Women are taking over – that’s how the die is cast

While men are being idiots, women are getting better at everything from careers and promotions to businesses.

WOMEN are taking over the world. Really. There are fewer of them but hey, in this day and age, it’s all about quality and cutting edge.

And we men are getting to be as blunt as axe handles. Or should I say as blunt as Pasir Salak MP Datuk Seri Tajuddin Abdul Rahman?

Men are a dying breed, literally. We are dying by the millions, and we don’t even know it.

I just got tested positive for Covid-19 so I checked the statistics. Guess what? More men die of Covid-19 than women. And that scared the hell out of me.

It seems that for every 100 women who succumb to the virus, about 160 men die. That’s a frightening statistic. What are we men to do? How will the world survive this attrition of the male of the species? Those were my philosophical thoughts as I stared at the wall in my tiny quarantine room.

Then, it hit me. More men are meant to die. That’s how it is. That’s how it always has been.

More men die of everything. Even our natural life expectancy is shorter.

A woman in Malaysia is expected to live up to 78.3 years. A man? 73.2 years. You see, if you don’t die young, you still die earlier than women.

Hunting wild animals, in tribal warfare, in bloody wars, while fighting over women – it was always men who died before their time.

Men were stupid that way. They died – and killed millions – because of women.

The Mahabharata was fought because a woman was wagered in a gamble; the Ramayana ends in a war that destroyed Sri Lanka due to the abduction of Sita; and the Trojan War was fought because a horny Paris ran off with Helen, and poor Hector – my hero – paid the ultimate price.

Men have not changed. To this day, they remain stupid that way.

Just look at the mat rempit. There is no call for them to put their lives on the line. But they do so faithfully, every weekend, like sheep being led to slaughter.

You can’t get much stupider than that.

The ones in Penang race on the mainland, bring it across the bridge to the island and hold more races in various places – Teluk Bahang, Esplanade, Bayan Baru and Batu Uban, among others – before heading back to the mainland.

In Petaling Jaya, the New Pantai Expressway is one such deathtrap. They race there by the hundreds and the cops join them, playing a cat-and-mouse game together.

It’s like these bikers will keep trying until the Grim Reaper gets to them.

Now, we are being told that they have caused 12,000 deaths since 2009.

Imagine, that’s close to 1,000 a year.

It’s not a new thing. Way back in the early 90s, some of them rammed into the back of my parked car at the Esplanade in Penang. When confronted, they threatened to burn the car.

That was a bunch of Indians, so the mat rempit problem is not a one-race thing.

I remember when the Chinese “Ah Beng” were the crazies on two wheels. They would go almost horizontal on their bikes at the Gurney Drive roundabout to pick up coins on the road, before straightening up and speeding off.

And most of them were motor mechanics too.

The Malays took over later, while the Indians have always been there, always a minority. It’s the false sense of bravado, a feeling on invincibility among the young males.

We see it in drownings too. Every year, about 700 people die of drowning in the country, and more male youths are likely to drown. Why? Bravado. They dive in where a thinking person might tread cautiously.

Nature has to work hard to keep up with them. Which is probably why there are more men than women being born too.

In Malaysia, for every 110 men, there are 100 women. Do the math. That’s a million more men than women in a 30-something million population.

The women are spoilt for choice, but men are saving them the trouble and reducing the choices.

The dumb ones die racing on the streets and jumping into deep water while the cleverer ones stay alive to get the girl.

See? Survival of the fittest.

In Malaysia, the women are also happier than us men, that’s what a survey on happiness shows. Why would they not be?

While men are being idiots, women are getting better at everything. Careers, promotions, businesses – women are smashing the glass ceiling.

Women are outnumbering men in universities and colleges. And that’s what a US study says. Men are also less likely to graduate from high school in the first place.

In Malaysia last year, almost 52%, or 2.37 million, of graduates were women; the male graduates numbered only 2.2 million, or 48%.

Look at our world beaters. Nicol David was there, as were Cindy Ong (swimmer) and Leong Mun Yee (diver).

Now there’s Pandelela Rinong and Nur Dhabitah Sabri, both bronze medal winners at the recent World Championships in Budapest, and Sin Li Jane and Natasha Roslan (bowling), bronze medallists at the World Games in Alabama, United States, along with water ski heroine Aliyah Yoong Hanifah. The women’s badminton doubles are getting to be world-beaters too.

And where are the men? There was Lee Chong Wei and now Lee Zii Jia. Who else?

It’s not just a Malaysian thing. Throughout the world, women are taking over.

India has a new president who is a tribal – Droupadi Murmu is a woman. And Liz Truss has seemingly tied up the British premiership with Rishi Sunak trailing in the polls.

Even in the movies, the women are taking over.

Take the Marvel Universe. The Mighty Thor is a woman, the Hulk is a she, the Black Panther is very likely a Pantheress (yes, that is a real word), there are two Marvels (both female), Hawkeye’s a girl, and even the King of Asgard is a woman. And she likes other women. So, no place for her in Malaysia.

The women are indeed taking over.