Patriarchy And Repression Score Again

So here’s the good news for the women who live and work in Gurgaon. The administration has finally confirmed what we had suspected all along – that they believe that it’s women who are the problem. So issuing a blanket statement asking malls, shop owners and pubs to send women employees home by 8 p.m. is the solution.

How could a twenty-three old mother who worked in a pub expected to have been safe? She was working in a ‘pub’, which alone pushes her into the ‘loose category’ of women who are ‘asking for it’ anyway.  So what if her fifteen-year-old brother had called the police alerting them about her abduction? The police called up her mobile, didn’t they? And somebody did answer the phone ensuring them about her safety. So that turned out to be her abductor, but so what? They picked up five of the seven accused na.

Now all you woman folk just dress “decently” and do ‘gender appropriate’ jobs and get your provocative selves back home by 6 pm. Ok, wait we believe in women’s rights, so you can work till 8 p.m.. Happy?

Why all the outrage? We’ve always known that men are monsters who can barely control their base desires. You are the woman na? You should know that it is up to you to save yourself. If you choose to wear miniskirts or walk around alone or work in places that are against Indian culture like pubs and bars, then what can they do? After all, rape is apparently not against Indian culture. And we all know that neither our administration nor our police force have the power or the inclination to keep women safe. And why should they?

The women that you see walking around are those who escaped being squashed right after conception anyway. Look at them draping themselves in saris and daring to wear western clothes and getting themselves educated and now clamouring for rights! How dare they say that men do not own them? How dare they protest at what has been the norm for centuries?

Gender Equality you say ? Thank you, I say.

It had been a while since I laughed so loudly…

Pic credit: Man Alive! (Image of a protestor at Slutwalk Manchester, used under a Creative Commons license)

ShwetaGK

Shweta Ganesh Kumar is a Writer and Travel columnist. Her fourth book and first collection

Learn More