Why is it so tough for women? Because men lack the spine and women, who are at the top, are too busy drowning in the echoes of their own music that they fail to recognise the struggles of another.
Published Sep 11, 2024 | 2:51 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 11, 2024 | 3:05 PM
Representative image of a workplace. (iStock)
“We’ll have to hire men because it’s unsafe for women,” said many-a-men in several conversations within and outside corporate and domestic corridors.
I usually hide behind the veil of corporate politeness, and that’s not me, for those who know me. I am going to let my cannon loose here.
“RG Kar case” one of my friends quoted while justifying the job preference for a man. “Who was she raped by?” I politely asked. “Men”. Who is therefore making it unsafe? “Men”. But who is kept away from opportunities citing reasons of safety? “Women”.
Now, if this doesn’t work. Everyone across industries has this obsessive-compulsive habit of quoting “We value merit”. But tell me, how is merit measured?
In a room full of 30 men, there are two women. If three men among them are not meritorious and one of the women is not meritorious. In your obsessively dehumanising data-driven world, there will be 50 percent of women who don’t meet merit and 10 percent of men.
Women need to be the best of the best to make it beyond the rest in a small sample size while men can pass as the needle in a haystack.
Merit needs to be measured with opportunities and roadblocks for both populous genders. Some of the issues are more deep and personal.
Imagine speaking to your male boss about how you need to take leave because you have heavy bleeding or that you need to go home to use the loo, because at work, there’s only one, and men at work don’t aim.
Imagine, women climbing up the ladders — the very few — but making a case study of their tough life and saying “I worked till the last day of pregnancy, so can you”.
Well, shouldn’t every other generation have it easier? Now that the world is wider, knowledge is crisper, and our ears are more sensitive to the whispering whimper.
Why is it so tough for women? Because men lack the spine and women, who are at the top, are too busy drowning in the echoes of their own music that they fail to recognise the struggles of another.
So is the case with queers, and so is the case with PWDs (People with disabilities). No, there is no linear progression from women to LGBT to PWD.
We want inclusion for all underrepresented. And we will have it now.
Roshni gar khuda ko ho manzoor, aandhiyon mein bhi chiragein jalte hai. Khuda gawah hai. (If light is acceptable to God, lamps will burn even in storms. God is witness)
(Views expressed are personal. This was first published by the author on LinkedIn. Edited by Muhammed Fazil)
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