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#BreaktheBias – Sumita Chatterjee

The world celebrates International Women’s Day every year on 8th March. People try to do something or the other to make women in their lives feel special. Everyone goes around wishing women a “Happy Women’s Day” but my question is that in today’s world where there is still hopelessness, despair and disrespect for women how can it really be a “happy” Women’s day and why should we celebrate women just for one day and have a biased attitude against them for the rest of the 364 days.

Biasness is not only present between different genders but also in the same gender. In today’s society there is a scarcity of women supporting women. More than a ‘He for She’ campaign we need a ‘She for She’ campaign. Although women are capable enough to fight all their obstacles single-handedly but if women support women, I am sure the world would be a much better place.

Back in those times say 20 years back modernity was defined as in-laws letting their daughter -in-laws to step out of the house and have a job but the bitter truth is that behind this modernity lies a dark phase. I say so because first of all nobody has the right to “allow” a woman to go out and work. It should be her own decision and choice and even after the in-laws give a so-called permission to their daughter -in-laws they expect her to leave home in the morning and return home by afternoon just in a few hours so that they can cook lunch and handle the other responsibilities of home. The mother-in-laws taunt their daughter -in -laws if they come back home a bit late from work. They are always blamed for not looking after the house and not taking up any responsibilities back at home. They always fear that the daughter-in-law might have a “bad” influence on them by their co-workers. The husbands for that matter are never questioned on coming home late from work or taunted for not looking after the house or whom does he deal with all day while being at work. Why? Just because he is the “man” of the house. Women around the world are slowly and gradually overcoming all these obstacles by fiercely taking bold stands for themselves. Now even if they come back home late from work , they are not questioned or taunted because everyone knows that even their work is important and has some value added to it. I think people have still not completely adapted to this , they still have some grudges but I believe that women have considerably #brokenthebias and let themselves free from all these barriers.

There is another bias which needs to be broken with immediate effect and that is when we differentiate between women working outside the homes and women working inside their homes. The ones working outside are termed as “working women” but the women working in their homes for their families all day long are just termed as “housewives” and are told that they don’t work and have considerably less knowledge than the women working outside. I strongly believe that both the women whether working hard for their companies or working hard for their families should be considered as “working women”. For a matter of fact people have now started calling housewives as “homemakers” but still there is a large section of the society where the children and husbands think that since their mothers and wives are working in the home, they have no knowledge of the outside world and act as thankless creatures who are not even grateful to these women in their lives without whom their world will come on a stand-still condition.

Today when the man does the dishes of his house, cooks or helps his wife , mother or sister in doing some household chores they are considered to be superheroes but what we don’t realize is that these things need to be “normalized” instead of being “glorified” because women have been doing these jobs from centuries and it is considered that this is only their job. No, it is not because being able to do normal household chores is something everyone should know, these are basic survival skills. Husbands accompanying their pregnant wives to doctor appointments is glorified by saying that they are being supportive but where their wives are going through a whole process of body change, the husbands are appreciated on just doing the bare minimum.

If I talk about a woman who has inspired me the most then she has to be ME. Yes, in difficult times whenever I needed to #breakthebias or had to take strong stands for myself I was the one who inspired myself, appreciated myself on my achievements. Despite all the barriers in my life my strong will power and inner strength kept me going. This is the message I want to pass on to each and every woman present out there that don’t depend on others even for inspiration. Be an inspiration to yourself. Train yourself to be self-sufficient , self-capable , financially independent and complete in themselves in all senses.
All these biases need to be broken because only then will it be a “happy” Women’s day celebration, where women have the right to make their own choices without being questioned, where even they are appreciated for doing the day-to-day errands and men are not glorified just for doing the bare minimum.
Thank you.

#BreaktheBias – Sumita Chatterjee

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