GENDER EQUITY IS A FANTASY

Of course it is. We have men and we have women. Both will always be sexually attracted to the other. It does not matter if they are policeman and policewoman, man soldier and woman soldier, man engineer and woman engineer. They will still end up having sex.

We see the problem in ships of the Royal Australian Navy where there are man and woman sailors. It still means there will be drunken sex orgies between both sexes. Naval investigations have been held at irregular intervals.

There have been scandals in years past at the United States West Point Military Academy. Male staff cadets were found in bed with female staff cadets. Now there will be gay and lesbian staff cadets.

The female was disciplined and expelled while the male cadet went back to his barracks. Of course, boys will be boys but we can not have whores among the women officers. Not good for order and good discipline.

Sex at West Point or anywhere else can never be stopped. It may be that some relationships will find graduated cadets as husband and wife. That is their right. Sex is unstoppable.

It is amazing that women are now in the trenches fighting with the men. It all has to come unstuck one day. In years to come, there will be a big orgy in the trenches. Murphy’s Law demands it will happen.

But across the world, there are limitations placed by men on women. That will never cease though hopefully be softened.

We read of the honour killings in Jordan where a woman can be murdered by her young brother if he suspects she has dishonored the family. He will be discharged by the Court as soon as he mentions family honour. There is the practice in the world of rejecting women raped in war. It has to do with purity of the family line but is still an affront to women's justice.

We read of families in the Middle East marrying their 9 year old daughters to boys and adult men. This can cause deep permanent physiological and emotional damage to young girls.

But sex will always be the stumbling block for gender equity of women. Even girls in grade 7 are subject to sex because the Universal Basic Education in PNG schools sends young women of 13 years old to live in houses in the village beside the rural school.

Under the new system, no dormitories in primary schools. Only in high schools. The Seventh Day Adventist church reports an increase in pregnancies among young girls. This is a gross mistake by the Department of Education. No daughters of mine would ever be allowed to board in a village house of even a family member.

It is important that villages remain strong in this country so that there are equal numbers of village young men and women. The prevailing family view is that village children do not need education. Women need a strong back for carrying kaukau. That will go on for generations of men and women.

Young boys and girls are subject to the same inequality. Even menial jobs require grade 10. Security guards who stand at gates like logs are to have grade 10 standard. Girls in kai bars require grade 10. Pay for both is rock bottom.

If we study the results from the grade 10 and 12 examinations across the nation, we find that 60% of students are girls. That is not bad. In fact it is very good.

There are several factors here. First families feel that educating a girl is a waste of time. She will marry and be totally subject to her husband regardless of what the family wants.

They wanted her to be a doctor. Her new husband wants her to dig gardens. She was foolish to marry any man who did not want her to be a doctor. But then he made her pregnant and that raises another issue. Never have sex with a man you do not want to be the father of your child.

There used to be a practice in China of killing girl babies because they were considered as a waste of money.

There is also fear by families of the dangers to young girls at distant schools and traveling to and from.

On the Kokoda Track, some villages had elementary school. Efogi school went to grade 5. That meant that students had to move from one village to another to continue their studies.

Many girls on the Kokoda Track would have finished at grade 2. It was not discrimination by parents but fear at having their daughters stay in another village with men they do not know.

Employment for most grass roots women is limited. In the rural areas, they can be teachers, nurses or gardeners. And that is it.

In the urban areas, there is more scope in business and government for women as clerks. There is a problem in all countries regarding women. Many managers see the workplace as where women work until they marry and leave. If they stay, they will leave when pregnant.

Long term investment in PNG women or women all over the world may just not be worth it, except in specific cases.

The fact that they may be of greater value than most men runs a poor second to having babies and wasting company investment. We sent her to Australia to study. She came back pregnant and resigned. We will send a man next time.

But women need the freedom to do what they want to do. That means they do not marry the first grass roots villager who comes along. They seek the advice of family first and follow family assessment.

Parents should send them to school as far as possible. They marry a man who lets them grow. There are enough women around who do not want to grow and would please the average villager. Let the other women go as far as they can.

Institutional gender equity is an unattainable fantasy. The secret is not for young women to be lesbian. They bash each other too. Papua New Guinea is probably doing well with 30% gender equity.