I went for GRF Ty’s table talk about the equal rights amendment in the states. As I am largely unfamiliar with U.S. politics (I’m an international student), I am interested to know what “equal rights” was about to be discussed. It ended up being the proposed amendment that aims to guarantee gender equality for all American citizens regardless of gender. I was rather surprised since I thought that this was already in place, given how “gender equality”, “diversity” and “inclusiveness” are often reinforced at least in the education sector.

It was interesting to hear multifaceted perspectives of this issue. While I agree there is no reason for one particular gender to be marginalized, we talked about potential reasons why some people may not agree with it. For instance, it is a legitimate concern that “gender equality” will branch to other rights, such as abortion and transgenders. However, I believe that this amendment is probably proposed out of the best interests of mankind and humanity, and not to serve as a loophole for people to exploit. There certainly will be people taking advantage of it, but the numbers should be low.