On this day, I would love to make a pledge and encourage all of you to take the same pledge.
Engaging in gifts, wishes, women’s awards, motivational workshops, quotas… has this connotation of the weaker sex – that women need to be taken care of. Let’s get to the root of the problem. Let’s try our best to challenge people, even when it seems rude. Let’s challenge our friends – girl friends and boy friends alike, let’s challenge our colleagues, our parents, cousins, neighbours and our leaders, for biased behavior. Let’s challenge ourselves – when we are being too critical, when we are taking something for granted, when we are using gender biased language, when we are laughing at gender biased jokes, when we are enjoying gender biased super hero movies or music – let us challenge ourselves, and imagine a world where these biases would not exist. Imagine a world where centuries of reinforcement didn’t exist that women are bad drivers, men are emotionless, being called a pussy equates to weakness, that mothers are better caretakers than fathers. Let’s challenge the bias and strife for equality.
