Marie Curie for her twin discovery of radioactivity and the element radium that gave her the distinction as the first woman to bag the Nobel Prize.

Amelita Earhart’s feat of being the first woman to fly across the Atlantic is remarkable. She was on her way to notch the distinction as the first person to fly around the globe when her plane went missing in the Pacific Ocean.

In the field of entertainment, I have Oprah Winfrey in my list, who is an accomplished woman. She is a powerful and influential woman, what with millions of viewers she has in the world! Recently, she had her dresses auctioned in her program, fetching great sums which she later donated to charity.

In the Philippines, we have Gabriela Silang (wife of Anti-Spanish rebel leader Diego Silang), who continued the struggle for Philippine Independence after the death of her husband. Leona Florentino brought honor to the Filipino women with her world-acclaimed poems, satires and writings. Both are nationalists.

I’m tempted to add to my list Cleopatra, the Queen of Egypt and its last Pharaoh, who seduced Julius Ceasar and Mark Anthony and lorded over them. Never mind.

I’d rather go for Mother Teresa anytime, regarded as the world’s “Living Saint” before she died.

What do these women have in common? I’m reminded of Arthur Clarke’s wisdom: “The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible”