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During this 21-day lockdown, we will indeed need every person doing their bit. It should start from home - with men doing their share of housework.
During this 21-day lockdown, we will indeed need every person doing their bit. It should start from home – with men doing their share of housework.
Dear Men,
(And I am specifically addressing men from comfortably off families, with a monthly pay cheque and the ability to stay home during this lockdown.)
As India goes into a 21-day lockdown today, you are going to be stuck at home for the next 3 weeks. Like most Indians, the vast majority of you will be living with families, and these families will include women – mothers, wives, sisters, daughters
If you are one of those men who shares the load, who doesn’t have to ask his mother or wife where his socks are, then this post is not for you. (But keep reading, you may still want to share it with fellow men; remember, they will listen to you more than they would to a woman. Sad, I know, but that’s how it is for the large part, even today).
If you are one of those men who wonders what your stay at home wife/mother does all day, or why your wife who works outside the home can’t cook “like my mother always did”, then I genuinely hope these 21 days teach you a few things, among them being:
Doctors appointments, dinners with friends, any repairs needed to the home…you will probably defer a lot of these to the end of the lockdown. Maybe the discomfort you endure will help you think of the work that usually goes into making these happen.
What’s more, none of this work halts for a Sunday. Perhaps being at home for a full 3 weeks, without the usual comforts of domestic labour that we are all used to, will help you better realise this.
And I am not even talking about situations that require exceptional work, like caring for an elderly family member with health issues.
I have been hearing so many people extol the virtues of positivity and pulling together – that at a time like this, we all need to be there for each other.
Indeed we do. Let’s begin with our homes.
Top image is from an ad for Ariel encouraging men to share housework
Founder & Chief Editor of Women's Web, Aparna believes in the power of ideas and conversations to create change. She has been writing since she was ten. In another life, she used to be read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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