Step out of the boundaries; break the norms
Yes,
I am a girl. But no, my purpose is not
to serve you. My life should not revolve
around you. Just like you have goals and
ambitions that you want to fulfill, so do I.
I, too, want to make my parents proud.
And if given a chance, I would work hard to do so. But for that to happen, I need a chance. One chance to prove my worth. A chance so often taken for granted by you, but so rarely received
by us.
But what will you do?
And anyway, after marriage, you will be busy doing household chores and
raising your kids; so what’s the point of wasting resources over you?
Why
is it that we hear these rebuttals but not you?
Why are we the ones solely responsible for such obligations and not
you? These conditions themselves are
internalized from childhood. Ever
noticed how when little children play, we were dedicated wives who cooked and
played with our children, while you were the husbands who went to work to bring
home the bread. These role associations
are in no way innate or natural. We all
learn via mimicry; mimicking that which we observe from our surroundings. So until the cycle is broken, we will keep
passing on such ideas about gender roles to the future generations.
You
have the power to help us, to break this cycle.
And no, it does not require any resources. Rather, it requires something much more
valuable, an open mind. Consider being
stuck in our situation, being oppressed by a patriarchy which runs deep and
efficaciously, bounding us with restraints.
After all, the glass ceiling does not break by itself. Women empowerment is the hammer with which
the very real barrier can be broken.
This glass ceiling that I am speaking about is the reality for most
women, even in the Western world. It
often leads to reinforcing your male ego at our expense, whether it be by
something like under-paying us for the same job comparatively, or by limiting
our chance at a promotion by not giving us the opportunity to show our worth.
It
is up to you to accept that we are just as human as you, and that we are just
as worthy to be treated with equality.
This pervasive idea of patriarchy can only be eradicated when we all
start believing that the idea itself is flawed.
Society is not something abstract; WE make up society. So with a shift in our views and emerging
support towards women empowerment, we CAN bring forth a change to level out the
field for everyone.
Unfortunately,
many of you will never really understand our situation unless you actually
experience life in a matriarchal society.
But, what you can do is perspective-taking at the least to try and
understand our difficulties.
So
open yourself up to accept the idea of true equality and help us with our
purpose. And that includes not just you,
but us as well; all of us, together.
Yes,
I am a girl. And yes, I too deserve
equality.
