Women are not a burden
by Ashfaque Choudhury
Women are a burden _ this line is something that people used to hear ages ago _ well, thats what you would think. But, those words are still heard. The moment a girl is born in the family, some relatives will put on a sad face. The very next line that they utter will be something like: Oh well, the girl would go to her husbands family, so whats the benefit of giving birth to a girl? Wow, the way some say that is amazing. Hard to believe that those very people came into this world thanks to the hard labour of a woman.
Then, the moment a girl steps out of the house, she is ogled at in such a way as if she is a showpiece on sale, and any man would be able to buy it. Eve-teasing, a phrase commonly used for public sexual harassment of girls and women by men, is a common thing now. The men think that as they have a lit more muscle than a woman, they can do anything and can get away with anything. They have this illusion that it is okay to tease any girl or woman, but behind their backs, they have no idea that their own sister or mother is facing the same thing.
Every teenager these days has this urge to have a girlfriend, and getting one means to propose to a girl and instantly hearing the word Yes. But unfortunately, in 90 per cent of cases, the answer is a No. So, the gruesome process starts of stalking and disturbing that girl. And in the worst case scenario, the spurned lover throws acid on her face so that no one else would propose to her. So cruel we men can be that we dont care what the girl would go through the rest of her life.
The moment we get married to a girl, we think that the wife is a free maid and a baby-making machine. She will have to cook and wash clothes for the entire family, get yelled at will by her in-laws, and then again, the family members are never satisfied. On the other hand, the women of the house will not be allowed to work outside, because that would dishonour the name of the family, or in Bangla: IJJOT THAKBEY NA. I still dont understand whats the relation between a married woman working outside and IJJOT (honour)
We, men and boys, always tend to think that we are so strong that we can rule the world like anything, but the moment we get hit physically or mentally, we run back to our mummy to have a good cry. The irony of the whole thing is more than laughable.
We tend to forget one thing that now women are more than in par with us. They are pilots, doctors, engineers, entrepreneurs; some are even running the country.
Few days ago as I was surfing the internet, I saw many online boutique houses. One caught my eye: ALEYA FASHION. On further inquiry, I discovered that the young woman who runs the boutique goes to university, has a baby of her own, take cares of her in-laws and then helps her husband in every sphere. But we still think that only men are good at multi-tasking. Sad would be an understatement
I sometimes think to myself of what would happen if its a role reversal, what would happen when we would not be able to go out of the house because of Adam-teasing, what would happen when we will all be living in fear lest some one hurls acid at our face for rejecting their proposal?
Well, that probably would never happen, because girls would never stoop to that level. But many will still find girls a burden, and still would not care how much the womenfolk are doing for us and our families. Lets not forget how we were carried in our mothers wombs, and not for once, did she call us a burden.
