Writing for this topic for the blog hop had me very nervous. There have been so many articles already written about women, for women, and also against women over a few years, that I thought I would not be able to make any new observations that have not been made before.
At the risk of repeating, I will attempt to pin down a few thoughts that always are in my mind whenever I think of women’s issues.
There is a scene in the movie “Dil Dhadakne Do” starring Ranveer Singh, Priyanka Chopra, Anil Kapoor, Shefali Shah, Farhan Akhtar, and Rahul Bose that has remained with me long after the movie hasn’t.
Priyanka plays a successful business woman who has made it in the corporate world on her own. Yet, her husband, played by Rahul Bose, says in a gathering discussing women’s rights, that he is very liberal and that he has allowed his wife to work.
That set me thinking as to why does a man think he has to “permit” his wife to work or not. It should be her choice and her choice alone.
This sense of male entitlement permeates the whole society. All strata of society are guilty of this. The rich, the poor, the middle class, the educated, the uneducated. No exception. It is so ingrained in our psyche that now it seems just normal.
It seems unfair to me that half the world’s population that actually gave birth to the other half should be second class citizens for centuries. Every right that women enjoy now have been won after struggles, be it a right to vote, or right to be educated. There are so many more battles ahead. But why should there be battles for fundamental human rights? Why?
One thing I have observed that may be one of the reasons for this sense of entitlement is our parenting styles over centuries. This is definitely true for Indian parents.
In the 60s and 70s, parents saw that educating their girls was the way forward and they encouraged their daughters to study. When these girls grew up and became parents themselves they continued this, adding not only education but also giving them wings to try out new things.
Now it is a normal thing that we, as new set of parents, will teach our girls to study, work, drive a vehicle, go abroad, cook well, take care of everyone’s needs, be driven, follow their passions, and what not. Basically we are giving the world well rounded humans to take the world forward.
But are we doing the same thing with our boys? No. They are still cossetted, and allowed to think that they are the best thing that happened to the world and that they can demand and get what they want whenever they want it.
While we have made our girls capable of looking after themselves and ten others, we have not made the boys their equal.
If life can be visualized as a cart with a plough to be pulled along, then it requires two people pulling it equally forward. It is time to make our boys equally capable and to drill in the fact that your partner is equal to you in every sense of the way.
This post is a part of ‘The Woman That I Am’ Blog Hop #TheWomanThatIAm organized by Rashi Roy and Manas Mukul #RRxMM. The Event is sponsored by Kraffitti.
We are a group of about 60 bloggers who have logged our journey of womanhood for International Women’s day 2020 together. Read the other awesome posts on this blog hop here: https://www.manasmukul.com/the-woman-that-i-am-blog-hop-rules/
Could not have said it better. True we have taught our girls to be independent but simultaneously we miserably failed to teach our boys to handle these strong women.
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I totally agree that we need to raise both boys and girl in the same way. This is true that an equal world is an enabled world.
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This post is exactly going with this year’s theme, equality. You have penned down very relevant points but it’s is the sad part of our society that we will have to travel a long way to see some changes because this kind of thought process is so deeply rooted in the minds of people that it will take ages to shun it down.
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I completely agree with your post and that men, sons, brothers all must be taught that all are equal and if capable and wants too should do what they want.
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Very true and it’s really nice that you touched upon this topic. This is a very real scenario in many cases and it’s sad to see that some men & even women don’t find any fault in it. That’s how the mindset is and that needs to be changed. Glad to have you as a part of this blog hop 🙂
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Very thought provoking and hard hitting. Change will come when every home tries to bring in the change. Nice blog..
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Only when we start treating boys and girls as equal, will they become equal partners of future. This was an inspiring read.
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Agree with you.Excellent write up.Best wishes.
Sangya Nagpal
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A good thought provoking write up Meena. It is high time that the society as a whole learns its lessons and shifts towards gender equality. Atleast the things that are considered as a fundamental right for a human should be made available to women in parity to men. Glad to have you back with us in this hop.
#RRxMM #TheWomanThatIAm
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Blessed that I grew up in family that posses equality for both the genders and happy that you brought up this topic. Loved reading.
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Amazing 💯💯…worth reading 😄…do visit my page too and follow…thanks!
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