I am prompted to write this in response to Jeffrey W's 'Women rule, men drool' in RentakKini (Oct 22). It is obvious that the writer thinks women are a troublesome pack who claws at opportunities and is bestowed with wiles and fancies.

I firmly think that whatever a man does, so can a woman. Unfortunately in today's society, despite women having achieved so much, there is still inequality between the sexes.

Why is it that a man pays for a woman's meal, is expected to give in to a woman and is sacrificed at war? I feel it is women who allow this. Women, who want men to pay for them, want husbands who earn more than them. Many heterosexual women, after acquiring a partner, become thoroughly dependent on him, their lives revolves around him. I think women should put a halt to such silliness.

But it is also men who obstruct women's advancement. A man gets intimidated when a woman is too confident. Sometimes, a man's ego takes a bashing when a woman pays for him or earns more than him.

Men hinder women by imposing their ideas of what women should be. They want docile women with pretty faces. They want women who earn less than them. They get heckled by other male goons if they stay at home babysitting or if they earn less than their wives.

Jeffrey W cannot fully put the blame on the female species for this state of inequality when it is obvious that many men are contented and happy with the status quo. They make fun of women who talk too much or label them as troublemakers. They say derisively that loudmouthed heterosexual women will have a hard time finding a man. I have to say most Asian men are rather unliberated in this area.

With the current situation too, where women can be dumb as long beautiful, men still hoot at women and discuss women in front of other women with their beer buddies, like it is the accepted and natural thing to do.

All this stems from women's slower emancipation. Years ago, women were deprived of education and men were expected to bring in the money and provide for the family. From then on, it became the accepted opinion, a conditioning, that it is men who are the 'primary' creatures. It became okay for a woman to be ignorant about current affairs or fail in basic skills but preposterous for a man.

It is women's role in the past which brings to the current situation. Because in the past, women have consistently played the role of home maker and more often than not, were the less educated of the sexes, it became acceptable for men to assume charge of the important decisions in life, paying after women and driving them around.

It is absurd to think that modern women with brains and money still allow this. How many of us allow our boyfriends to drive our cars when we go out together? Why is it that we automatically allow males to be the leaders in our lives? Who deems that they are the providers and rulers?

Also, do not mistake gallantry or chivalry (being a gentleperson) as taking care of the helpless.

Men may seem to have more physical and brute strength than women, but recent research has shown that women are actually capable of much more. Women have been conditioned to be weak in order to appear feminine. And it is true, when a woman is around a man, she is relieved of carrying heavy things or running to call for help or climbing up a tree to rescue a kite. In emergency cases, men do the thinking and scheming. Only when there are no men around are women forced to think for themselves. Both women and men allow this. The true potential of women is never known because it is never really tested.

If women continue to be helpless, we will always be the butt of rude jokes on how we marry a man and spend away their fortune. Jokes are often made about women complaining that their husbands do not spend enough time with them. They are portrayed as dullards while men are the ones having a packed life.

I hope women will be more aware and pro-active in rectifying these horrible flaws. It would be awful if all women believe that as long as they look pretty they will be guaranteed a good life. Ugly, rich men will eye them, pick them up as trophies and provide them with luxurious condominiums and spending money.

Women should always compare themselves to the standards of men. You should know all the basic things in life, like changing a tyre, being fully aware of current affairs and building your own careers instead of relying on your husbands to bring in the big bucks.

As long as women do not do these, we will always be secondary to men, we will always be rated based on our looks and be accused of being cunning females who plot with our bodies for money.

This is an estrogened crusade. Women, perk up!