Are we there yet?

Every time I visit India, the visit always helps me write on an interesting topic. This past visit and the incident is so timely to talk about perception of women in position of power in today’s world and especially in our great nation. I was sitting in a large extended family gathering, and an elderly relative asked me how my business was going. She said, “How do you manage to travel so much and still take care of the kids and the house?” Before I could answer, another elderly women from my extended family responded on my behalf (without my permission of course). “Oh she is a true salesperson, she is capable of selling a someone without that person even knowing. She is an alpha woman and is very fast(whatever that means)”. I had no words or energy to argue this portrayal of me. The only thought that came to my mind was, if I switched roles with my dear husband, would he be labeled like this? Would he be looked down upon for being a focused, hardworking business owner? First I can almost guarantee, he would not be asked this question. Secondly, this society would support him by calling him an accomplished and hardworking business owner. The portrayal would be ‘Oh he just happens to be someone who is very busy and rarely gets any time to spend with his  family’. As a male, being busy, authoritative, hardworking would be considered his accomplishments.

Unfortunately, it is happening all over the world, not only in developing countries. According to an article by Fortune, it is stated that, “women are subjected to discrimination simply by virtue of their gender and the only way to successfully address the issue is to shine a spotlight on it and the ensuing discrimination.” Even in some parts of the United States, people are not ready to support a woman as our country’s leader. This bias about gender takes focus away from the strengths of a person at their deepest level. Furthermore, I believe we are not gender neutral, and are forced into roles of masculinity and femininity. does anyone wake up in the morning and think of accomplishing certain tasks keeping their gender in mind? I know I don't. Why does society frame the expectation for women lower than their traditionally male counterparts? When will we be able to remove gender from our daily decision making process? If some sort of solution is not implemented, progress in society will be severely limited by these gender constructs.

First as a society we need to introspect why we behave in this manner. I believe the root of this problem is formed from centuries of discouraging women to reach non-traditional feminine goals. Historically women have not been given the platforms to perform leadership skills, they were not even given the right to vote, nor get educated. Consequently, our society has lower faith in women’s capabilities in any kind of leadership role. When a woman gets a job, she threatens the patriarchy that has been in place for centuries. The question is what should be changed in the society at the ground level to bring on a positive impact where people start seeing qualification of a person before seeing their gender.

During the times I grew up in, it was common to see this issue all around me, unfortunately this issue is still prevailing and is surfacing more than before due to the political climate we are in right now.  I know there is no immediate answer to this problem. I have seen this problem all around myself, from a personal setting to the highest office in the world. I can think of one way of dealing with this issue, and that is to raise our children gender neutral.

In order to work on some potential solutions, we must first start with the idea of education. Education has the power to change the minds of the people who are so ingrained in their strong values. When we start from education we can empower youth and adults with the mentality of focusing on ones skills rather than their gender. We must Instill “being human” from very early age rather than instilling gender biased approach by enrolling a girl to a dance school and a boy to a football league. Let’s pledge that we will raise humans not boys or girls. I believe we often forget that being human with strengths is above being male or female.

Be human!

 Article Used: There is only one reason women don’t Make it to the Top

http://fortune.com/2016/01/19/reason-women-to-the-top/