On February 05th, 2019, Anand Mahindra had tweeted something different - different from what he normally tweets about. I am sharing the tweet here -
He makes a very pertinent point about how working-women have to do a lot more than their male counterparts to have a career and also succeed in that. He also added an image, which describes this much better than any words could ever do.
I came across this image a long time before Anand Mahindra tweeted it. But it caught traction only after his tweet. In fact, it has been circulated so much since then, that I got it in multiple Whatsapp groups in the last 24 hours. And believe me, when I say that I am not part of many such groups. Also, in this particular instance, it did not stop with just a forward. In fact, there were discussions around this tweet and people were appreciating women for managing all of this so well.
I have been reading about working women facing this struggle on a day-to-day basis, not just in India but throughout the world, trying to strike a balance and also move ahead in their careers. This got me thinking. Why do working women face these challenges? Why are they running a race with so many hurdles while men run the same race with no hurdles at all? Is this how the world is supposed to function? Or is this another one of those things that we talk about wanting to change, but don’t do anything to actually change? What is ailing the women of today’s world that is creating so many hurdles that they can’t think of having a successful career for themselves?
What is ailing the women in today’s world is what many people call the ‘super-woman’ syndrome. The women are expected to be superstars in everything they do. By themselves. They should not settle for anything less. They cannot settle for anything less. They will not settle for anything less. But is this how it should be? Should they be the superstar everywhere? Can’t they just be the normal person that a man is? These are things that need to be discussed, addressed.
To begin with, I believe men love to tag women ‘super-women’ so that they do more while the men can laze around. This needs to change and it has to begin at home. It has to start with the very men who attach that tag.
The only way to achieve that is by giving women a hand - in taking care of the kids, in the various random day-to-day chores. If men did their part, things would be a lot easier for women. They wouldn’t have to hurdle over so many things as the image shows. If the women can be ‘super-women’, why can’t the men be 'super-men' too? Why can’t they also take care of a few things at home while continuing to rock at work?
Sometimes I feel that women have brought this upon themselves. By accepting this as normal. By taking on all these additional tasks on themselves. By doing all this without complaining. Also, by not supporting one another.
This should happen. This should happen yesterday. But it isn’t happening. Not because it is impossible, but because this requires a behavioral change - a behavioral change from both genders. Any change is hard but a behavioral change is the hardest. It might be hard to change this generation of men unless they realise it. Most men choose not to realise. Unfortunately, so do most women. It is hard to change such people.
I don’t expect big changes to happen with our generation, but what we can do is to teach the next generation. Tell our kids the value of being normal. Teach them the value of doing things together, in partnership. Most importantly, teach them that chores have no genders. Let them SEE the importance of everyone in the family contributing to the chores at home. Get our sons to do more chores at home. Get our daughters to do fewer chores (because we inherently get them to do more).
Baby steps have definitely been taken in this direction. I know of people from both genders who already do this – kudos to them! They have set the benchmark. Hopefully, others will follow.
This will just be the beginning. Change will not happen overnight. But I am hopeful that if we start doing our bit, our future generations will find this world a more equal place. Here’s three cheers to those who want to start working towards it now!
