Why the World, Including Indonesia, Would Be a Better Place if Women Were in Charge

Jakarta Globe, Henri Lois, August 25, 2012

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Steven Pinker wrote that over history, women have been a pacifying force. Traditional war is a man’s game: tribal women never band together to raid neighboring villages.

As mothers, women maintain peaceful conditions in which to nurture their offspring and ensure that their genes survive into the next generation.

“Women hold up half the sky,” in the words of the Chinese proverb, yet that’s mostly an aspiration; in the real world, women are uneducated marginalized.

In the 19th century, the paramount moral challenge was slavery. In the 20th century, it was totalitarianism. Today, it is the aggression against women around the world: sex trafficking, acid attacks, rape and so forth.

In 1988, one study found that 39,000 baby girls died annually in China because parents did not give them the same medical care that boys received.  

In India, a “bride burning” takes place approximately every two hours, to punish a woman for an inadequate dowry or to eliminate her so a man can remarry, according to various reports.

In addition, ultrasound machines have allowed pregnant women to find out the sex of the fetus — and then get an abortion if it is female.

In reality, women have helped make the world a better place for us all. Nearly 82 percent of jobs lost during the economic global slowdown have belonged to men, while most of the new jobs have gone to women. 

Former United Nations secretary general Kofi Annan has said, “If there is one lesson we in the United Nations have learned over the years, it is that investing in women is the most productive strategy a country can pursue in order to raise economic productivity, improve nutrition and health, and educate the next generation.” 

When economist Muhammad Yunus won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006, he made it clear that it was women who made up the bulk of the poor but ambitious small-business owners, lifting their communities out of poverty with their entrepreneurship. Women are behind many of the primary drivers of social change.

The little secret of global poverty is that some of the most wretched suffering is caused by unwise spending by men. The poorest families in the world spend approximately 10 times as much (20 percent of their incomes on average) on a combination of alcohol, prostitution, candy, sugary drinks and lavish feasts as they do on educating their children (2 percent).

One way to reallocate family expenditures is to put more money in the hands of women. A series of studies has found that when women hold assets or gain incomes, family money is more likely to be spent on nutrition, medicine and housing, and consequently children are healthier.

In the United States, women earn 78 cents to a man’s dollar. Unlike men, however, women are more willing to take risks on smaller or new organizations they believe have a strong vision for change. Studies show women volunteer more than men. Women are the single most important market opportunity for changing the world.

In some parts of Indonesia, sadly, women are still considered second-class citizens. This can be seen from the remuneration levels for women at most companies, with men generally receiving higher pay.

In Indonesian politics, there have been initiatives to give women more representation in the House of Representatives, but no political party has achieved the 30 percent allotment.

More than 25 years ago, the futurist John Naisbitt talked about the future of the world. That was a time when Japanese companies were in the ascendancy, developing assets around the world.

At that time, Naisbitt had predicted that the United States would regain economic dominance simply because the country empowered its women to be economically productive.

In Japan, women have limited leadership or sway in the economy, politics and social development.

Research from sociological studies to the latest in brain science shows that above all, women value connection and community. For women, it’s not about “me,” it’s about “we.” That means women are less concerned about the pecking order and more committed to keeping harmony in the coop.

The heart of a woman is making the country spin. Women do more than just give birth. They give moral support to their family and friends. Women were created in the image of God and they are a complete and beautiful creation.  

Women have four times as many brain cells, or neurons, connecting the right and left sides of their brain, according to scientific reports.

Women can focus on more than one problem at a time and frequently prefer to solve problems through multiple activities at a time. Nation-building will progress tremendously and we will have a better life when women rule the world. At least some believe so, though men may shake their heads. 

Henri Lois is a teacher for hearing-impaired and autistic children in Jakarta

World Bank managing director Sri Mulyani Indrawati.
(EPA Photo/ Bagus Indahono)

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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Based in Greece, Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to built Africa to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.)