A New World
Be the change — change begins at the home
Introduction
For the past few years, there has been a lot of talks about the breaking of the glass ceiling — a metaphorical term used to refer to the ability of certain restrictions to be broken and for everyone to have similar opportunities. Many people talk about this ceiling when it comes to gaps in gender, race, financial status, neurology, physiology, and so on. Who doesn’t desire the changes to the world so that we are all inclusive, having equal opportunities? But driving this change isn’t the responsibility of a certain few people. A difference, a radical shift of this magnitude requires the cooperation and the hard work of all of us.
Where do we begin?
Like charity begins at home, this dramatic shift too starts at home. Recently there was a very interesting conversation that I was a part of. The conversation was about husbands helping their wives at home. The discussion itself isn’t quite relevant as is the underlying concept. Many people still struggle with the stereotypical roles of the binary genders. In many cultures, men are expected to be less involved with components other than work, while the women are expected to be more involved with areas relating to the households. In households where both spouses work, the home responsibilities are seldom equally distributed.
There’s a small percentage of families that have moved the needle but either the women of such homes are treated with contempt by others, or there’s a revolt waiting to happen any minute. This hypocrisy leads our children, i.e., the next generation, to imbibe these stereotypes as well. Imagine the impact on a child, in whose earshot, a family member ridicules her mother for allowing her father to help in the household activities. The child too imbibes these passive status quo behaviors, learns to continue the “traditions” and rebels the break of the glass ceilings.
Let’s go back to the incident: there’s a family wherein every member of the family has learned to treat each other respectfully, contribute equally, and live cohesively with love. The children have powerful role models in each member of the family showing them how to behave in a diverse world.
Beyond the nuclear families
It is rightly said that it takes a village to raise a child. Now, that means that the child needs more than just their immediate families to learn and grow. Is it sufficient that the parents or the immediate families model this type of respectful, inclusive, and non-stereotypical cultures? Indeed not! Every member of the community who contributes to the raising of the child by their presence, words, and actions need to work in a collaborative manner to combat negative ideologies.
What we can do?
- Being willing to change. Radical shift doesn’t happen without the willingness to accept it.
- Being open to newer ideas as opposed to being quick to shut them down, especially when we see a positive modification in a family, which is different from what we believe or are used to.
- Being aware of the proper way to pass on constructive feedback to a family or a community member. Not all feedback needs to be in front of children. In fact, not all feedback fits the ‘constructive’ bucket.
- Being conscious about the boundaries of the family or community members. Not all topics are available for us to chip in.
- Being genuinely curious instead of being sarcastic, or contemptuous. It’s not a ‘you’ or ‘me’ war but a ‘you and me’ style.
- Being interested in learning. Learning is life long and we should be willing to learn new and positive ideas from anyone
Conclusion
Mahatma Gandhi, who is revered as the father of India, said
Be the change you wish to see in the world
In order to bring about change in the world, and to eradicate the problems relating to gender, race, neurology, physiology, economics, we need to first make the changes to our own outlook. With openness, willingness, respect and clear boundaries, the world will change into the beautiful one we wish it to be!
