UNLEASH THE POWER WITHIN

Almas Jiwani when asked what her favorite motto to inspire women, she was not at a loss for words. In fact, the question should perhaps be - what are her favorite mottos, because actually two come to mind. The first one being: “Values are the principal th ing. Value yourself, be yourself – value your good values.” Just to explain values a bit further, what Almas mean is to operate with love, ethics and compassion. These three components should pervade every aspect of one’s life. Being generous, Standing up for what is right, raising good children, educating and nourishing them, keep them in good health, helping the poor, the elderly and the sick, and loving one’s self. Be your authentic self. Almas believes one should always determine to be a dispenser of love and goodwill and do not necessarily dance to the rhythm created by others.

The second motto is “We all possess power within that is simply waiting to be unleashed and women should recognize this inside themselves.”This motto is even truer when one speak about what must be done for gender equality in the world. This question seems to be never ended and won’t be until equality is met. Almas sees the issue of gender parity is primarily a human rights issue. If we delve deep into the subject, we will discover that the primary problem is that women are not considered as human as men. She believes that empowering women is the fundamental step that must be taken first in tackling this issue of gender equality.

Values are the principal thing. Value yourself, be yourself — value your good values.

The factors to consider are economic, political and cultural. With regard to cultural norms and policies for instance, it is imperative to sift through the underlying values governing various cultures and make a distinction between the values that are progressive and those that are retrogressive. The idea is to create a level playing field for all genders so we must determine which values favor that. Almas also completely endorse the idea of having women all over the world coming together in international women’s forums where you have policy-makers such as academics, governments, nongovernmental organizations, corporations and supranational organizations, all voicing their expertise in bridging gaps in equality. But one, has to start someone where and that start is usually with leadership.

Over the years we have seen how women make great leaders. We all can name at least one woman that comes to mind. Though women can be more vocal, especially those within public service, the better. So why don’t we see more women in position over power? Again, the environments these women are operating in have to be also developing in a corresponding manner so that their voices may have even more legitimacy. However, women leaders should address all problems in their communities and not just problems related to women, because that would result in confining their outlook and growth.

The number of women leaders we currently have is not enough. But there is progress both in politics and business about the number of female leaders and managers. For total social justice in the world, each nationality, each gender or each belief must have a voice in political arena. What do you think about it? In this context, we must first identify and define ‘justice’. What is just? Anyone can have a strong voice but do their ideals center on the public good and consensus building? Are they based on human rights, economic development and protection of the individual? If a certain belief is going to stand in the way of progress, progress towards equality for all, then these beliefs have to be re-evaluated. This is where conferences become important cornerstones for identifying what is interfering with progress and in turn identifying consensus-based policies for the future.

Besides gender equality, the differences between men and women are also important when we think about the place of women in business life. For example, women raise children and cannot often find flexible jobs that are suitable for their life. Sometimes working 6 days per week wear out women because of their family life. Business life is intolerant and in many countries government don’t find enough resolutions. What can be done for this situation? What Almas Jiwani has just accurately described are severely patriarchal arrangements in societies of male dominance and historical power relations within the family where women have always been considered weaker and subordinate. The woman’s place in this scenario is at home. This kind of patriarchal thinking has been carried forward into organizational policies and is very restrictive for women. Women cannot be held hostage to complex social arrangements that perpetuate unproductive and rigid traditions.

Almas is all for the promotion of women’s rights movements against residual patriarchal thinking. This is another reason why she also encourages women to improve their skill sets in our current fast-paced and competitive market to ensure their relevance and meaningful contribution at all levels of society. We should be mindful not to be rigid and let women in. Imagine the developmental progress a society makes when a hundred percent of its adult population is being productive in one way or another. Women have a lot to contribute to any society. Besides, it is also crucial for every individual, man or woman to realize that performing household tasks and raising children are extremely significant and productive jobs. The single most significant step towards gender parity would be eliminating the mindset that these jobs are less important only because more women than men are doing them. This and given the immense progress in this era of unprecedented globalization, one of the biggest problems that women face is being marginalized and left behind in the development curve. Women in so many countries are still oblivious to the potential and capacity that they carry as they find themselves trapped in rigid traditional societies that stifle their potential and leave them underperforming.

In addition, women raise men and women continue in many ways violence against women by giving education to their sons. Another perpetual patriarchal structure we are all complicit in the never-ending traditionally unequal way of organizing societies. Almas says the only way to reverse the trend is to pull all the plugs out on education. We need to keep sounding the necessity to “educate, educate and educate”… educate all parties, those in authority but particularly even women should be made to understand that patriarchy has to be stopped. Women have to shift their self-perception so they can be mentally liberated because as long as nothing changes in the way they think, nothing around them will ever change. Education is definitely our major weapon but this education will span on several levels. Therefore, Almas is committed to working with governments to facilitate the creation of policies and laws that will lay out the necessary groundwork across all spheres within the army, within industries and business at all levels.

Per UN’s Violence Against Women Act; “Any act of genderbased violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” There are several variables that come into play that can be attributed to the reasons for violence against women. However, the underlying reason lies in Value Perception. Naturally, we treat with respect what we deem to have value. For instant, even with the innate objects around us that were expensive to acquire, we treat with respect because we appreciate the value of those objects. Unfortunately, from time immemorial, the perception of the value of women has been tampered with –through beliefs, religion, customs and traditions .Women have been, more or less considered a necessary evil that humanity has to put up with for the sake of progeny. They have been and continue to be viewed as sex-objects and are therefore treated as such, with the end result most often being violence. Women’s human rights are consistently violated by inequities based on political or religious agendas, such as laws that are biased by patriarchal forces in society. Social justice can only be realized when women are not having to face discriminatory policies. These kinds of policies attack the value of women. But it does not stop there. Violence due to unequal power relations is perpetual and a worldwide problem.