Introduction
Once upon a time, there lived an old man with his old woman. The man often scolded his wife, accusing her of doing nothing all day while he works in the field. Once she was tired of this, she suggested swapping places with her husband. The old man agreed.
The old woman went into the field, and her husband ordered her to plow the field. The old man remained at home, and she ordered him to bake bread, bring down butter, and guard the hen and chicks. The old man kneaded the bread, put it into the oven, tied all the chickens with a rope so that no he won’t lose anyone, and began to churn the butter. Suddenly, he heard a scream in the street. The old man ran out and saw that the kite took the hen away and all the bound chicks together. The old man rushed in pursuit and put a butter churn with sour cream on his back. He thought that the sour cream would churn into butter while he would run after the kite. But the man stumbled, fell, and spilled the sour cream. The poor man went back home with nothing and saw that the bread was burned into coal. At least he decided to plant eggs. He put them on the oven and sat down above.
The woman arrived from the field, tired, but very sad. She worked all day, but could not plow the field. Nobody meets her. The woman entered the house, saw her husband sitting above the eggs. She understood that the old man could not succeed with homework. And then they looked at each other, hugged, kissed, and since then everything has gone in the old manner. The man continues to work in the field, and his wife continues work to at the house.
Based on Russian folk tales
Good day, our dear readers! In our previous articles (“Men and women – the end of love story?” and “Fair Sport”) we discussed some genetic and hormonal differences between men and women. Today I propose to talk about some neurophysiological aspects.
Man’s and woman’s brains have anatomical differences and are optimally adapted to different types of activity. In the cerebral hemispheres of the male brain, there are more connections between the zones of perception and motility, and this facilitates the coordination between perception and action. The specificity of interhemispheric connections in the female brain leads to the complementarity of analytics and intuitive perception. Therefore, men rely more on external information, and women do on intuition. Scientists believe that these differences are also “responsible” for greater attentiveness, better memory for names and faces, and better sociability in women, and in men – for better spatial thinking and a higher speed of sensory-motor processes.
Men and women react differently to severe stress. Women use the amygdala (corpus amygdaloideum) of the left hemisphere and remember the details of emotions. Men use the right hemisphere’s amygdala and perceive the essence of the problem. By the way, similar neurophysiological differences are examined when the subjects make decisions. Therefore, the same information or stimulus is processed differently, which, in turn, requires a different neural mechanism. Therefore, it is not surprising that in the same situation, men and women come to different conclusions, and accordingly, act differently.
All this thoughtful opus confirms a pearl of simple ancient wisdom, about which our grandmothers had spoken. Men are better aware and make decisions on global issues, and our amazing ladies, although inclined to act by intuition in each specific situation, focuses more on particulars. The conclusion is that the best management structure must include both men and women. Therefore, for example, any board of directors or government cannot consist only of representatives of the same gender, without any relation to how smart and charismatic they are. Such boards will lose a lot either in solving the current situation or in strategic development.
It is sad when, for the sake of the current pseudo-feminist fashion, women try to replace men completely and absolutely. Is this the strength of a woman? Is this really true feminism? Let’s think about this issue together.
What is the strength of a woman? It combines love, beauty, wisdom, tenderness, and compassion! In fact, this is the force (much stronger than physical) that changes our world for the better. Maternal love is the purest and selfless, this is a real divine (or natural) love, which is able to accept, understand, and forgive everyone, such as doing for own child. If a woman is free and confident, she naturally changes the world for the better and protects against anger and violence. Who can compare with Anjezë Gonxhe Bojaxhiu (Mother Teresa), who saved and inspired thousands of people by her power of faith, by accepting and loving every person, even the most unpleasant?
Who can compete with the force of a few German women from the Berlin’s Rosenstrasse protest, who, by their love and fidelity, saved their husbands and relatives from being sent to Nazi’s concentration camps in 1943? These are just a few examples of many thousands of similar ones, when women’s love, wisdom, beauty, and fidelity destroyed stereotypes, stopped wars, and changed our world for the better. Yes, this may be the very emotional, momentary, point reaction to an external “stimulus”, but it has a very strong and prolonged effect.
What real feminism is? In my personal understanding, feminism is a movement that aims to fight for the equality of all people (I emphasize!) and it opposes violence in all its manifestations (by protecting women, men, children, nature, etc.). Feminism should not be associated with fists and guns, but, above all, with the power of goodness and mercy, which will really change the world for the better.
You must admit that when a man is surrounded by love, devotion, and care, he is calm and confident, and even in the most stressful situation he suddenly filled with an extra reserve to make a thoughtful decision. Moreover, he spreads all this to his relatives and subordinates. And if this man is a president or a prime minister? Ahh, how would it be easier for us, if our leaders, adopting their global strategies, would be surrounded by such “Armor”? Naturally, the opposite is also indisputable – even for the strongest woman, it is very difficult without reliable support, without such “back”, which will be set up by a loving person. So, complementing each other, as a whole, together, in love and mutual assistance (and not in the substitution), we should act.
Of course, all of the mentioned above absolutely means not that a woman should be on a secondary role or she is a toy in man’s hands. We all know very well that in the modern world there are practically no professions and positions in which women would not succeed, just like men. It’s a fact that in many workplaces, institutes, and other places a man is subordinate to a woman and it does not cause any surprise at all. Do you see something wrong with this? Personally, I was always enraged by the phrase of one movie hero that said, “if a wife is higher in her social position, then this is no longer a family”. Those who prevent our wonderful ladies from revealing themselves as individuals and professionals are the most horrible villains and criminals. To paraphrase Anna Akhmatova’s citation,
“a workplace should be led by a worth, knowledgeable and responsible professional” and no one should care about his or her gender, religion, nationality, race, or age. At the same time, no one should dress an unnatural costume and play the life of someone else. Otherwise, it will be like in the tale in the preface: the family would stay without bread and butter and with an unplowed field.
Finally, I want to ask the simplest question: what do all normal mothers, fathers, and grandparents want for their children and grandchildren? A peaceful, beautiful, free, and good future! Men, please forgive me, but who, if not our wonderful women, can help us achieve such tomorrow?
Featured image by ArtTower from Pixabay.