eyejaw,

I agree that "show and tell" and one-up-manship is a waste of time - however, it's interesting to learn of your endeavours to take education to other cultures.

Obviously, your first priority is push the agenda that men and women should be valued as equal partners in every society. While that is laudable and something Westerners take for granted, I suspect that it's not just something you can drop in on other cultures.

Every culture is the sum of it's own experience and development, and there are normally imperatives that have fashioned particular cultural values.

You say that any cultural value paradigm that incorporates a male superiority over women is one that you consider is wrong. Your idea then is that culture in that case should be debased in favour of one that delivers women of an equal status....interesting.

I'm interested in the mechanism that could be employed to achieve such ends (in a perfect world) that didn't turn "culture" into a generic one-size fits-all model for the entire world.

eyejaw,

continuing on....

It's almost impossible to isolate cultural gender values from their context within a cultural model. (despite you isolating them for the purpose of this discussion). These types of values are fundamental to any societal paradigm.

I'm not surprised that the women you taught couldn't get their heads around an alien concept - I am surprised that you expected them to do it as a matter of course.

Of course, this is one type of "teaching method"- to selectively present certain information with the intention that it will be taken on board. I'm in favour of another method which is more of a guiding hand so that the person learning gradually absorbs knowledge and values from the culture and environment of which they are a part.
Of, course, this is less likely to be successful if you are attempting to impart a cultural value from outside.

I'm wary of Western arrogance in dismissing the organic workings of non-Western societies. The West tends to barge its way in - usually at the behest of some imperial or globalised economic rational.....they do a "deal" for local resources, often despoil the environment and harm indigenous livelihoods. Then they excuse the whole process by leaving behind a school and a hospital. Never mind, that the indigenous society in question has existed very well without these offerings for millenia.

I suppose it all comes down to notions of what's "right" - which is a subjective truth.

How would you feel if someone from another culture landed on our shores and and tried to instill the tenet of male superiority into the minds of your children?

Works both ways, you know.

Eyejaw.
You wrote: "In the context of this discussion I put education of girls/women first, anything else, no matter how desirable, second. Hence if a culture is sexist, male dominated and oppressive of women then that culture stands in the way of my top priority."

I agree wholehertedly. Thank you for writing that.

eyejaw
If we need to use force - law - to treat people unequally, in order to bring about your ideal of treating women equally, surely that disproves your assumption that the sexes are equal in the first place?

I think it's literally meaningless to say that they sexes are "equal". Do you? But if not, given that they are not factually equal, what could it possibly mean?

Peter Hume

Affirmative action is the name you're looking for. It is a perfectly justifiable policy to deal with righting the wrongs of sexual inequality. Once disadvantage is overcome and there is genuine equality of opportunity, however, it needs to be abandoned.

popnperish
You haven't established that any policies are justified yet, because you haven't established that it is meaningful to say that the sexes are, or could be "equal".

What does it mean please?