Dawn.co: by Irfan Husain.
SILENTLY, almost imperceptibly, a revolution is sweeping Britain as well as most western countries. Signs of this seismic change have been growing, but until one stops and quantifies them, the implications do not become immediately clear.
A recent issue of the Spectator spelled it out: British women are poised to become the principal wage-earners in the majority of households. The weekly’s cover shows a muscle-flexing woman with a wad of cash in one hand.
Just a day before I saw the magazine, I had been discussing this phenomenon in another context with friends who had taken us to their houseboat on the Thames. There we went for a ride on their splendid wooden electric-powered motorboat. We passed several racing sculls being rowed by women, and our host commented that ten years ago, there were hardly any women rowers on the river.
The rise of the number of British women now participating in competitive sports was reflected in their fine performance in the recent Olympics. Often, one sees young women jogging in shorts in cities and the countryside. When we go for a walk in the narrow country lanes around Devizes, women on horseback is a common sight.
We recently had to seek advice regarding a petty legal matter, and went to the local law firm. Here, we encountered a number of young women lawyers. It’s the same story at most National Health Service clinics and hospitals where the majority of nurses and doctors seem to be women.
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Whatever happens, one thing is for sure: women will never again be the weaker sex.
Categories: Women
a sign of a collapsing civilization? (men having already ‘given up’…)
The advancement of sciences would have definitely effected the roles of “man” and “woman”. It does not mean “a sign of a collapsing civilization”. Instead it is the beginning of redefining “Morality” in the West where “woman” has been degraded and exploited for too long a time, specially after the publishing of “Lady Chatterly’s Lover” in the 1930s, when she was stripped of her modesty in the name of “progress”.
The first phase was the “Womens Liberation Movement” which was one extreme. This particular phase is a movement towards a more healthy role of the “western woman” in society- working woman contributing to society in every field.
The next stage will take her towards the role which Nature has determined to her, the priority of which is that of a “Mother”.
This “silent revolution” is by the western woman in search of her lost status as a “mother” and all the respect which is associated with “motherhood” in society.
In her search for that “status” she is looking for a “Morality” which could give her the moral sanction of her actions.
MAV
The silent revolution (Dawn.com) makes interesting welcome reading of changes appearing in the British society due to which one notices a lot of ‘weaker sex’ taking active part in various fields of activities and sports competitions which were considered only for males (men).I feel this phenomenon as a sign of enrichment of human civilization, necessitated under the ever changing requirements of the progressive society. And when Mr. Irfan Husain says that ‘when we go for a walk in the narrow country lanes around Devizes, WOMEN ON THE HORSEBACK is a common sight’. Oh,what a sight.Yes, such a sight near Thames river and its imagination took this scribe many decades back into the good old days of Pakistan under President Ayub Khan, the period during which our Patron-in-Chief and the God gifted spiritual guide, Hadhrat Hafiz Mirza Nasir Ahmad Sahib, firstly as Principal, Talim-ul-Islam College, Rabwah and then also as Khalifatul-Masih Al-Salith,111,(rht), yes, I still remember, His Holiness used to plan, guide and supervise many functions like the annual All Pakistan Colleges Basketball Tournament and also the annual Horse-riding Competitions, were used to be held regularly,in which many dozens specially trained horses were brought to Rabwah, the headquarter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community (now officially renamed as Chenab Nagar) and during those days of horse competitions, the wider lanes /roads of Rabwah would make the beautiful sights of handsome horses with their owners (riders) sitting on the back their cherished, especially breeded, smart forward stepping horses. And believe it that Hadhrat Khalifatul Masih Al-Salith (rht) had also initiated a similar scheme of horse-riding competition to be arranged and held by the Ahmadi ladies under the organization of Lajna Amaillah. But then, alas! ‘Afsos sad Afsos’ the Pakistani Ahmadis were declared constitutionally as ‘non-Muslim’, what a non-sense act, never done by politicians in the history of any country. But performed only here in the newly created country, whose Founding Father was Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinah, whom the Ahmadiyya community had given whole-hearted help and support in the making and creation of Pakistan. But the Mullah had opposed the Pakistan movement and called Pakistan as ‘Na-Pakistan’ And since 1974,Pakistani Ahmadis have not been allowed to hold their annual ‘Jalsa Salana’ nor the sports activities/functions, merely because Pakistani rulers fear, not the fear of God Almighty, but the fear of Mullah. Innalillah.