How I was reminded of "half of the population"

I had not been giving many thoughts on the gender equality lately. I thought there were more pressing social issues in our society such as poverty and its associated problems—poor access to food, primary education and basic health care. And I started thinking gender equality was a luxury problem in developed countries like U.S and the western world.

Recently, I was in a remote small town with a work assignment in which we interviewed the township level government officials from various departments and had group discussions with township development committees, community authorities and civil society organizations. All those people we met were in some sort of leadership positions in the town and respective communities, and they were ALL MEN except for the township education officer being a woman.

Even though I have always considered myself a feminist since back to the days I could remember myself, shockingly, I was quite comfortable with witnessing that patriarchal structure in that town. Until the moment came when we asked a question- "half of the population is not represented in your committee, meaning 'women'. Should they not be involved actively?" it hit me quite hard.

Hearing the answers from male leaders was even more painful. They said, "There's no such rule as women cannot participate in the committee. But to be a member, one has to be a respectable and educated member of community with leadership skills. And we do not have such women."

I could not imagine for a woman in a village to join a village authority group, which has always been a "boy club", and to speak up for the issues specific to women in the community.

If the poverty is a pressing issue, in a society in which half of the population doesn't have a voice, that poverty would hurt even harsher on the vulnerable half— 50% of population is NOT negligible in any sense— and the way out of poverty would be harder.

What can you and I do about it?

I think it is not entirely hopeless even for women in the rural communities. As much as I was shocked about myself being oblivious about the matter, I also found hope. One of the men in the group said, "if women are well-educated like you (referring to me), they could of course involve more actively in development projects of the community."

It is hopeful because even though I was the only woman in those discussion groups, even if a few of those men felt that they should encourage their daughter/sister/wife to be more educated and become active members and leaders of their community, it would be a progress. And the same time, I felt that women like us should be more in touch with men and women at the community level.

And we also need help of our brothers, fathers, husbands, male colleagues, male friends and leaders. If we want to see the progress of our society and do not care about "half of the population", what would we care about?