In the past few weeks, I have had the pleasure of meeting young women mostly in their workplace. Among them were two who are in the demanding profession of editing popular monthly magazines. Both of them, I found to be, extremely confident in their abilities, willing to shoulder exacting responsibilities while meeting hectic deadlines. Similarly, I met young women holding important positions in business houses, some of whom handle public relations. They are among the most polite, most pleasant, and most courteous people I have met anywhere.
I have also met with a number of secretaries, and they come across as competent, besides, of course, being smart in appearance. Most bosses nowadays prefer to contribute hands-on by doing the rounds of executive network circuit – openings, symposiums, parties, golf courses – remaining accessible all the while even on the go. In such a set up, the duties of the secretary naturally calls for the highest degree of patience, dexterity, and tact.
I also met three women at the helm of affairs in their respective businesses. One is quite young, while the other two are young in manner and appearance, even if not so young in age; all three manage their business affairs with ruthless efficiency. It was wonderful to see iron hands at work, encased within velvet gloves, and the absence of callousness in working style.
Another steel magnolia I had the honour of meeting runs a prestigious hotel, and she is also at the forefront of efforts to enhance tourism in the country.
There are many more such steel magnolias throughout Nepal.
In most spheres of commerce too, women are wielding the rod. Even the word ‘male’ is, after all, only an appendage of ‘female’.
While a substantial part of the GDP of western countries comes from domestic consumer spending, only a minuscule proportion of consumer advertisements are geared towards males. What more can be advertised exclusively for males other than undies, shirts and suits, after-shave and shoes? There was a time when cars, cigarettes, liquor, razors, and briefcases fell under the male domain.
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In female territory, however, there is a veritable plethora of consumer items from lingerie to apparel, kitchen appliances to home ware, cosmetics to foodstuff, gift items to lifestyle magazines and so on.
From a societal point of view, more breakups and divorces are today initiated by females. Men snore, men smell, men have filthy habits like picking their noses; therefore, women have more reasons to complain. Today, however, they do more, they conclude the whole lousy affair and leave you in the cold with a broken heart, bombed ego, rejection phobia, and a complete destruction of the natural male superiority complex.
In businesses, ‘power dressed’ females are running the show. For the uninitiated, ‘power dressing’ means dominating hapless males by accentuating the female features under razor-cut lengths of fine fabric. ‘Power dressing’ is also accompanied by powerful fumes of heady expensive perfume so as to dull senses of otherwise sharp males.
Men are hard, women are soft; that is what we were always led to believe anyways.
Amidst all this, another phenomenon that has deduced the decline of the ‘traditional’ male hierarchy is the omnipresence of homosexuality.
In most spheres of commerce too, women are wielding the rod. Even the word ‘male’ is, after all, only an appendage of ‘female’.
Some of the world’s best-known Michaels and Johns are homosexuals. George is, he says so himself. Elton was, is, and announced this a long time ago. Ricky, too, is a gay Martin. Many of the boy bands have a gay man or two in their groups. Dolce and Gabbana is a gay couple, and the king of fashion, Giorgio Armani, is actually a queen.
Here, it may still be difficult for simpletons to imagine such a scenario, even if the local gay community does manage to grab some headlines during occasions like Gai Jatra.
In the West, however, there are no cities that don’t have a couple of gay bars. New laws have been made, and are continuously being updated, for the protection of gay rights. The latest legal hullabaloo in the US is about what public bathroom/restroom (men/women) transgenders should be allowed to use. It’s an issue that’s going to hit the roof after the November 3 elections are over, that’s for sure, especially if Trump and the conservatives come out on top.
What is it that has brought about such a ‘deviation’ in a large number of people from what has always been assumed to be normal sexual behaviour? Scientifically, it’s difficult to say. Are testosterone levels falling in the male species? Is it that there’s too much of female hormone-rich-chicken in their diet, like Bolivian president Eva Morales says? Actually, a lot of chicken is consumed in the world today, 22 million a day in the US alone, according to a study by Purdue University.
While homosexuality may still be considered a perplexing subject by some, even more perplexing though is to consider this: Is it really time for the men to take a backseat?
(Amar B. Shrestha is author of The Dark Mermaid, published by Pilgrim’s Press.)
(Opening image courtesy Miramax Films.)
