Eastern Concept Of Women’s Liberation Are Superior To The Western Concepts

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By Dr. Sawraj Singh

The eastern concepts on women’s liberation are generally based upon two principles. First, they emphasize the motherly aspect of a woman. Second, they are based upon the principle that men and women complement each other and together form a complete unit. Mother symbolizes the creative aspect. Woman are more creative while men are more productive. Generally, the creative aspect is higher than the productive aspect. Women are more sensitive, receptive and tolerant. Men are physically stronger and generally are more decisive and more willing to take risks. However, these different qualities make men and women complementary to each other rather than make them opponents of each other. Together, they make one complete unit. Without a man a woman is incomplete and vice versa. The eastern concepts promote amity, togetherness and peaceful coexistence between the two sexes and the society. These are more compatible with nature as it works on the principle of diversity.                                                                                                                                                                   The western concepts do exactly the opposite. They present men and women as opponents. Women are made to feel that men are their oppressors and to be liberated means to struggle against them. The west highlights the physical attraction as the main aspect of a woman’s personality. The reason behind this approach is that by projecting woman more as a commodity rather than a person, this asset can be commercialized and utilized in the market. Women are used to promote the sales of everything from a tooth paste to a soap and from a car to a home. By inciting the nesting instinct in the women, they make them avid and loyal consumers.

Consumerism limits the purpose of life to making more money and acquiring more comforts and conveniences. To be completely liberated means realizing the purpose of your life and your true self.  A person who is lost in consumerism can not be truly liberated. A person has the ability to reach the level of self realization from self actualization whereas a consumer lacks that. Therefore, liberation of men or women is not possible in the capitalist consumerist society. To achieve true emancipation, men and women have to work and struggle together to regain their personhood which they have lost to consumerism. Consumerism is promoting uniformity and is negating diversity, including based upon the gender. The eastern concepts uphold diversity and pluralism. It means that we can be different yet equal. To be equal you do not have to be alike. In other words, women do not have to become like men to be equal to them.

Some may question that if the eastern concepts on women’s liberation are superior then why the women are subjected to cruelty and oppression there. I am only talking about the superiority of the concepts and the philosophy rather than the social practice there. Why are these concepts not implemented there is entirely a different matter. As far as the eastern philosophy is concerned, there are many highly accomplished westerners who admire it. Hegel, who is considered to be the philosophical teacher of Karl Marx and Carl Jung, the famous pupil of Sigmund Freud were great admirers of the eastern concepts and philosophy. It should be the moral duty of us easterners to try to find the reasons why these great philosophical concepts could not be implemented there.

Dr. Sawraj Singh, MD F.I.C.S. is the Chairman of the Washington State Network for Human Rights and Chairman of the Central Washington Coalition for Social Justice. He can be reached at [email protected].