The Red Moon

We have all heard the statements “Women are so dramatic” or “Men are so insensitive”. “Women are more caring”. “Men are more decisive.” Some of us agree; some of us disagree. The truth, I think, is somewhere in between. Recently, after an altercation with his female partner, one of my male friends quipped, “Women are so emotional”. I pointed out to him that that was a gender stereotype - to which he raised his eyebrows and said, "Is it though? It seems to be statistically true. Do you deny it?". I don’t deny it. How could I deny statistics? The women in my life do indeed exhibit more emotions than the men, and I daresay most people would agree with this observation, as my friend was happy to point out. But in my opinion, a stereotype can be true while also being oversimplified and unhealthy. Saying “Women are so emotional” and leaving it at that often sets the stage for a dicey ripple effect. Is it true in a lot of cases? Yes. Is it derisive of something not consciously under...

In the midst of a colossal pandemic, issues of gender inequality have taken a backseat. However, it is imperative to inspect the imprint of such a large-scale global phenomenon on gender roles in society. Data has shown that while both men and women are equally susceptible to contracting COVID-19, the mortality rate of men is higher than that of women. There is ongoing research on whether the extra X chromosome gives women additional immunity. However, the more generally accepted theory is that men have compromised immunity since they tend to smoke and drink more due to traditional definitions of masculinity and femininity that promote such activities among men and demote them amongst women. The rest of the writing would focus on more indirect outcomes of the pandemic.  Notably, the majority of the global healthcare workers, as well as informal caregivers, are female. Contrastingly, the majority of the political policy-makers are male. This itself creates an imbalance in the f...