Answer is yes, the battle we are fighting isn’t easy. Well, this fight is not new, it began decades ago. However, we are making progress but it’s not enough to stop. Patriarchy is a social system in which men hold the primary power and predominate in roles of political leadership, moral authority, social privilege and control of property. The road to abolish Patriarchy is much longer because its wide roots are deeply bared within the society such that many women still believe that the sole purpose of their existence is to serve men. Fighting it will take time and demands unity among us to tug out its roots from society and establish a society where all genders are seen equally and everyone has equal rights. Our constitution provides equal rights to all genders but, in reality it’s a lot different picture.
The rights that are restricted by that piece of paper are not being implemented. People even discriminate against children on the basis of their gender. Why do we celebrate the birth of a baby boy but not of a girl? Why does news of delivery of a baby boy bring a smile on our faces but news of a girl child turns our world upside down and takes away our smile. How come such discrimination still persist? Why can’t we celebrate the birth of a new born irrespective of its gender? Birth of new born is so over whelming and happy moment for the family that a new member has come in their life but we ruin our own happy moments by such gender discrimination.
Addressing Patriarchal Mindsets:
Some people curse their sister, daughter or wife on the delivery of a girl child. Being born and having a life is in itself is a pride then why ruin such an astonishing and pure feeling by this patriarchal mentality? Why do we even think that girls are in second place after men?
Why are most of the men so proud that they are born as male, and not a female? It is largely seen boys tend to tease one another by saying each other a girl as form of abuse and passing comments like “You dance like a girl, walk like a girl, you have long hair like girls”, all cheap comments are not just affecting the victim, but it’s actually responsible for setting down a negative mentality within society, it is narrowing down our perspective.
Do not consider words like gay, black, transgender ,girl as an abusive words, let them remain normal words like others. Change your attitude towards these words, change your mentality otherwise you are simply passing the poison you drank to your next generation which will eventually be carried on in future.
Acknowledging the Impact of Discrimination:
Have we become so irresponsible and immature that we can’t think two steps ahead that what impact our actions could usher in the longer term and what is going to be result of such discrimination on the victim and the way this can negatively impact his mental state and life? Do we still as humans believe in advancing mankind and promoting messages of peace? Have we stopped considering our deeds and no longer think ourselves responsible for our evil actions, female foeticide is an example of it. Can we deny that such things didn’t happen around us?
Can we really say in our family no-one, not a single person does any gender discrimination? We can’t. Exceptions are there, however we still see several of them. Such discrimination and wicked malpractices still prevail in many regions of our country, this is often why our government is bringing strict laws against such evil practices and initiating several positive movements like ‘Beti bachao, Beti Padhao Abhiyan’ in order to spread awareness and bring a positive change.
Bring a change in you, Bring a change in society:
Our mission is to bring these numbers down from few to none because this is not something which is acceptable, it’s been long time we are accepting it and ignoring it but now it’s really important to say no to such malpractices and spread awareness regarding the same. We should always encourage and make our family conscious of gender equality and its advantages and need to prevent gender discrimination from the lowest level of society i.e. among families.
What is feminism?
Feminism is a movement to bring social, economic, political equality of the sexes. It is a novel belief that women should share equal rights as men. It is really necessary for us to understand it’s a common battle. Feminism is not just about women fighting for equality, it’s also about letting men break the stereotypes around masculinity. It helps us to think that not everything is exclusively male or exclusively feminine, it allows men to be househusbands if they choose to be, and it allows them to cry or express their feelings without fear of judgement.
Feminism works to dismantle all systems of oppression and isn’t based on binary gender thinking. Women are undoubtedly victims of patriarchy, but the pressure on men to conform to ideals of aggressive masculinity makes them a prey of it too. As man has to meet all the demands of a patriarchal society, following its unnecessary norms and need to prove its masculinity. So eventually, we all are victims of patriarchy. But in order to smash it, we need to accept this. This battle is not just about women, it’s about equal rights for all individuals. We must stand united and fight for it. Solely then can we see a ray of light and hope for a better society in future.
India has a 78% literacy rate, with Kerala leading the country with a rate of 96%. Delhi and Uttarakhand are next. Education is the most effective weapon to fight patriarchy. It is our joint responsibility to inculcate moral values within young minds and teach them the concept and importance of equality. It is possible to resolve practically all problems by being kind, friendly, and respectful of everyone, regardless of their age, gender, caste, or religion.
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