Recently, a whole lot of marriage proposals and engagements are taking place in our society. With the advent of public proposals, we now get to notice more people promising love and loyalty to their significant other more frequently.

On social media especially, you will find a whole lot of couple videos showcasing this. I don’t know how much attention you usually give to these videos but personally, if I choose to watch one, I give rapt attention to it.

Though quite obvious, you can see that its always the man that does the proposal. As such, he has to go down on his knees while doing this. Some men take a knee while others go down on both knees. This has been the practice over the years. Now, this got me perplex.

The question is, why is it the man that has to be the one to kneel for the woman? Why can’t the woman who loves and admires a man not also produce a ring and do the proposing? Also, is it the man’s place to always kneel? Why can’t the woman also kneel?

There are just so many questions surrounding this. So, you will need to patiently follow me as we consider the reasons why it is only the man that does the kneeling. In response to the recent wave of women advocacy and reversal of gender roles, so men are not of the opinion that women should also assume duties that the initially vetted for as being the man’s job.

Some men posits that for feminism to truly have the required impact, women should take up roles men usually play. Even though this is the case, the age long tradition of the man setting marriage plans in motion cannot be simply erased all of a sudden. Even with the agitations by men especially anti-feminist, some things cannot just change drastically.

Reasons Why Women Cannot Take A Knee

Although most people (men) will still want to debate this, it wouldn’t have been very proper for women to be the one to kneel to accept the ring. You might be wondering why so let us consider some reasons.

1.It Would Show Total Servitude

Most people are already of the view that in marriage, it is the man that has the higher power and leverage. In reference to religious belief of subjugation for women, it didn’t entail slavery or humiliation. Already, the society has given the man the upper hand, so for him to kneel is ideal to show that this is not a conquest but an agreement. If the woman who is already placed on a lower perk goes further to kneel, the implication is rather demeaning. This would mean she has handed over her total self and rights to the man as such become his subject.

2.It Would Take Away Honor And Dignity

A man willing to kneel for a lady is a sign of respect and value for such a lady. It means he finds her valuable enough to want her in his life. This accords prestige and honour to the lady. In our society, it is seen as being awkward a lady being forward with a man. A lady who asks a man out is viewed as being cheap talk less of kneeling to do it.

3.It Would Create Greater Gap And Inequality

Though I am not a feminist in any regard, it is nice to recognize facts for what they are. Our society has created a lot of bias against women. These include that women are lesser beings to men. That women comprise an inferior gender to men and so on. Already the gap is there and is wide too. Things would really worsen if women now had to beg men to marry them. Just try imagining a lady with a ring kneeling before a man. Seems quite weird to me.

4.Proposing Is The Man’s Duty

Right from inception, the practice has been for the man to go in search of a woman. Anyone who finds a valuable has to show how much such a treasure means to him and not the other way round. A great number of religions along with Christianity uphold this practice. So, for the mere fact that he has found what he had been looking for all along, the man needs to demonstrate how important such a lady is to him.

In time past, the kneeling tradition was done when saluting royalties. Invariably, the man on his knees is showing that he has finally met his queen. Since men seem to be placed so higher up than women, it is only wise that when they need a woman, they have to come down to the woman’s level by kneeling, my thoughts though.

Whatever the case, it has already been established that a man kneels for his Lady. The society has accepted it and seen it as being normal. A deviation from this would be a disruption of the pattern. We know that some men still refuse to do this.

Looking at it critically, showing your lady a little honor and respect for once wouldn’t really hurt anybody or prick your ego. So gentlemen, do the needful after all you were the one that was pursuing her up and down.

binarymachine:

1.It Would Show Total Servitude

Most people are already of the view that in marriage, it is the man that has the higher power and leverage. In reference to the religious belief of subjugation for women, it didn’t entail slavery or humiliation. Already, society has given the man the upper hand, so for him to kneel is ideal to show that this is not a conquest but an agreement. If the woman who is already placed on a lower perk goes further to kneel, the implication is rather demeaning. This would mean she has handed over her total self and rights to the man as such become his subject.

roteblomen:
Everything you said make sense, just that I do not fully agree with the comments in your number one. What you described as "higher power and upper hand" is nothing more than "responsibility and competence". Him kneeling down to propose is an undertaking to be responsible to her affairs in a competent (true meaning of power) manner, not tyrannical (upper hand).

BruncleZuma:
Seun what's happening this month with Nairaland, have you replaced the old mods or is this a trial run for new interns?

roteblomen:
Everything you said make sense, just that I do not fully agree with the comments in your number one. What you described as "higher power and upper hand" is nothing more than "responsibility and competence". Him kneeling down to propose is an undertaking to be responsible to her affairs in a competent (true meaning of power) manner, not tyrannical (upper hand).

luminouz:

You need to be.flogged