Women!

So let’s talk about women. Those pretty ones living among us, helping us make children..

Okay, sorry, that came out wrong. A quote, a good one, yes. Let me start with that. Always a good idea, right?

“I can’t do this, I can’t just be a wife. I don’t undesrtand how anyone does it – there is literally nothing to do but wait. Wait for a man to come home and love you. Either that, or look around for something to distract you.”

– Paula Hawkins, The Girl on The Train

Well, that leads to two conclusions:

1. Megan, the character in the book, is from middle-east or Asian Pacific region (or maybe Africa or so?); it’s just her parents were obsessed with British names.
2. Women are treated equally around the world. Literally.

Though Megan seems like an insane one, she has a point here (I mean, Paula Hawkins has a point here. Ugh!). Most of the women where I come from does so. And I’m pretty sure most cultures have the same rubbish going on.

No no no. Don’t even go there. You think North America does not have this problem, or Europe? Let’s get into statistics here. Studies found that, in America, “On an average day, 19 percent of men did housework–such as cleaning or doing laundry–compared with 49 percent of women. 42 percent of men did food preparation or cleanup, compared with 68 percent of women.” (Alexandra Sifferlin, 2014). There are so many other stats given in that article, but this particular one is a good one, isn’t it? I’m pretty sure, the stats for the same would be way higher in other parts of the world.

This semester I have taken this crazy, amazing subject, Critical Thinking and Innovation, fancy name, huh? It deals with various problems we face unknowingly due to some bizarre things we do knowingly. Actually, it’s hard to explain, but let me try. So how this works is, the professor comes up with a topic, she explains how the world is facing different problems due to that one thing. Oh boy, it’s crazy how we incorporate everything into our lives. Without attending these classes, you cannot tell how many ways it affects us as a society. So one day, we have this topic – gender discrimination. There I came to know about these facts, and much more. Let me tell you another thing that made me write this post.

About six months ago, I went to meet this girl, for the first time, and as our conversation goes on, she tells me these horrifying stories which she had actually witnessed in her family. Her sister-in-law had some really good masters degree, MBA I suppose, and she was really good with business and all. But here comes Indian version of Trump, present in almost every Indian household, if not all, restraining women from stepping out of their homes for work. But don’t take this the wrong way, no. It’s because men are insecure or they’re afraid of being criticized for sending their women out for work, no, no. It’s just because they are capable enough to feed their family and fulfill their all needs, right? Bullshit. Absolutely, completely, total bullshit.

‘But that’s how it used to be back then. They didn’t have this mentality. They didn’t go to college like me and you and back then they…’ She cuts me off.

‘He had a degree, and he was a professor.’

I don’t think either of us spoke much after that. I mean, I was blown away by his last words, and she, probably was crying or so I thought. But the point is, still this bullshit mentality is alive in our society. In the 21st century, seriously?

Fifty years from now, when I’ll be on some island reading books and you’ll still be taking subways on your wheelchair (sorry, but the bitter truth, always hurt, right?), they are going to ask, “What was your contribution towards this freedom for us?” I definitely won’t be on the south side, how about you?

And yes, I have this big hope that someday, things are going to change for better. As Martin Luther King, Jr. once said, “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” And as they say in Espanyol…

 

P.S. I really don’t know what do they say in Espanyol, I just love the sound of that.

P.P.S. I’ve got to find a replacement for ‘bullshit’, feels like I’m stuck with it. Damn it!

P.P.P.S. And no, we did not date after that. We are just friends. As cliché as it may sound, but it is what it is.

Find out more facts on gender here: TIME