My fellow women, break the illusion, break the silence and speak up

Why is there no female Prime Minister in Nepal? Why are women not in higher positions? Because, maybe they are aborted in the wombs. Maybe they are confined to the kitchens.

Photo: Freepik

Shreena Nepal

  • Read Time 2 min.

Isn’t it fascinating how girls have been designated with the pink color from the very beginning of their birth? Then growing up, they’ve been taught to look up for guys whom they can depend on  in the name of marriage, teaching how vulnerable they (girls) are and how they must be protected by men from men, questioning their ability just because they are females, teaching how they (women) should eat, sit, walk, dress up and so on, convincing them, girls and women, that they should cope-up with all the misogyny, and then after marriage they should be responsible for all the family members and that they should not pursue their dreams?

Whereas, men are taught to be someone, are encouraged to be brave, to not drop a tear, instead fight for what they desire, dominate and objectify women.

Let me share a small incident that happened in my home. The other day, my mother asked my dad to cook something special since it was Saturday. My dad said he has only a day to relax so he just wanted to relax. My brother who was overhearing the conversation said innocently: “Dad, you can cook at least one meal because I can see that you have holiday once in a week but my mother is the only one who never has a holiday. She is always busy in the kitchen doing her work.” My brother is only seven.

We have always taken our homemaker mothers for granted despite knowing that in their absence our lives will be chaotic.

We have always taken our homemaker mothers for granted despite knowing that in their absence our lives will be chaotic.

From the very beginning, the disparity has been created between men and women. We all should accept the biological differences, but we have Hwang Kyung-Seon from South Korea who is number one taekwondo player. We have women like Mary Kom who are physically strong enough to knock millions of men in the blink of an eye!

In the world, we have been through lots of fights for the right to equality, but is our fight for rights confined to the four seats of public bus? What if a woman on her period gets on the bus and the women’s seat is full? She should stand? Is 33 percent inclusion issue only for the public sectors? Only for deputy mayors?

With great powers comes great responsibility, goes the saying. The highest positions must be given in the hands of women because they are taught to be responsible from childhood.  But the hypocrisy lies here. When it comes to positional responsibility, women are always pushed behind.

Many times I have wondered over some sparsely answered questions: Why is there no female Prime Minister in Nepal? Why are there no other female chief justices? Why are women not in higher positions? Why have women been made just part of representation but not participation?

Then I answer myself: Maybe they are aborted in the wombs, maybe some of them are confined to the kitchens, maybe some of them were made so conscious about their appearance they couldn’t shift their focus to something else.

The world flusters from the power that women possess within themselves. If the illusion of misogyny is cleared, no women would settle for less, no women would be the Barbie dolls. My fellow women, break the illusion, break the silence, speak-up.