Zero Hour

Going Gender

Gender implicates us all – we live it, we perform it, we re-invent it, we challenge it; some of us reject the notion of a gendered identity altogether. Whatever our relationship to this fluid notion of “Gendered Identity”, we cannot escape it. 

In recent years our understanding of the fluidity of our gendered identities has been deepening. And we have come to accept that it is neither desirable, nor necessary for any society to define, rigidly what a Man is; what a Man does; or what a Woman should do; What a Woman must not do. Humanity has eased itself into understanding that human beings are complex and multifaceted. They thrive when they feel free to express themselves authentically. Human beings unlike robots – cannot exist in specific pre-defined terms, and they naturally resist prescribed behavior. This is true in our relationship to political autocracy as much as it is real in our relationship to our bodies.

Once we realize that we are born neither as Men nor as Women; That we work at becoming an individual on a spectrum which has the categories of “Man” and “Woman” as extreme identities; That each of one us exists somewhere on that spectrum and that we are all free to perform our identities according to our authentic sense of self; Once this realization is made, then we naturally look around us, and we begin to question rigidly-enforced social and political practices that we have received and are expected to follow unquestioningly. 

So when we look around, we need to recognize that most Economic structures in the Majority World are predicated on outdated understandings of Gender (whereby women’s economic contribution remains strictly codified and restrictive); we must acknowledge that political opportunities in the Majority World do not promote equal participation from all genders; we must also remember that cultural codes and practices remain powerful obstructive factors that deter individuals from Doing their Gender. 

Consequently, when we do gender, we do politics;  When we do gender, we do economics; When we do gender, we do culture. We do this by pushing for change in the very fabric of our societies and we must start with culture.

Doing Gender with culture in mind involves us pushing for a spectrum of opportunities to be made available for all members of society regardless of their gendered identities. This could take the form of, for example 

• Leadership opportunities in political decision-making that are inclusive of all genders
• Inter-generational collaboration and awareness-raising about the modern possibilities of doing gender in non-traditional ways 
• The implementation of inclusive finance structures that consider applicants on their individual merit and not on their gendered identities, marital status, religious affiliation, political persuasion
• Offering vulnerable members of our society appropriate measures of protection that cover the private and public spheres

Doing Gender with culture in mind requires us to demand a revision of leadership structures. 

Doing Politics as we do gender: in an open, receptive, accepting, agile, malleable mindset allows us to invent (rather than import, translate or imitate) – it allows us to invent leadership structures that are compatible with our imagined futures.  The world craves brave leadership. All over the world, people have been suffering from leaders who have failed to show courage to face the threats of the global pandemic; leaders who have resisted adapting to the exigencies of the ever-changing technological space; and leaders who have perpetuated antiquated, irrelevant and ineffectual legacies that they blindly inherited. 

We need brave leaders – those who lead while acknowledging that power, like gendered identity, exists on a continuum. Leaders who inspire through their personality and their abilities to influence through “credibility, rational persuasion, participatory decision-making” – Leaders who Do Gender authentically and inspire us to do the same.