Gender role inequality exists, and it's as simple as that. Rather than fighting this claim, let's figure out the root of this sexism and make things equal.
Gender role stereotypes are deeply rooted within various cultures, meaning that there is yet to be an equal balance between both genders. The Indian culture is no exception to these stereotypes. Each gender is expected to play specific roles within the household, at work, or through daily life, and to me it seems as if these roles are usually superior for men.
The Big Question
“Why is it that in most cultures, including the Indian culture, men have the job of handling the finances or being the major provider of the household, and why are women expected to work in the kitchen and take care of the house?”
To emphasize, this isn’t me saying that women have no rights, that all men are horrible, or that every Indian household is traditional in this sense; rather, I’m imploring everyone to assess the various roles they play in life and understand the backstory behind these.
A Very Real Situation
Imagine following these very traditional roles while raising children because “this is just the way things are.” Girls will essentially grow up thinking that they must take on the responsibility of cleaning, cooking and taking care of their family because these are tasks for women whereas boys will grow up thinking that they don’t need to learn these tasks and rather should be able to do the more “manly” ones. Both genders might feel as if they can’t do any tasks that are labeled for the other gender in fear of being judged by their peers. We need to instead raise our sons and daughters with a more open and holistic perspective.
Our Generation Is Fighting Back!
More of my guy friends are learning how to cook, both rather than just one of my parents are working professionals, while I was growing up, my dad worked from a home office so that he could watch after us and be our Uber driver as he would say, and my mom was the one who physically went to work. Things are evolving, but there’s so much more that needs to change.
In America and other more progressive countries, the scales are becoming more balanced, but in India there is still a great deal of change needed to come. Nevertheless, there are some strides being made on the screen. For instance, Ki and Ka, a Bollywood movie released in 2016, had a pretty unconventional love story compared to the usual stories that glorify the heroes for saving the girl. In this movie, Kia was the ambitious and successful woman who provided the income while Kabir was the house husband all by choice. Their story was a direct contradiction of the normative gender roles, and it was a truly revolutionary story line. Even though this is a great first step on screen, in reality, we still have a great deal to accomplish for our world.
Picture By: LadiesWhoDesign
Where Do We Go From Here?
Now this is just the tip of the iceberg. Sexism in traditional India and even in America spans deeper particularly the standards at which women are treated. For now, I’ll leave you with this: at the end of the day, we can’t blame our parents, grandparents, and ancestors for the roles they played because these roles are deeply ingrained within our culture and go back generations. However, it is our generation’s job to change these stigmas by bringing awareness to gender stereotypes that exist in most Indian households and externally as well.
Until cooking for the family isn’t solely considered a woman’s job or being the primary breadwinner in the house isn’t solely considered a man’s job, we can never have an equal environment for both genders to succeed in.
Once we start having these important conversations at home about sexism, we can go on to fix issues related to equality in the workplace, in relationships, and much more.