Editor,

Gender activists usually miss the most obvious reality -- in the rush to get to their destination. Gender activists quick to passionately shoot down any contrary opinions and unfortunately impair their own big-picture agenda.

Let us therefore choose objective pragmatism for a few seconds -- and look seriously at this lingering dinosaur of our global landscape.

Polygamy has been part of human history for several thousand generations: and it is not going to disappear overnight -- either through anti-legislation or wishful thinking.

Polygamy has been aggravated by the historical cycles of wars and epidemics which invariably decimate fighting men first and male children leaving majority numbers of females.

The natural law of "supply and demand” means that prices invariably go down whenever the market is flooded with the same commodity.

Therefore tangible gender equality will only be achievable when the male population outnumbers women once again. Unless and until this biological equality happens again-- generations of women must be content to make lemonade from the few readily available lemons!

Marriage according to the immutable Torah is supposed to be monogamous and forever. Unfortunately human beings are not perfect, and nature is forced to accommodate human quirks and deviations from the original script.

Therefore it is hypocritical for one gender to demand perfection from the other gender -- when we are all fallen creatures in need of serious rehabilitation.

We have to persistently negotiate across the gender differences: We have to negotiate calmly and peacefully -- until we find a workable solution that fits our human imperfections.

This goal will not be reached if we keep on taking extreme positions that merely polarise the genders even further.

As one Russian nobleman observed to his implacable Czar; "One has to surrender a little ground -- in order to preserve the more important portions” which is called strategic diplomacy in today’s lingo.

Margaret M
Nairobi