On Gender Equality

Gender equality, a habit which people in West have taken on like wearing clothes, still remains elusive in India. Most of the people here are like members of some remote tribe, proudly gyrating in nude, showing off their stuff/junk of inequality in the name of culture and tradition. They remain oblivious of their grossness because it is the only way of life they have known. This habit is so normalized and ingrained that it will take decades for all our people to adopt equality and become civilized.

(Scroll down to watch Shah Rukh Khan as a groom in Babul ki Duayen Leti Ja)
A society that does not shed its old festering scabs of customs and traditions is worse off than the snakes that shed their old skins periodically. A society which keeps half of its population unhappy can never realize its goal of development.

Much has been said by the militant feminists about the “so called” discrimination against girls and women. I have been quietly agreeing and liking their posts and blogs out of courtesy. Today, I want to show everyone the real face of discrimination in Indian society, which makes our boys and men suffer in silent.

As it is well documented, the discrimination begins in the wombs. Many couples decide to send their precious unborn daughters to a better world and curse the boys to live in this rabid world. After being born, while the daughters are left mostly unattended so that they become strong and healthy survivors, the sons are spoon-fed everything, as if they are invalids. Do you know that if you don’t let a butterfly break its own cocoon, its wings remain weak? By spoon-feeding the boys, the parents make them physically obese and emotionally weak.

And then while in adolescence only the girls are taught the necessary skills for everyday life, like fixing a meal for oneself or keeping one’s surroundings clean, the boys are made forever dependent on women folk in these matters. Parents don’t realize how much the sons suffer later in life for the lack of these simple skills.

As for education, parents expect less from girls, and boys are made to study all the difficult things in the world. And afterwards too, men are supposed to do the real work, suffer indignation, fight in the dog-eats-dog world, while women have it easy at home, forever squandering their husbands' or fathers' hard-earned money. Why do girls always have it easy?

When grown up, the girls are protected fiercely, while the boys are left on their own. What if your son is misled by some characterless wayward girl and made to lose his virginity? He will always live in shame and fear of his moral lapse being discovered.

The most flagrant discrimination can be seen when parents marry their children. They spend way beyond their income on a daughter’s wedding. Many a time, the sons are made to repay the loan taken to make their sisters' lives comfy. Moreover, the parents try to recover some of the wedding expenses at the time of their sons’ weddings in the form of dowry, making their sons lose the respect of their wives forever.

Have you heard that song, “Babul ki duaein leti ja, ja tujhko sukhi sansar mile... (Here are the blessings of a dad, may you live happily ever after...)”?

Of course you have, but only at a daughter’s wedding. Why don’t people wish their sons happy lives as well? They are let off with a handshake, that's all. The boys also need to be told, “May the misfortune stay away from you. May you get so much love from your in-laws that you forget us,” and everything else that is mentioned in this song. They are as nervous and apprehensive as girls at the beginning of a new phase in their lives.

Only a society that takes care of its sons as it cares for its daughters can become a true egalitarian society. Let us all pledge to give equal rights to our boys to make our country a happy place for them.

In that ideal world this song will be played at a son’s wedding too. Watch Shah Rukh Khan as a groom in that ideal world:



(Gender equality image via Technorati.com)