Earlier this month, on the eve of International Women’s Day, a survey conducted by Reuters newswire posed the question “Is a woman’s place in the home?” Responses showed that one in four people believed a woman’s place was in the home.
Well, this information could be seen as good news, as it reveals that the majority of adults in the world believe women may not only be at home and can participate in many activities outside the
household.
Nowadays, women run companies, become professors and even head governments.
Many people now believe women should not be marginalized. Thanks to those who during the last century supported the idea of women’s emancipation women can now freely express their talents and interests in many areas.
Indeed, women should have equal rights. In fact, biologically, women make a larger contribution to the offspring than men. Normally, in the process of making new humans, two gametes are needed.
A woman will provide an egg cell (ovum) and the man gives sperm. It is important to note that the egg cell provides more material than the sperm.
The sperm cell only provides genetic material, while the egg provides not only genetic materials but also cytoplasm and mitochondria as the energy source for the new being.
Later, a woman makes another significant contribution to the offspring by providing it with a place
to develop (in the uterus), and shares her nutrients with it. After birth, she also gives the child important immunity through her breast milk.
In addition, through a new technology called cloning, we can even question the existence of men. As mentioned before, women provide egg cells which consist of cytoplasm and materials.
For cloning, all we need is an egg cell and genetic material. Today, we can get genetic materials not only from sperm cells but also from body cells. This could mean sperm is no longer essential.
In my view, these biological contributions are strong enough to support arguments for women’s equality. The survival of our species owes women much. But ironically, these contributions are now threatened by the modern phenomena of the role of women itself.
Every medicine has side effects. The achievement of positioning women as equal to men has not only had positive impacts on the freedom of women, but also negative impacts on their biological contribution to the species.
The survival of the species depends on the successful continuation of its genetic materials in the offspring. When a woman pays more attention to her personal career than her family — excessively in some cases — they risk their biological contribution.
Here are two examples: (1) postponing marriage to an older age because of personal career goals
will likely decrease the chances of having a healthy baby because the older a woman is when pregnant, the higher risk of her having a baby with chromosomal defects, (2) letting a baby sitter spend more time with a baby will negatively affect the mother-infant bond, the baby will grow up with someone else and might not have a close relationship with their mother.
These two examples will likely have negative impacts on the survival of offspring. If the prevalence of cases such as these increases the survival of the species will be threatened.
Excessive freedom among women in pursuing non-family-related goals decreases their ability to contribute to the survival of the species. We should be careful of this. It would be wise for women to find a balance between her personal and family life.
The author is a science writer.
