The need to celebrate Women’s Day (last Thursday) leaves no room for doubt that the fact that we make such a song and dance about it means that where women are concerned, we still have far to go to prove that we are not the weaker sex, even though obviously a man is much stronger than a woman physically.

As long as some men still hold women in contempt, mostly where professional work is concerned, it is something that will always be with us and unfortunately the “battle of the sexes” will never be won.

Some women rub salt into men’s wounds by putting aside the fact that they are women and demanding a “promotion” which, as a matter of fact, is simply nothing more than artificial equality, the attainment of what are considered to be masculine privileges.

What we cannot seem to understand, and this is why the battle between men and women rages on, is that in actual fact, man and woman are fully equal in dignity and brains and what they actually do is complement one another.

Although in today’s world, women work because they have no choice, it is incorrect to say, at least without qualification, that men and women are equal and so they should do the very same tasks indiscriminately. After all, God said to woman: “in sorrow shalt thou bring forth children” and to the man he stated “by the sweat of thy face, shalt thou eat bread”.

Is it old fashioned to point out that men and women have the same essential dignity, the same work to bring to completion, the same supernatural destiny, but that their functions differ? Am I a nerd because I still think that it’s up to mum to be at home when they (the kids) come from school, and not dad or granny? Am I a fool for not liking it when a man takes on a woman’s role and hangs the washing on the roof?

What is so remarkable about a woman? What should make a woman full of self-satisfaction is that a child brought up without one parent is irremediably marked by the experience, but it is better that he be without a father than a mother.

We must compromise where men and women are concerned. There are some jobs than women can never do, like carpentry, mechanics, building houses, etc., but there is one thing that men can never, ever do. They will never feel a child moving in their womb, they will never feel that special bond between mother and child. They will never, ever give birth.

The only anger I feel about the situation is when a woman gets less money for doing the same job as a man. Why? Do her breasts prevent her from doing a terrific job?

The “promotion” of woman will come about when men become fully aware of women’s responsibility with regard to the building of the world and when they allow women to be present in the world and play their proper role in it at every level: economic, political, social – in a nutshell, from the small cell of the family to the complex organisations of society.

When that happens, 8 March will be just another day – as man’s day is.

Valerie Borg

Valletta