‘Gender inequality is a human movement and not a female movement.’
Why do Indian Women feel like it’s a “burden” being a woman? Well it all started in 2012 when a young Indian woman was gang-raped in New Delhi the capital of India. In present time she is known as “Nirbhaya” which means “Fearless”. Protesters marched in the capital and held candle-light vigils. 7 years later [2019] the court finally sentenced the rapists to death.
Deepa Narayaan, a sociologist based in Delhi kept repeating one question over and over again “what is it in our culture that leads to such violence against women and the pervasive sexism?” her exact words in the interview.
In fact most words chosen by women describe the emotional qualities and strengths needed to cope with the duties of being a daughter, wife and mother, in other words, meeting everyone else’s needs selflessly.
India’s young, modern women would be parroting female stereotypes, despite labeling themselves as “feminists”. But still is every other smart and smartly dressed woman so unsure of herself?
Some women describe their father’s dissatisfaction with every achievement — “89 percent in an exam? Why didn’t you get 90?” they would ask. Young women feel crushed, they always think that none of their achievements are ever good enough. Fault finding, with everyday ordinary things like how a girl combs her hair or how a girl stands or talks, is a strategy intended to dampen confidence.
I will leave you with the question “can gender be questionable”. Why? Because I just want to see how you will react to a situation like this.
About the writer:
My name is Shailya Puri and I’m originally from Mumbai. I now live in Delhi. I have a passion for art, writing, football and video games. I have always written short articles on anything major happening in the world as well as in India but I never thought I’d contribute to a project such as this. I will be starting my very own podcast at the end of this academic year.
hARTS magazine 