Is Everyone Inherently Equal?

Like every Peace Corps Volunteer, I’ve had moments of sheer elation living in Rwanda and then two minutes later I find myself cursing the country in words that would make a pirate blush. Emotional depressions are usually brought about by differences in culture and can be what highlight a person’s experiences when abroad. It’s easy to focus on the negatives, the differences, because those are the things that draw attention to the contrasts of one’s beliefs and one’s culture. Reading my blog, it’s maybe hard to understand that in general I am happy in Rwanda but it’s true. Lots of people don’t understand that even though we sign up for 27 months of service we can end our service at any time for various reasons (medical, administrative differences, family/personal issues, or simply for not being happy here). I’ve come close a couple of times to calling it quits, but here I am. More cynical, more optimistic, more confused. This post isn’t meant to show how I’m happy here but it’s about something that brings to the light questions about equality. Who deserves it and where does it come from?

Many Rwandans see themselves as inferior to whites because of the differences in development between African countries and Western countries. They believe there to be a direct correlation between Rwanda’s development and their innate qualities. If they were truly as intelligent and talented as white people then they too would have the same quality of living. For whatever reason, they don’t want to see things differently. I’ve been told that when God created men and women (s)he created blacks first and then worked on whites. With the whites (s)he took care to improve on the mistakes made with blacks, which is why we’re more intelligent, have finer features and have more development. This isn’t just some isolated incident. My students have even made such claims to me, trying to explain away their faults as a result of their innate shortcomings. They fail to see themselves as anything but victims of innate failure from a higher source.

A big question I’ve had to answer a lot in my time here is why Africa suffers disproportionately higher rates of HIV infections compared to other continents. I’ve heard countless stories about the origins of the virus, with made in a laboratory in the US ranking in at the top. I’ve tried, usually in vain, to explain that science is quite certain of its origins coming from monkeys in central Africa somewhere and cultural behavior, like having unprotected sex with many partners, contributing significantly to the rapid spread. Overly simplified of course but if I even try to say something like this then I get all sorts of conspiracy theories thrown at me and I’m immediately on the defensive.

This highlights to me their unwillingness to accept, or at the least consider, the possibility of something opposite to their beliefs or ways of thinking. It’s not an introspective culture. They don’t reflect on the how or the why. They just accept, even if there’s no scientific proof to justify their beliefs. This culture is very much about maintaining the status quo. With simple behavioral changes they could greatly reduce the spread of HIV yet they fail to act on these things. It’s more important to maintain their lives as they are without thinking about the consequences or the results of their actions.

Regarding gender equality there are two opinions. One of the government which promotes women in the workforce, women in business, women as equals to men. Then there’s the opinion of everyone else, which promotes women in the kitchen, women raising children, women as servants to men. Rwandans jump on any opportunity to show how they are respecting gender equality but it’s all superficial. It’s not genuine. There’s almost always a smirk on their smiles and sarcasm in their voices. They sincerely don’t see women and men as the same. I was at a wedding yesterday and had a talk with a fellow teacher from my school. I forget how we got on the topic about respect and equality but he recited to me lines from the Bible about how women were created to serve men. Wives must respect their husbands but husbands aren’t obligated to reciprocate that respect. If physical force is required to make a wife respect her husband than the end justifies the means.

This is coming from both sides too, not just the male perspective. Girl students marginalize themselves in the company of boys. They don’t participate with the same frequency. They don’t make the same effort. That’s not to say that there aren’t some diamonds in the rough, there are, but they are quite the exception to the rule. Even at the all girls school that one person in my training group teaches at has similar experiences. Girls there are disenfranchising themselves, even without the company of boys. Girls at my school have commented that they wouldn’t respect their husbands if they made less money than their wives. How can a culture adopt a belief of equality when the ones who are supposed to be supported are espousing opposing beliefs that keep them marginalized?

We in the West have more development because, as Jared Diamond explains quite well in Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, of the environmental conditions, the flora, the fauna, which made quick development possible. We’ve had our struggles with equality, with race and gender, and we continue to have those struggles. But beliefs about equality aren’t pillars of development. They’re tied into cultural mores. People are all inherently talented the same as the other. The difference stems from the cultural beliefs that inhibit the development of one’s potential. Until people in any culture see, and believe, that women and men are equals they won’t be able to move beyond the superficial ideologies they’re told to adopt.

It’s very painful when a student approaches me and asks why he isn’t intelligent like the white man. Until they can break free from their self-defacing images of inferiority that perpetuate the image of African inadequacy and female inadequacy I don’t think they can genuinely believe in equality between whites and blacks and women and men. It’s the type of change that needs to come from a self started grassroots level, not from outsiders and not from top-down government mandates.