Time and again this issue of gender discrimination crops up its head in public (while in private it is always oppressed) back in India, with the recent events that came to light in Bengaluru. Most call for protection and stricter laws against offenders or molesters. That's one way of looking at it. But the real and perhaps only remedy will be when every household, every family grows in an attitude of equality for all children.
In a male dominated society as India is, what is paramount is not what is said or not said to the girl child but rather to the boy child. If only every boy in the family sees his sisters and other women in the family treated with respect and courtesy. That every person in the household has a right to speak and express his or her opinion, irrespective of the issue or matter under discussion; that the kitchen or the four walls of the house are not the only place for a girl to be 'safe' in; that every girl, is also a human being with the same rights and sense of dignity, just as oneself... only then will there by a change in society at large.
Empowering the girl child is good; but 'educating' the boy child too is important.
In a male dominated society as India is, what is paramount is not what is said or not said to the girl child but rather to the boy child. If only every boy in the family sees his sisters and other women in the family treated with respect and courtesy. That every person in the household has a right to speak and express his or her opinion, irrespective of the issue or matter under discussion; that the kitchen or the four walls of the house are not the only place for a girl to be 'safe' in; that every girl, is also a human being with the same rights and sense of dignity, just as oneself... only then will there by a change in society at large.
Empowering the girl child is good; but 'educating' the boy child too is important.
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