Bat & Doll

Smriti…

Smriti Mandhana.

At the age of nine, she was selected in the Maharashtra’s Under-15 team. At eleven, she was picked for the Maharashtra Under-19s team. What do you think was the first stepping stone towards her success? Her family! Her father and her brother being into cricket and encouraging her towards it was the first step. Of course, her determination has a big share in it too. But a girl’s determination takes her nowhere without the support of her family.

What comes to your mind when you have to buy a gift for a little girl in your family?

A doll or a teddy or something like that; Isn’t it? Or you might just hand over some money.

Why not bat and ball or some mechanic set? Because our mind has been conditioned that a girl isn’t supposed to play like guys; we never consider handing them a bat or a hockey stick or even screwdrivers. But why do we even classify normal activities into genders? The activities which can be performed by a woman without requiring extra efforts like using a screwdriver to fix something or even peeling the fibers of a coconut or breaking a coconut are usually not done by women. They depend on men. Why?

Observe your own household. How many times have some female in your house asked you to peel the fibers of a coconut to be used in daily cooking just because you are a man. No doubt men are at a greater level with muscular power but does that mean a woman shouldn’t use her muscles at all? Isn’t that inequality? And then women argue over equality. When a woman is independent inside her home only then can she be independent in the world outside. Men and women have anatomically similar structures with the slight difference in genitals. That doesn’t make either gender inferior.

Have you ever observed the animal kingdom? Do they differentiate between male and female? Both the genders do their equal shares to exist as a species together. Well, now you might say that we are human beings. We have brains superior to the animals. But a superior brain is to enhance our lives as a species.

We aren’t supposed to use the brain to suppress a gender based on abilities. Women in the low socio-economic households are not even introduced to what education is. Only the male child is pampered in many households. A country where goddesses are worshipped since ages is discriminating in between men and women. Does that sound right to you? Regions, where literacy level is good, are almost free of any crimes against women. What is the root of this issue?

Is it poverty or is it illiteracy or both? One can only have an opinion about this. When you actually start thinking about the root cause of the issue, you’d get lost in the valley of your own thoughts. So many talents are not recognized just because they’re hidden in a female gender. I am not pointing out anything. But don’t you feel like handing a basketball to a little girl you’re looking at who is throwing the piece of tile in a perfect manner to land in the specific square while playing that game?

Do you ever make your little boy chop some veggies to help his mother cook while you look at his perfect chopping skills when he chops the clay to make clay toys? Do you take your girl instead of guy to accompany you while you wash your car? Girls are more specific about cleanliness, isn’t it? But no! It’s always guys to do such activities. I wonder how activities got classified. How career options got classified.

Medical colleges are full of 75% girls. Engineering colleges rarely see girls in some streams. Everything has been classified in a very wrong or an unfair manner. A guy is encouraged to go into a business. A girl is encouraged to focus on her marriage.

What women aren’t able to realize is that they themselves have imposed things on them for which they are blaming the men or the society. Which man would dare to restrict her if she takes a stand for herself? What is the society even going to do if she works late night? The society which makes working late night for her unsafe has no right to comment on her when she builds her strength on her own.

All the things that you read right now must have either disturbed your mind or seemed useless. Either way your mind knows there are a lot of things that you feel are wrong but you can’t do anything about them.

It’s never too late to begin. Bring about the change in your own life. You’ll know what satisfaction feels like once you take an initiative.

Good day!

{Originally written for boostthyself.com}