I am generation Equality: The socio-cultural way to look at Gender Equality

Are we equal? Are we happy? Do we live in a respectable society?

Being a girl born and brought in the capital city of the nation, still, this question comes in my mind. People think being the city girl, life must be cool and without any lineage and limits. But it does not exist for me. Looking over the society, and societal concepts, one woman has never been equally treated as men, neither in this “so-called” city nor villages. I always wake up early in the morning, exercise, have breakfast and move for my work. I move on but always with the fear that, what if someone stabs me while walking, would I be the next acid attack victim, what if someone crosses my way and kidnap me and then rape and murder me. Thousands of thoughts roll on like a hurricane. I don’t know I may be overthinking or overreaction, but is it the way a girl should feel, doing her works? Is this the society that everyone dreams of? No one does. Neither do me.

“Being a woman is hard”. So why is it …?

A girl has to be in a kitchen. Do girls only get hungry, so they are cooking for themselves? Don’t any men get hungry?

A girl should not study more as she will be going to her husband’s home some years later. Can’t a girl do a job and earn for her and her family’s living? Can’t she pay her bills and do shopping from her own money?

A girl should not cut her hair shorter. She cannot bald. Why? Because, the men and society like girls with long hair. Can’t a girl shorten her hair or bald it, because she wants it to be?

A girl should not be wearing shorts and sleeveless dresses, because it invites men to have her. Have you ever seen a girl being attracted to another girl only because she is wearing a short dress, or she is flaunting some of her body parts? Then why men blame women that they are inviting men to rape/assault her? Isn’t it a thing to think?

A hairy woman walking around is marked as tacky or annoying, but a man can have so. Have men ever seated on the chair for waxing and felt that pain? One (in hundred) who have experienced that won’t think so.

A girl should be slim and beautiful to get married. Is it? Can’t a girl be appreciated the way she is, the way she looks, the way she portrays herself physically?

A girl should not be working and she should be at home till 7 pm. Why this time limitation for women? Why a working girl no being paid the wages enough in comparison to men?

In many villages, they even don’t get to work, rather they get victimized with violence such as reproductive coercion, dowry violence, witch-markings, honor killing, Chhaupadi Pratha, Sati Pratha, and more in the name of respect and inherited culture.

A girl has to go through the menstrual cycle every month. Do men know the mood swings and cramp pains? I have never understood till date, why a girl has to buy sanitary pads wrapping it with newspaper and keeping it in a bag so desperately like she is hiding an AK-47 and going to be prisoned if someone finds it.

A girl has a labor pain while giving birth to a baby, after keeping a baby in her stomach for 9 months. Can men feel that?

Having period cramps and labor pains are different stuff. It’s natural for all the females either humans and animals, that no other will understand. No one can debate on it. But why does she has to be cornered in such difficult days? Isn’t it the no-no thing?

Coming over the educational perspective, women are not supposed to do engineering and be part of IT fields. Still in those engineering and IT institutes, they are overseen as an alien. “Woman is equal to alien”. Statistically, 60% of them are rising in these fields besides every fine line drawn for them, though.

But it’s normal in this society. Sometimes ask yourself, is it normal?

We can see, we can hear and we can talk about women being acid-attacked, raped and domestically or institutionally victimized, but we could never feel what they have ever felt in that position or during that phase. It is beyond imagination.

Women are given rights, like some percentage of women should be in a constitution, women should be in an office, and women should be in school/college, and so on. Even “woman seat” is marked on the bus. Isn’t this the sign of being dominated by this male-dominant society? Can’t a woman take her place by herself with her knowledge, efforts, and dedication?

Today being in the 21st century, lots of rules and regulations are made to encourage women, lots of promises of woman empowerment are done, lots of institutes/schools/colleges are recruiting at least ¼ woman, and “ladies first” phrase is repeated day by day. But is that enough? Not at all. Changes come from the mind. Once the mentality of woman non-dominance comes and stays on everyone’s mind, all these violence and inequality will collapse. Then, 70% of woman trafficking will stop, 65% of domestic violence and 7% of sexual ferocity will come to an end, and 40% of acid attacks will conclude forever.

In society, when there will no requirements of theories like liberal feminism, Marxist feminism, socialist feminism, then that time onward, the Generation of Equality Begins.

I believe that one day, every men and women will be at the same level beholding the peace and successful society, throughout the world.