Sunday, March 09, 2014

The Danger of the Single Story of Gender

I do believe in a Womens Day. But not in some of the messages coming my way - She is the nurturer, the creator and the bestower. She has infinite patience and love. She is the reason for our happiness.
.. Not saying that they are not true. These could possibly be true. Just not for all women.

I refuse to believe the Single Story of Womanhood just as one refuses to believe the Single story of manhood.

Not all men are good providers. Not all men are abusers. Not all women are martyrs. Not all are nurturers. Not all women are manipulative.

There is no one story of any gender, or even country, or society.

Womens Day is important because a lot of us are still facing similar challenges. Not all, a lot. It is time to go back and remind oneself that it is time to be you, and being a woman is a big part of who we are. But what is it to be a woman? and strangely, one cant think of any one objective that applies to all women. Not one.

Happy Being your own person day. Happy being you.

7 comments:

San said...

Crisp one Nidhi.. Tired of the stereotyping game that we so easily fall into..As you have said, not just about women..

A Mother = x + y + z - ab

A Father = a + b + c - xy

We seem to be always looking desperately for a known formula to put every human in, so that we don't have to take any effort to understand and deal with each unique individual we come across, with their own specific characteristics..

We expect them to fit in these standard formulae, so that we are all in our comfort zone of the familiar..

How do we know said...

Thanks San!

Yeah... stereotypes help us so much. Even Agatha Christie has written about looking for parallels.

R. Ramesh said...

hey thanks boss:) sorry i could not be regular on blog and hence the late reply..now will visit here often..stay connected best wishes always:)

Gentle Breeze said...

hi
You can't pin any one thing on a woman much as you can't pin it on a man
After reading your thoughts..i got thinking "What is it to be a Man" and promptly Googled it
Well it did throw up some interesting stuff...like the quotes in this link
http://www.artofmanliness.com/2013/09/09/quotes-about-manliness/
I like what Winston Churchill says in it

Happy Holi!

Name change in Passport said...

It is a informative post , thanks for sharing

Onkar said...

Very true. A thought-provoking post.

Id it is said...

Identity has been gender based ever since man started community based living, and there must have been a reason why it was so. Over the years, we could have changed that by opting for a unisex identity, but we didn't; clearly, it suited us, or at least a majority of us, to keep it that way. Women often feel they have been shortchanged in the process; however, that could always chafe if enough of us seek this unisex identity.