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At great cost and far too late, women have increasingly assumed work positions, leading posts and influential roles in society. An increasingly equitable participation of men and women of the most diverse scope is not the only requirement for a fair look at the human being, such as a necessity for the common good of any community. The specific nature of the contribution of women cannot be dispensed with impunity in a mature society. A culture where only men perform roles of serious influence is at least unbalanced – like we can determine from our own experience.
It is precisely the appreciation of women and men in their singularity and complementarity that require the refusal of a fundamental trait of the so-called gender theory or ideology: the effectual denial of sexual differences. Feminism that truly wishes to underline the force of the feminine identity contradicts itself when yielding to the liquidity of a theory that does not recognize that very same identity; of a theory that affirms, delegitimizing it, that this identity is artificial and only created culturally. Now, that a feminine singularity was formed, without doubt, also culturally – in addition to its genetic substratum – can be easily affirmed and this in no way detracts from its value and beauty. The cultural formation of the feminine identity, that has a foundation in psychophysical reality, needs to be reflected on, purified, deeply but not removed from apriorisms - which is not even possible.
“The cultural formation of the feminine identity needs to be reflected on, purified, deeply but not removed from apriorisms”
It was this very same cultural development that, in steps much slower than we would have liked, that gave rise to the radical affirmation of the equal dignity of men and women – for us so evident, but in the past absolutely rejected even by societies exalted for their level of enlightenment, like the Greeks or the Romans. Christian preaching was decisive in its revaluation of the value of women, wrenching it from of the condition of object or property of the father or husband. Unfortunately, however, the recognition of this dignity not always translated from theory to concrete rights along the way.
It was only in the last century that the many conquests made by women were consolidated, like political rights and access to further education. Of course, many feminist movements should be credited for this. But a progressive instrumentation of feminist ideas in the last few decades undermined their power, concentrating on guidelines that contradict it - like the disregard for motherhood and the affirmation of a supposed “right” to abortion. Thus, the mainstream feminist became more of an agent of ideological colonization that is far from representing a true concern for the appreciation of women.
“The dignity of women continues to be threatened by practices that are overlooked”
Meanwhile, the dignity of women continues to be threatened by practices that are overlooked. Pornography, for example, has been proving itself more and more, through research in the areas of psychology, neurology and sociology, as an encouraging agent and perpetuator of the objectification of women and the violence against them. Moreover, legal and cultural solutions to discriminatory attitudes towards women in the workplace, generally linked to the possibility of pregnancy, are seldom discussed, while the mainstream feminist – in a posture that contradicts “sorority” (that is, more or less, the solidarity between women) preached by the movement and that plays into the hands of “machismo” - distracts herself by discouraging motherhood.
Finally, it is necessary to work for a society in which women can occupy, as much as men, social places where they exercise influence. But it is also necessary to remove the obstacles that impede women who so desire to become pregnant and to be mothers, thinking of new solutions that make maternity more compatible with working life, as much as paternity is. More basic still is the construction of a society in which the woman feels safe and even protected, never in a paternalistic sense, but as an affirmation of her freedom. Finally, a society that not only recognizes in an inalienable and concrete way the dignity of the woman as a person, but also appreciates the precious contribution to family, culture, politics, science and the economy that she alone can offer.
