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Children internalize misogyny from observing, reading, and watching things and people around them. Let's set a better example.
Children internalize misogyny from observing, reading, and watching things and people around them. Let’s set a better example.
Rhythm Pachecho, a girl studying in the 4th grade at a school in Utah, USA has been receiving praises online after she refused to solve an offensive math problem.
The homework she had been given involved a math problem: “The table to the right shows the weight of three Grade 4 students. How much heavier is Isabel than the lightest student?”
Rhythm, rightly so, got uncomfortable with this question involving the body-weight of three girls, as it perpetuates blatant misogyny towards young girls. Rhythm encircled it and wrote , “What!!! This is offensive. Sorry I won’t right (write) this. It’s rood (rude).”
She also wrote a note to her Math teacher. The note said, “Dear Mrs.Shaw, I don’t want to be rude, but I don’t think that Math problem was very nice because that’s judging people’s weight. Also, the reason I did not do the sentence is cause I just don’t think that’s nice. Oh, and the problem is page 34, number 7. Love, Rhythm.”
In an interview, her mother said that she and her husband are proud of Rhythm “for listening to her gut instincts and standing up for what is right.”
Many on social media have praised Rhythm for taking a stand. While Eureka Math, the company which provides educational material to Rhythm’s school apologized for “any discomfort or offense caused by the question.” The company assured that it will replace the question in all future reprints.
It is no hidden fact that the way people in a house treat and talk to each other gets modeled by the kids, but in our age and time, the culture we live in also promotes misogyny in numerous ways.
Children who study Hindi language at schools learn idioms like “Haatho mein choodiyan pehenna” (to wear bangles in hands), which means ‘to be cowardly.’ The association of bangles, (primarily worn by women) with cowardice is a prime example of how gender discrimination and misogyny is instilled in young boys and girls from a young age.
This advertisement of Bournvita from the 1960s, primarily a children’s health drink has a tagline which says, “Pati ki khushi aapki khushi hai” (“Your husband’s happiness is your happiness.”)
1960s :: Bourn Vita Advertisement Tagline " पति की खुशी आपकी खुशी है " pic.twitter.com/fCAtF9c9Nk — indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) October 6, 2020
1960s :: Bourn Vita Advertisement Tagline
" पति की खुशी आपकी खुशी है " pic.twitter.com/fCAtF9c9Nk
— indianhistorypics (@IndiaHistorypic) October 6, 2020
This advertisement isn’t only blatantly sexist but also sends a message to young kids that a woman’s happiness always comes secondary to her husband and that a woman’s only job is to take care of her husband and family, sidetracking her own needs. You may say that this was 60 years ago, but just the quote tweets for this tweet tells you how deeply this misogynist idea is embedded in the minds of Indians, even now, in the 2020s, the same message passing from generation to generation through other means.
And the recent, glaring example of boislockerroom is proof enough, that the sexist way girls and women are looked at, even by boys as young as 14-16, is horrifying.
This incident shows the importance of instilling good values and creating a healthy atmosphere for our kids from a young age. They imitate and learn behaviours by watching and listening to people around them.
Image source: YouTube
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After some time, unable to bear it any longer, I signed off from the home lunch. My MIL must've heaved a sigh of relief because my portion of groceries would be saved!
Until I married I had never imagined even in my wildest dreams that my diet/ food intake could assume such alarming proportions and affect conjugal harmony. Having stepped into my marital home I discovered to my bewilderment that the four female inmates were frugal eaters. My spouse and his dad ate moderately well.
The family faced a dilemma: my requirement surpassed those of the ladies but most certainly couldn’t be clubbed with the men’s. Why? Simply because they were MEN. “How could you even think of it”? They snubbed me often. (Incidentally, the parents-in-law refused to accept contributions from either of us). They probably expected me to be demure and submissive since I was ‘‘eating off” their money.
So each morning as I left for work I was served three chapattis with a few spoonfuls of curry. Can you believe this curry catered to the ladies’ lunch the previous day, and dinner for all six inmates? The horror of horrors, it crept into my lunch box too. The chapattis made at the crack of dawn were fine till breakfast but by lunch, they turned leathery; the accompanying curry insipid, tasteless.
We can’t bombard impressionable young women in the name of enlightened entertainment to feed them the same drivel. At least let us not label misogynist movies as helping the cause of women.
I have watched at least 2 ‘purported’ trailblazing Bollywood movies in the recent past that left me with a feeling that I had taken part in the ice-bucket challenge all over again. This time around, however, without even the satisfaction of having supported a worthy cause.
Both the movies have about a 90% liking rate on IMDB/Rotten Tomatoes. Both are touted to ‘sensitively’ portray the taboo topics that seem to be mostly hidden underneath a layer of banana peels – dangerous to even tread nearby.
Today, we celebrate National Girl Child Day, with 7 girls, who proved that girls can be anything they wish to be, no matter what.
Girls can be anything they want to be and age is just a number. These 7 girls proved it. Today on National Girl Child Day, we celebrate the spirit of every girl in India.
Here are 7 Indian girls, who will inspire you today.
How do we expect teachers who are themselves plagued by prejudices, to educate children who believe in gender equality? It's time to train the teachers first!
How do we expect teachers who are themselves plagued by prejudices, to educate children who believe in gender equality? It’s time to train the teachers first!
“Ma’am what is ‘Stereotype’?” Another hand went up, “And ‘Discrimination’?”
I am a social science teacher and these are some of the questions I encounter every day from my students. Thanks to the new NCERT books, chapters like ‘Growing up as Boys and Girls’, and ‘Women Change the World’ address many current themes prevalent in society.