Rashmi's Space

Gender specific roles are a big no-no in today’s day and age. A woman can do just as well, or better what the man does and the man can do everything that a woman can and would traditionally be expected to do. We, as a society, are slowly coming to accept that the man and the woman are equals. That the man is not ‘superior’ as our patriarchal society would have us believe. And many of us (to the utter dismay of the older generation) are trying to model this behaviour in the presence of our children as well. We are trying to get to a point where, as the women grace the high echelons of the corporate world, the men are conquering recipes (some traditional, some modern, and several accidental) in the kitchen, making friends with the children (yes, they are beyond just playing football with the boys and ignoring the girls altogether); and are helping clean the house (okay, that is stretching it too far.) My point is, that The Husband, who was, so far, only expected to drink endle...

“Dear girls, get a degree, start earning, buy a house and a car, give back to your parents and then get married. Don’t put your 100% on a man.” Saw this on social media today. It had more than a few thousand likes and hundreds of comments. Then there was another post doing the rounds on social media – about how and why women are not thrilled about the idea of wearing bindis, sindhoor, bangles, toe-rings and other similar signs proclaiming their marital status to the world. And then there is also this fact that the culture of arranged marriage (with the age of the groom never being much of a concern; but the age of the bride preferred to be in the early twenties); is seeing a significant change. The average marriage age, for the bride and the groom today has gone up considerably; especially that of the bride; which brings me back to the whole Dear girls post mentioned above. These posts stem, no doubt, from the idea of women empowerment; because frankly, in our countr...

We have all seen the latest #ShareTheLoad advertisement by Ariel going viral. It is commendable for a prestigious brand like Ariel to propogate gender equality and convey a much needed powerful message the Indian audience today.  The ad shows a woman, deftly managing her home and her work and at the same time also making sure that she caters to every whim of everyone in the house – be it her son or her husband. At the end of the ad, her father is shown realising his folly of having raised her thinking this is alright; and apologising to his daughter on behalf of his entire generation that let both men and women grow up believing in the wrong values. But not anymore , he is shown to decide, changing himself by helping out his wife at home and accepting to “share the load.” .    It is, no doubt, a thoughtful ad on gender equality , and I am sure it resonates with several people as well as with an entire generation of fathers who have never helped th...

It has been a bright and sunny day. A couple of hours before sunset, the last bright rays of the sun streak in through the window. She sits by her bay window, looking out at the garden, waiting, killing time till she has to go and attend the evening gala. It is an important day for her today. The day when the world will acknowledge her accomplishment, yet again! And she sits by her window, ready to face the world. Confidently. It wasn’t always like this, she remembers. Growing up in a home where her parents’ loyalties always lay with her brother and in a society where everyone always made it look like it was wrong for someone to be born as a woman; she always thought she was lacking something because she was not the male of the species. She has grown up seeing that it is the men who are considered superior. She has seen that it is her brother who is the apple of her parents’ eye and she is, well maybe a sour grape? Even if for a moment she decides to ignore it; the ...