Every year on Women's International Day, journalists ask me about my opinion on gender equality. A huge and very sensitive topic. And yet, year after year, I am always caught off my guard. I know: it’s hard to believe. I’m never short on opinions. The thing is: I do not think about my ‘condition of being female’ every day. As an entrepreneur, I have many other things on my plate.
All I know about inequality is actually circumstantial evidence. I’m so lucky. I am my own boss, no glass ceiling here. And my husband takes care of the kids, sacrificing his career in favor of mine and making sure we have a warm and loving home. That’s simply because we are really in it together. We’ve made a simple calculation and it could have been just the other way around. We’re blessed: the kids are in perfect health and we have no problems worth mentioning to make ends meet.
Obviously, I believe men and women are equal. I am all for the fight of women striving for fundamental rights, in particular in those countries where male discrimination rules. I’m also very grateful for my mother and her friends who stood up for gender equality many years ago. Thanks to those women (and a few men I’m sure), women can now be whatever they want. Career mom or desperate housewife: the choice is yours and I’m with you as long as you’ve made it deliberate.
But there’s more to the equality debate than women versus men. I’ve travelled around the world, visited many places and I’ve seen many things. People, children, women and men, living and working in poor and unhealthy circumstances. Modern day slavery, often to allow us to live in luxury. Believe me: life’s not fair. And in comparison to all that, I sometimes find that over here we are lucky to debate first world problems.
So on this special day, my support also goes to people discriminated for race, social background, sexual orientation or age. What can I say? I sincerely wish that all you know about inequality is also circumstantial evidence and I’m hoping that some day we can turn equality from an ideal into reality.
What is your position on this?
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