happy international women's day
#BreakTheBias
While at work, she was talking on the phone checking on her son’s health because he was down with a flu. He (her superior) overheard the conversation and was extremely annoyed that she was dealing with a personal issue instead of resolving the high profile case that she was leading. So, he said to her “Should I hand over the case to Sushant (male police officer) since you have family issues to deal with?” She instantly responded “Well in that case Sushant would have double the trouble I’m dealing with because he has two (2) children!”
The above is a snippet of one of the many biases women have to face at their workplaces irrelevant of the field they work in.
#BreakTheBias is this year’s theme for celebrating International Women’s Day. Bias, whether deliberate or unconscious, prohibits the freedom of choice and growth of women. And while we blame men for it because we live in a patriarchal society, women are as much to share the blame. It is interesting that the bias has nothing to do with the kind of human one is, it has to do with the history of mankind and the different kinds of roles that men and women have played all along.
It is a constant battle that women have to fight, very well explained by Indra Nooyi in her book “My Life in Full.” The career growth limitations that women are subject to also has to do with very little social support for child-rearing. The issue is more complex than what it looks like on the surface but the good news is that we are talking about it. Self-worth also has a role to play in all this. It is said that when you do something good for yourself it helps increase your self-worth. So, maybe just try to ‘simplify’ the complexities and start by doing just that today – build your self- worth.
I totally believe that any battle we are fighting is to help us achieve a better quality of life with a better happiness quotient. Here is a short clip of pointers for achieving that https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzLJhY1gqmA. I used to be a person who fought at the slightest sight of injustice and unfairness, the surge of energy that would consume me was enough to move a mountain but it left me exhausted. I always wanted to see a fair & equal world but now my vision is shifting to see a happier world. When we feel unheard or oppressed, we fight, but such a situation occurs only because the oppressed and the oppressor both are wounded. Imagine if both were happy such a situation wouldn’t arise.
For me #BreakTheBias stands for breaking the labels that we give each other including the genders that form our identities. I want us to become faceless, genderless, content living beings who exist purely to experience this limited human life. Can We?
Much Love,
Rashmi Yadav
Free Image credit – https://pixabay.com/
