Is your mom really equal to your dad ?
Are you really equal to your husband?
Are sisters, really equal to their brothers?
These are some questions that are lately disturbing me very much .
I won’t take you to the most remote rural points of India. We all know what’s the situation there regarding gender inequality. After-all what do you expect from a region which has low literacy rate and resources. But I want to take you to the urban areas. Where people not only have access to excess resources but are also educated.
Why am I targeting already developed areas?
Do you guys remember Green Revolution? It was an initiative for the development of India. It focussed on the areas which already had resources so that India could develop at faster rate, rather than focusing on the poor because that time there was a huge gap between rich and poor and India wanted to stand on it’s feet asap. Today also a similar contrast exists but India is certainly in a far better place as compared to past. With the world coming closer through the technological advancements, if the examples are set right for the people of rural India by the urban India the possibility of upgraded conditions of women increases. For example, the movie like “TOILET: ek prem katha” meant for rural India was proved to be successful to encourage people to use toilets. It not only made women realise that not having a proper sanitation system invites many diseases but also moved the men of the society that they themselves decided to use toilets. People in villages, imitate people living in cities as for them it’s a sign of progress which eventually earns them respect. Exactly in the same way, how US hegemony works in cultural aspects.
But, often “educated” people behave in the most illiterate way . We get news like Famous man telling a journalist to come to work in her underwear to be equal to men! or how an MLA raped a minor, and sadly the list of such gross news goes on and on. If we shift our gaze from outside to inside our homes, we can see that the women and men ain’t really equal! Most of you will might say, “it’s not true”, without having any second thoughts. But I want you guys to answer after thinking for a few seconds. For eg, does your dad ask your mom before inviting his friends for a dinner which she would be cooking? Or is she simply told to prepare dinner for the guests?
You know, in situations like these, the dominance is visible. It’s unconscious. It’s something that comes naturally. Men are believed to be leaders but my question is why? A home was made up by husband and wife then why the leader is only the husband? Do we really need a leader of home? If he is a leader then what is the status of his wife?
All these actions that are born from unconscious mind really needs a GPS system to locate their roots. It’s high time to realize the problem and work on it. The mindset needs to be changed. The young generation can bring the change as the respected elders are now too set in their ways. They have to become adamant about what they need. They need to put their demands on what kind of world they want, forward. They have to become stubborn. The educated section needs to bring their education into real use. They have to teach everyone what’s actually right and what’s wrong!
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Have you ever encountered an act of discrimination being performed unconsciously?
Vidisha 