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On the International Day Of The Girl Child, this beautiful poem charts a girl's journey from being born to becoming an adult!
On the International Day Of The Girl Child, this beautiful poem charts a girl’s journey from being born to becoming an adult!
The hard-hitting poem called ‘A Woman’s Monologue’ has emotional lines such as- ‘I grew up to be my father’s daughter/Very casually, I was given his surname/Why was my father given entitlement for my mother’s labour?’
‘And after so called ‘kanyadaan’/I was going to be my husband’s wife/I would be the one changing names/I would be the one swapping homes.’ Read the full poem below…
It started the day I came
Everyone was happy
But there wasn’t a celebration like the one when my brother was born
I grew up to be my father’s daughter
Very casually, I was given his surname
Now, when I am 18, I wonder
I wonder the reason behind it
Why was my father given entitlement for my mother’s labour?
Why is father’s name on every document mandatory
Then, I had a sudden epiphany
My basic identity was dependent on the males in my life
I was my father’s daughter
And after so called ‘kanyadaan’
I was going to be my husband’s wife
I would be the one changing names
I would be the one swapping homes
And if I dare wish to live separately with my husband
I would be a home-breaker
I am given equal right in property
But I am expected to relinquish it
I am free to work after marriage
Provided the in-laws approve of it
As a woman, it is natural that I be the one to sacrifice
When husband wants sex, it is expected that I oblige
Is marriage a license to rape?
Perhaps that’s why marital rape isn’t criminalised
I am so used to getting less,
That occasional equality makes me cry
I am the one raped, yet I am the one restricted
I am abused, my privacy violated
‘Not all men’, they answer in collective
Its high time you change your perspective
I know it feels uncomfortable
To have less, when all this time you had more
But it’s not just about me,
You know, equality is mutual!
Image source: Still from Nil Battey Sannata
A Law student, content writer, sometimes poet, and an all time reader trying to find solace in literature. read more...
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Shows like Indian Matchmaking only further the argument that women must adhere to social norms without being allowed to follow their hearts.
When Netflix announced that Indian Matchmaking (2020-present) would be renewed for a second season, many of us hoped for the makers of the show to take all the criticism they faced seriously. That is definitely not the case because the show still continues to celebrate regressive patriarchal values.
Here are a few of the gendered notions that the show propagates.
A mediocre man can give himself a 9.5/10 and call himself ‘the world’s most eligible bachelor’, but an independent and successful woman must be happy with receiving just 60-70% of what she feels she deserves.
As long as teachers are competent in their job, and adhere to the workplace code of conduct, how does it matter what they do in their personal lives?
A 30 year old Associate Professor at a well-known University, according to an FIR filed by her, was forced to resign because the father of one of her students complained that he found his son looking at photographs of her, which according to him were “objectionable” and “bordering on nudity”.
There are two aspects to this case, which are equally disturbing, and which together make me question where we are heading as a society.
When the father of an 18 year old finds his son looking at photographs of a lady in a swimsuit, he can do many things. What this parent allegedly did was to dash off a letter to the University which states: