Day 22: Equality or Respect?

My husband and I love our new vet clinic.  It is called  "The Pet Hospital".  It is the first clinic we have been to that has separate treatment areas for dogs and cats.  There is one entrance door and one reception desk, but that is where the oneness ends.  

Hubby and I have two cats.  Our cats are our children... for the most part.  We have found a place, in the Pet Hospital,  that holds cats with as much respect as dogs.  I'll be the first to admit that I feel that cats get the shaft when it comes to respect.  Dogs seem to get more of that from most of the culture.  The pet world seems more catered to dogs than to cats.  I wonder if it is because dogs can be controlled and cats, for the most part, can't.  Dogs serve while cats need to be served.  Dogs provide unconditional affection, while a cat's love needs to be earned.  There are so many possibilities for why dogs are respected more than cats.  But not at "The Pet Hospital".  Cats have found respect there.   

After reading today's excerpt from Simone de Beauvoir, I felt myself back in my head wondering what mattered to me as a woman.  What is this fight for "equality"?  Is it just about voting rights, job opportunities or salaries?  Is there something beyond that?  

Everytime I am faced with a word in the English language, I have to do a little word study.  I want to know what that word is supposed to mean.  And even then, after my word study, I, then, get to figure out what it means to me.  

Equal according to the online dictionary... 

1. being the same in quantity, size, degree, or value.

2. having the ability or resources to meet (a challenge).

When I look at the first definition, I see a problem right away.  I see the definition of what another English word defines as a "clone" or "duplicate".  

When I take that definition into my relationship with my husband, I can honestly say... I am not "equal".  We are not the same size, we are not the same in so many ways.  (and yes, one of the synonyms of "equal" is "the same").   

So if equality in my relationship doesn't makes sense, what is my hope?  What do I want as a woman?  It's an easy answer.  I want respect. 

I want to be valued for who I am.  That doesn't always mean that I will hold the same value as my male counterparts in this world.  But I want MY value to be understood and acknowledged.  I am not competing against anyone else in my space for existence in this world.  I am trying to shine in my space.  

This doesn't mean that what women have fought for over the generations, like the right to vote, doesn't hold value for me.  When I went to vote at the last election, I took pictures of Nellie Mclung, Emily Murphy, Louise Mckinney, Henrietta Muir Edwards and Irene Parlby with me.  I wanted to be reminded of an amazing opportunity I have here in Canada because these women.  In a political world where I feel like my vote doesn't count... I needed their faces to remind me of something bigger than just my X on a ballot. 

I go back to my cat and dog analogy.  The Pet Hospital staff know that cats and dogs are very different, but they are held with the same respect and given their own space.  I can understand now why that means so much to me.  I just want my own space.  

(My cats were given their own space on wall perches in the treatment room. They were much more relaxed than previous visits.  This made all the difference.  )