Honour the incredible women who have shaped your life – share their stories this Mother’s Day! Let’s pass on the #legacyofstrength!
It’s important to honour and promote Women's Month. However, it is also important to stop forwarding stereotypical notions and over-simplistic generalizations.
March is a very busy month for most of us – exams, annual reports, wedding season, planning for the upcoming summer vacations, and the list goes on. Amidst all this, finding innovative ways to beat the heat keeps our neurons occupied (as if they were idle, to begin with)!
Just when you think that you are all caught up, your phone lights up with a new message, ‘Happy Women’s Day!’ You quickly scoot off a reply too (you’re in the zone, remember?),
‘Oh, to you too! Women rock!’
By the time you see the actual video/meme that was sent in the message addressed to you, it is too late to come to terms with the fact that you too, unwittingly, have contributed to the stereotyping of women.
Here are a few common messages that still get propagated, every woman’s day.
Women and their rights have been on the back burner of history for a while now. It’s important to honour and promote their rights. However, it is also important to stop forwarding stereotypical notions and over-simplistic generalizations.
I would be happy to read an article on women who have changed the world, or even one about a woman who tried something ridiculously foolish and failed.
But if it’s another image of a woman as Ma Kali with various arms holding a baby, a pen, a laptop, a ladle, and everything else you can imagine, it’s a hard pass.
Sorry, not sorry.
Image source: rvimages, via Getty Images free and edited on CanvaPro
Vaidehi is a teacher and mentor who is extremely passionate about pedagogy, writing and the arts. read more...
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The issue arose with the last name of the child. Mihal insisted her husband’s second name should be added as he had passed away when Sonu was in college.
Sonu and Roopa were all excited to celebrate their tenth wedding anniversary. It was even more special as they had just welcomed their bundle of joy in their lives. It is been just a week. Sonu’s mother Mihal wanted to have the naming ceremony as well on the same day.
While the preparations went on with inviting guests, booking the best event management team, and the buffet menu for the night, Mihal concentrated on the little one’s name. According to their family astrologer, they agreed on the name Sonia. Sonu was from Kolkata while Roopa was from South India. They followed all the religious rituals from both sides of the family and hence because of that their marriage took place without much hassle.
One of my friends told me that her husband criticized her for locking her phone, whereas the husband never allows her to touch his phone and locks it in the cupboard.
Early in the morning of May 23, 2023, around 6 a.m., I got a call from my cousin from abroad.
While speaking, he told me how he took care of me as a child. He might be two years older than me, but we studied together. So, calling him by name was not at all a problem for me. I was too sleepy as I went to sleep late the previous night.
While talking, he said, “We gave you freedom.” My eyes were sleepy, but the mini-me in me awakened me to reply to him, saying, “Freedom is not to be granted by others. It is to be lived by everyone. Men always think that they are the owners of freedom, and they control their mothers, sisters, wives, and daughters!”
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