Get Inspired, Be Empowered Forums Sexism & Patriarchy Still house chores are women’s duty. Why?

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13 replies, 14 voices Last updated by Afshan Iqbal 2 years ago
  • Manpreet Singh
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    @manpreet
    #31548
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    The whole notion that women should be homely and have a dedication towards their husbands has its ancient origins. Our ancient texts relating to the Hindu religion have basically gender divided the roles of males and females with women given the role to maintain the household while the men go out and do main jobs. A religious and divine blend was too given to this norm where the woman was expected to consider her husband as her god and how she has to be his caretaker for the next seven lives. These narratives were good in the ancient times when the social norms were at par and there was no light of modernity. But is it wise to carry them into the 21st century and continue to consider them divine and necessary?
    The problem with this narrative being continued in the present time is that it is hampering the overall development of women in society, especially in our society. It won’t be wrong to say that they have been reduced to a mere servant or an object of home that can be controlled according to the whims and fancy of the house head. This further leads to atrocities against women in the form of dowry, domestic violence, and harassment. Times have changed rapidly in the last few years where the right to privacy is now a fundamental right. But what about the fundamental rights of women where she is still can’t have basic human rights? Why we as a society have failed in this regard?
    Time and again, the only root cause for the many problems against women is the deep-rooted patriarchal system that we have in our society, with the government doing nothing to shift our mindset fearing backlash. Our generation is now getting literate and it is the best time to take action when the iron is hot. We are wasting a lot of talent just like this because we have redefined gender roles. This needs to be changed.

    038 deepika Singh
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    @038-deepika
    #34554
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    Household chores like doing the laundry, cleaning the utensils, taking care of children and making food is always done by women. If both, husband and wife are working, it is always the woman doing the domestic work.
    Observing that a wife marriage is a partnership based on equality and but still the wife is expected to do all the household chores, the Bombay High Court recently upheld the conviction of a man, who killed his wife with a hammer only because she refused to prepare tea for him. – via The Free Press Journal
    Once a woman is married she needs to leave her house and her family, go to the boys house and accept his family. She is one who is supposed to stay at home and look after her ‘new family’. She is reminded multiple times that she needs to ‘behave’ as an inferior character since she is a ‘wife’. She is told to compromise her dreams in order to fit in the boxes of ‘stereotypes’ of our society.
    Our society, preaches the idea of a woman limited to being a mere ‘housewife’ serving her family. I believe that If women have the passion for being housewives, they should go for it, if not then they should be able to choose what they want for themselves.

    Aditi Sahu
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    @aditi
    #34555
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    Times have changed, a lot of women are doing paid jobs now. Be it women having their own beauty salons, or them working as managers of big corporations, the majority of women are now employed. Such a scenario would make you think, now that women are doing paid jobs just like men, men must be engaging in the household chores as that is an obvious way to bring equality in the society; unfortunately, as practical as this may seem, it isn’t the true picture.

    Household chores still remain, to this day and age, women’s duty. No matter how much society preaches of becoming equal and indiscriminating, such things keep on happening because of the age old patriarchy. The society has fit the idea in their minds that household chores can only be done by women. If men engage in chores, they are either applauded too much or they are shamed for doing a “woman’s job”.

    It is about time that such backward mentality should change and we move towards a society that doesn’t just preach about equality but keeps the guts to follow through.

    Afshan Iqbal
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    @afshan
    #34562
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    As we see, the times have changed and it’s not just a man’s world anymore. Women are making an impact in every field and they are leading in every way. There is no place where we find women any less than men. Even though the world is moving towards change, still some people are finding it hard to accept that women are equal to men. Women were always supposed to work at home and the fact that women are working outside homes is still not digested by society. There is still a household that believes in the predominant patriarchal norms. Women are expected to work at home and take care of the family while a man is supposed to be the breadwinner. When will this end? Nobody has the answer to this. There’s a lot of awareness about equality and gender neutrality but then on the ground, it’s a fact that women are still considered only for household work and the ones who are shackling the stereotypes are judged for it. When a woman is seen doing a job, the one question that pops up in everyone’s mind is “How will she manage?”. People start assuming that a working woman won’t be able to manage her personal and professional life and will be bad in either of them. People start judging her and make a prior conception that she is a bad wife/mother/daughter-in-law/employee etc. Women also may face career problems because of stereotypes that they are more family-oriented and less committed to their careers. This needs to stop as soon as possible. We need to understand that women are capable enough to be the best in their work-life. Women have the ability to wear many hats while balancing careers, households, and other jobs so discriminate against them for their gender. Stop judging women and let them decide what they want.

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