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Society is plagued with gender stereotypes that come in the way of equality. Here's a short list that will make you want to trash these stereotypes immediately!
Society is plagued with gender stereotypes that come in the way of equality, liberty, and happiness. Here’s a short list that will make you want to trash these stereotypes immediately!
Men and women are inherently distinct to some extent, physically, mentally and psychologically. But, we stretch these differences way too much, demarcate and allocate illogically too many things as ‘manly’ or ‘womanly‘.
In this regard, a lot of misconceptions rule the minds of both men and women. Bursting these bubbles will certainly enlighten us that both men and women can be equally strong, although sometimes in different ways.
A public show of affection is not manly
Those men who indulge in expressing their love for their better halves or flaunting and appreciating their qualities, are certainly not faking it! Unlucky are the guys who fail to realize that they are missing out on a larger chunk of women, who would have easily fallen head over heels in love with them, just to have that sort of ‘explicit’ love.
The ‘angry young man’ is ideal
Bollywood tells us that the ‘angry young man’ is the right attitude when it comes to making oneself irresistible for the girls. Correction: Manhood does not come with the size or shape of a mustache, or biceps, or a man who has the look of a ruffian, but by the way he treats a woman.
Domestic chores are not for men
To cook food, do household chores, or give a helping hand to one’s spouse, irrespective of whether she is a working woman or not, is apparently not a ‘man thing’. The usual tagline of most of the husbands is “If you expect me to do this, why don’t you start by doing my job?”. While rendering this line , men usually succeed in making women feel guilty enough to admit that such chores are solely ‘her responsibilities’. (Kudos men!)
Babysitting is not for fathers
Looking after kids while the wife is at work, or teaching them on a regular basis is seen as ‘babysitting’ instead of “responsible parenting”.
Real men don’t show emotion
Crying? Definitely not a man thing! Is it not more prudent to shed a few tears now rather than accumulating one’s emotions in the mind, and spewing hatred and venom later on, when it feels like letting it go?
Cars are only for men
Being an automobile geek is surely a man thing and the interested women are just ‘aping men’. And without doubt, women are bad drivers. If they drive fast, they are reckless. If they drive carefully, keeping with the rules, then they are definitely not making way for other drivers!
Only men must protect women
Girls need to be watched over by men , for the sake of their safety and security. But if it is the other way round, it is sheer infringement of privacy or cramping the personal “space” of men.
Swearing maketh a man
In this respect, I must say women are more creative and complicated, and there is no dearth to their thoughts, inhibitions or imaginations on the subject.
Born to serve
However empowered or modern womens’ outlook may be, inside the four walls of their homes, for the sake of peace and harmony, they prefer to don the mask of the ideal ‘Indian’ woman, who is bound to stay subservient. For whom, the husband is god. Often, they fail to remind themselves that if the husband is god, the wife is none other than the incarnation of a Goddess herself. And that culturally and theologically, women were placed on a much more respectable footing.
Culture plays a dominant role in womens’ lives, for it determines how they should talk, walk , think, and behave. Inhibitions and thoughts about what others might think matter. Even when culture and customs evolve, they elect to remain slaves to certain cultural etiquette and traditional dogmas.
Family first means self-sacrifice
For women, ‘love for the family’ means taking upon themselves the perpetual duty to serve an entire family tirelessly, however big or small. Even if it means that they need to juggle between being a ‘glorified maid’, to a personal secretary , to a wife, teacher , cleaner, career woman and what not, to take pride in showcasing themselves as the ‘super woman‘. Just for that simple pat on the back from their counterpart or to evade that depressing question, ” What do you do all day?”
Family first, even if it means forsaking one’s dreams and ambitions. Dreams have no age or limits, but to recapture them, women feel they are answerable to many at various stages of their life, which is to an extent true.
The Superwoman complex
Women are considered quite good at multitasking and time management. Some women would rather not allow even those men who willingly volunteer to help. The most common defense – “Men mess up everything and double our jobs, so why assign ‘our’ chores?
Kids’ challenges = Mom’s failure
Women shoulder responsibility of their kids’ education. The poor performance by children in their studies and other scholastic activities indicate a woman’s failure as a responsible mother.
Women are emotional fools
Ironically, we see women standing tall and strong in the most difficult situations, or enduring the greatest pains, where men falter!
Women cannot take care of themselves
Physically, women are unable to safe guard themselves. Women are gentle and fragile and need the constant support and companionship of men.
So the stereotype goes!
Pic credit: BrianSuda (Used under a CC license)
A legal consultant, settled in Sharjah, United Arab Emirates; my first love is and has always been my profession. But apart from drafting legal documents, my equally important other domains include blogging, poetry writing, write- read more...
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I wanted to scream with excitement that my daughter chose to write about her ambition and aspirations over everything else first. To me, this was one of those parenting 'win' moments.
My daughter turned eight years old in January, and among the various gifts she received from friends and family was an absolutely beautiful personal journal for self-growth. A few days ago, she was exploring the pages when she found a section for writing a letter to her future self. She found this intriguing and began jotting down her thoughts animatedly.
My curiosity piqued and she could sense it immediately. She assured me that she would show me the letter soon, and lo behold, she kept her word.
I glanced at her words, expecting to see a mention of her parents in the first sentence. But, to my utter delight, the first thing she had written about was her AMBITION. Yes, the caps here are intentional because I want to scream with excitement that my daughter chose to write about her ambition and aspirations over everything else first. To me, this was one of those parenting ‘win’ moments.
Uorfi Javed has been making waves through social media, and is often the target of trolls. So who and what exactly is this intriguing young woman?
Uorfi Javed (no relation to Javed Akhtar) is a name that crops up in my news feeds every now and again. It is usually because she got trolled for being in some or other ‘daring’ outfit and then posting those images on social media. If I were asked, I would not be able to name a single other reason why she is famous. I am told that she is an actor but I would have no frankly no clue about her body of work (pun wholly unintended).
So is Urfi Javed (or Uorfi Javed as she prefers) famous only for being famous? How does she impact the cause of feminism by permitting herself to be objectified, trolled, reviled?
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