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From a young age, girls are called upon to serve people, and help mom in the kitchen while boys are mostly asked when something has to be purchased from outside. The new Ariel ad makes us examine such differences.
Gender stereotyping – a pretty common thing in Indian society. From behaviour to clothes to haircuts to work, everything is gender stereotyped. The ‘big’ one being, “It’s a woman’s job to take care of the house and do all the work, while the man takes care of the finances.”
Though the seeds of change have been sown by the newer generations, the majority are yet to adapt a change in their mindset. It’s not just an individual’s responsibility but rather a collective effort that is needed to give freedom and equality to both genders.
It’s refreshing to see more brands making ads around the need to stop gender stereotypes, and starting these conversations.
Ariel is a household name, but their campaign #ShareTheLoad set them apart and made the brand stand out. Tired of laundry detergent ads that showed the housewife scrubbing collars to make them whiter and displaying her worn out hands, the Indian audience welcomed the #ShareTheLoad campaign with open arms. At least the women in the audience felt heard and jibed at their partners to learn from the ad. (I know I did!)
Women are not solely responsible for housework. They stand equal to men sharing financial responsibilities and working too. Even homemaker wives or stay at home moms have much to do and it’s not always upto them to take care of every little bit of housework. This was beautifully shown in the first #ShareTheLoad ad, where women spoke up and stood with each other while fathers realized how they had influenced their daughters to always think of housework their job.
It was a start to conversations, which am sure influenced many to change, at least a little.
The recent ad showing a conversation between mother and a daughter, with the son in the background, is another very powerful example. It brings to light the foundations of everyone’s growing up years. Consciously or sub-consciously, girls are always considered to be organized, to be the ones who clean up after everything, while boys are treated as not knowing or not needing to care as much.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8QDlv8kfwIM&w=560&h=315]
It’s true, isn’t it? From a young age, girls are called upon to serve people, and help mom in the kitchen while boys are mostly asked when something has to be purchased from outside. The food was always brought in first for the boys, while the girls had to make sure to serve everyone and then eat with mom.
I am sure even now, even you may be subconsciously treating your son and daughter differently. And no, it is not just your responsibility, but equally of your partner’s too. Kids learn more by observing. Is your husband, father, brother, uncle getting involved with housework or just ordering the women around? It’s time to get everyone involved.
Ariel’s new ad shows this very well, where the mother realises how she has been treating her son differently as compared to her daughter. The best thing for me was that she makes the change right there.
I am leaving you all with a thought, aren’t the men brought up to be more dependent? If they have been, should that be an excuse to not change now?
Feminist, Ecopreneur & a Zerowaste aspirant. Believes that my life purpose is to influence people to be ecofriendly and to help the girls/women of the future be more free - in who they are, what 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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