It’s not about women being ahead of men. It’s about coming into balance.
I’m Olivia S. Benson, and you guys know it, the ones that have been here before. I’m the author of two books, For the Love of My Father and Answers from Within, which is newly released on Amazon.
And the great thing is that — I mean, it’s great for me — it’s Women’s History Month. And so I’m hoping that you guys have seen all the interesting posts that we’ve made. We did one about the president of Mexico, Ms. Sheinbaum, Prado, or Pardo. Amazing, you know, to have a woman president here in Latin America, a country with over 130 million people. And we have a female president, Madam President. Congratulations. Thank you for all that you do. It’s a giant leap for womankind.
Today I Want to Talk to My Male Followers
Now, even though it’s Women’s History Month, today I want to spend a little bit of time really talking to my male followers, my male friends, because there’s sort of an air out there, like Women’s History Month is only for women. But I think it’s for everybody. Just like Black History. It’s not just Black History, it’s American History. And when we move forward, everybody moves forward, even though some of us don’t feel exactly that way.
But here’s the deal. And I write about it a little bit in For the Love of My Father, but in Answers from Within. And I mentioned it last week as well. If you are a father — and let’s not even bother to speak if you’re a brother, or you’re a son, or you are a nephew of an aunt.
Let’s Just Talk If You’re a Father
Let’s just talk if you’re a father. Thank God we are at the day when you know that if you pass away, your daughter will not suffer because she is a woman. Briefly, I mentioned last time, if you passed away, you were married, you were a woman, and your husband passed away, and you were a widow, it was going to be hell if you didn’t have resources.
Obviously, people with resources have always had alternative means of dealing with different things. But if you were a person of average means or below average means, and your husband passed away, you’re going to be a widow, and you’re going to be suffering, and your children were going to be suffering, because it was very difficult for you to make a living.
Now for me, I would like to think that my friends and my family members are happy to know that if they are not around, I’m going to be okay, because I will be able to make a living for myself. I would like to know that my father, who has passed away, would like to know that when he left the planet, he didn’t have to worry whether his daughter would be able to make a living. I think that as a man, those are the kinds of things — unfortunately, in this day, it’s a different experience. But if you were a man in the 1800s or 1700s or whatever, it would be something that should be a concern.
And you should be, I would think, happy to know that you don’t have to think of your daughter in terms of, once you’re gone, what’s going to happen to her. It’s a celebration to know that she can go to school, that she can be independent, that she can choose whether she marries or doesn’t marry, and that in whatever event, however life turns out for her, she’s going to be okay, because her existence doesn’t depend on her having a man, or on you as daddy being alive. And I think that that alone gives reason for men to be just as happy about the strides that women are making in society.
One of My Faves Is Jimmy Carter
Now, one of my faves is Jimmy Carter. Before he passed away, Jimmy Carter wrote a letter and resigned from the Southern Baptist Convention because of their failure to advance the position of women, and what he believed was to maintain some old theological positions.
And he felt that much of what they were saying, not just in terms of the Southern Baptist, but in terms of other religions around the world, that they had held on to some old beliefs that were forcing women to stay in a very subservient position, and that were causing women around the world to suffer. So Jimmy Carter was an advocate for women, an advocate for the advancement of women.
We’re Looking for Balance
And for my male friends who worry about this — and I think I’ve said it in everything that I’ve said before — it’s not about women being ahead of men. It’s about coming into balance, where we understand that, on average, 50% of the population is male and 50% of the population is female. It varies a little bit, but we’re looking for balance.
And one of my favorite lines in the book is about the fact that in all the wars that have happened on the planet, there are very few scenarios in which a woman has been at the table. And this is despite the fact that they’re the child bearers. They’re the ones that are carrying soldiers and bringing them into the world. They’re the ones that are physically delivered, and yet they’re not involved. And they’re 50% of the population, and yet they’re not involved.
And I think that if we had more women around the tables where these kinds of discussions are happening, there would be more balanced discussions. I’m not necessarily saying that we wouldn’t go to war, because I don’t know, but I think that if you have women at the table, there would be an additional perspective. So we’re not talking about who’s going to be better than who. We’re just talking about how we bring things into balance, so that all the parties that have stakes are at the table.
So I hope that my male friends are celebrating for their daughters and their sisters and their mothers and for all the females. I hope that my husband is cheering for me as a woman, as we move forward. And he says, yes, you can go. And if I ever leave, I know that you’re going to be okay. That’s kind of the perspective that we want. We want dads to think, my daughter’s going to be okay if I’m not here.
So I’m Olivia S. Benson. This is Answers from Within. And I talk at length about the women’s position in the world and how it’s important for us to advance. And my other book is For the Love of My Father. And it’s about how I healed from the absence of my father. I’m on Facebook. I’m on Instagram. I’m on YouTube. My website is OliviaSBenson.com. The books are on Amazon.