What i am going to write today is something fairly common in conservative Indian homes... not in the more 'modern' Indian families that reside in metros and where parents are comfortable watching kissing scenes with their kids...
One important characteristic of a 'conservative' Indian home is that a girl child is always expected to do certain things and have certain responsibilities... a similar incident happened with me... my aunt asked me to clean my bathroom. i asked her why didnt she ever ask my brothers to do that... i share it with them!! i always do it. For a change let them do it this time...
She replied: At times i feel that u are trying to be an equal... My aunt's one line put my wheels of thought in motion... Gosh!! I thought I AM EQUAL!! it never crossed my mind that i am considered inferior!! I can beat my brothers at almost everything (Except sports!). even they consider me an equal. but its the older generation that has a problem accepting this...
For them the role of a girl is in 2 categories: Primary: Taking care of the household. Secondary: Working or even having a life outside the four walls. and if a girl expects her husband/brother to share the chores, she is considered to be too demanding.
What is wrong if there's equal sharing of work??!! why should just one party be responsible for everything? Women today don't ask men to stay at home and do the cooking. even men today accept readily the notion of an 'Equal' Partner.. But its the Generation Gap that makes a lot of parents and relatives feel 'out of place'.
My message to all parents and relatives: We are like that! The whole Generation... We consider ourselves equals. A girl is expected to know banking and a guy is expected to know cleaning. We're taught that from the moment we step into a school till the time we get a degree. We grew up with it....U, please learn to live with it.
Um...and sometimes we are told by them that we are equal as our brothers....and then it is conveniently forgotten at times!!!
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