#125 Binding the household

Binding the household

Pic Courtesy: www.clipartsgram.com

Home serves as the most fundamental institution of learning the basics of life. A human being always keeps learning and this process of learning starts from the very moment of his birth and continues till his death. A child imitates from his surrounding as he has a limited constrained sphere of judgement. He does not know what is right or wrong. The virtues, thoughts and ideologies are ingrained in him at the root level which later forms the foundation of his belief system. Unluckily these ideologies are often stereotyped or biased. The most common example would be the association of quality traits or work with the gender. Girls are advised to be submissive whereas boys are trained to be aggressive and extrovert. These qualities based on gender are inculcated in them through various means such as girls are provided with dolls, kitchen sets to play with on contrary boys are made to play with toy cars, trains etc.

This level of gender disparity is not a new thing. It is a very old concept which has been dominating the society for a long time.  The society which has made men brave, strong and protective, it’s the same society which has constrained the spheres of a woman to the household. Is it logical? If we take a close look at this concept of inequality, we would feel that it has got started because of an assumption and nothing else. That assumption has been very misleading and firm as it has been ruling our minds over ages. Like every scientific conclusion stems up from an assumption, in the same way this has been a result of a misconception. Today’s world is a completely dynamic one. It has opened up several opportunities for a woman in almost every sphere. The concept of feminism has stolen the limelight. Women have started working in offices like men. In spite of these revolutionary changes, women still have to perform the household chores like laundry, cooking, cleaning etc. What if I say to discard this basic assumption of relating the household chores to women?

There are solutions to abolish this custom of gender inequality. It is pretty simple but we have to follow it cautiously for a long term. The first step would be to check our own thoughts and actions to boycott gender inequality. The second step would be to stop labeling any work to gender. Every work can be done efficiently by both the gender. Just imagine how great it would be if men can share the load of household chores of women of their families. This small step will prove to be a great leap in the direction of uprooting the prejudiced feeling of relating gender to work. The third step would be to stop passing this assumption to the next generation. Our next generation, irrespective of the gender, should be taught to participate in household chores in a healthy way so as to help the female members of the family. In this way, the load of the work will be well distributed and a prevalent misleading norm can be acted against. This proposal of load sharing can be helpful in many ways as it teaches the concept of time management and responsibility effectively and efficiently. It enhances a strong bonding between different members of the family. This will also provide enough time for the female members to come out of the cycle of household chores and explore themselves.   

It has been well stated that charity begins at home.  To be a part of this greatest revolution, we must carry it out at a small scale which can be initiated by implementing it in our respective families. We all can be torch bearers to completely eliminate this societal norm by pledging to stop carrying these illogical customs forward. As a consequence of it, we will certainly have a healthy society to live in!

“I am taking part in the #ShareTheLoad Challenge with Ariel and Aksharaat BlogAdda.”

Swati Sarangi

05.06.2016