Dear Dad, Why Didn’t You Teach Me to Speak Up?

Girls are taught not to speak up, so that they can be 'good girls'. This has more far reaching and horrifying consequences than their parents can ever imagine!

Girls are taught not to speak up, so that they can be ‘good girls’. This has more far reaching and horrifying consequences than their parents can ever imagine!

“In societies where men are truly confident of their own worth, women are not merely tolerated but valued!” –– Aung Sang Suu Kyi

A society where women are really valued is still a distant dream. The average Indian woman is generally infused with that ‘give in to situations’ kind of education all through her upbringing, sometimes in a subtle way and at times with a commanding set of instructions.

How many of them are actually taught to stand up against any form of suppression? How many of them are told not to suffer and speak up for their rights?

Here’s a daughter who questions her father as to why she wasn’t taught to take a stand even when she kept bearing the onslaught, merely for the sake of saving her marriage and the fear of social stigma.

It’s high time we teach our daughters to voice the injustice with the loudest roar.

Dear dad

My world may appear to you just fine
But your angel smiles no more
And today I gather the courage to unravel
The persistent onslaught that I bore

I was beaten & bruised
And commanded to bow down
To save the sanctity of this
Pious bond called ‘marriage’
Not once did I dare to frown

Never miss real stories from India's women.

Register Now

I was threatened & thwarted
All I did was dwelled in silence
‘Hey you are a woman
It is but your fate’
Was my only piece of condolence

I kept quiet
For the sake of my children
I kept quiet coz I had nowhere to go
Carried the burden of being a woman
Taking every single blow

I carried on the fallacy
That a daughter should drag on being unloved
Not to complain & condemn
But adjust in all the circumstances
That she is grievously perturbed

All this while I kept condoning
And let them torment

Dad
I wish you had raised me
To fearlessly express the slightest of dissent

I wish you had taught me
To defend & defy
Not to sulk in quietude
And self- pacify

I ask you
Haven’t you risen generations of feeble mind
Norms’ adhering cows?
Only to keep the foundations of patriarchy intact
Ensnaring us into those decrepit womanly woes?

But I no more wish
To weave the yarns of suffering & pain
It’s me who has to face them once for all
And let the plethora of agony drain

Yes its time I stop sobbing
Be upfront & sure
It’s time I renounce ‘their’ unjust ways

And finally say
No more! No more!

Image source: shutterstock

Liked this post?

Join the 100000 women at Women's Web who get our weekly mailer and never miss out on our events, contests & best reads - you can also start sharing your own ideas and experiences with thousands of other women here!

Comments

About the Author

Nandita Sharma

I writer by 'will' , 'destiny' , 'genes', & 'profession' love to write as it is the perfect food for my soul's hunger pangs'. Writing since the age of seven, beginning with poetry, freelancing, scripting and read more...

32 Posts | 150,443 Views

Stay updated with our Weekly Newsletter or Daily Summary - or both!

All Categories