Tuesday 22 July 2014

Dream Of Neha- An Unbiased Society

We live in a modernized time, an era of technology and can see an overall developed society. With every passing moment, we’re achieving new heights in each and every field be it technology, infrastructure, medicine, economy or education. We aim to discover the whole universe in a blink and are working towards it. We have a very advanced and civilized society which believes in gender equality. We talk a lot about girls and their empowerment in the society and for that we have a lot of organizations working in the direction to get them their rights.

Everything seems so perfect if you see it this way, but have you ever thought of the kind of biased society we are? In fact, we live in a dual faced civilization which on one hand talks about gender equality and is biased when it comes to two different genders on the other hand. Be it an advanced urban area or a backward rural, gender bias is everywhere. It has penetrated our society so deeply that we don’t even realize when we actually get biased to a particular gender.

In Sarthak, the slums we cater to are also not an exception in this area. We have a 13 year, over enthusiastic and energetic girl Neha in our Chinhat center. We found out she was so interested in studying that we could always find her waiting for us outside the class. She always had so many complaints about the government school she attended. You could easily guess by her gesture that she had so much to say, so much to talk about and when we talked to her she actually had a lot to share. She has 3 sisters and 3 brothers in her family and she doesn't differentiate among her siblings in spite of their different genders. Unlike her, her parents never leave a chance to show a preference towards the male children in the family.

Neha tells us that her parents never miss a chance to give special privileges to the boys in the house, be it the slightest of the comfort, education or even the medical assistance. The three boys in the house are attending a small private school which is all their family can afford. Unlike the boys, the three girls go to the government primary school where they hardly get to learn anything, thanks to our mighty education system. Neha tells us that their preferential treatment is not just limited to education; they are biased in each and every possible aspect.
It is very sad to know that her own parents do not care enough for her just because she is a girl. I feel amazed about the mother who herself is a female and is biased towards her male children. Moreover, Neha is not the only case there. You can find such cases in every family in Chinhat slum and why only the Chinhat slum, you can find such sick mentality everywhere.

In urban areas, we boast of our educated society which is leading the development to the front. We discuss a lot about women empowerment but in reality we distinguish men and women in our own families on different grounds. We are totally ignorant of the fact that such biased nature of ours has definitely been a major hurdle in our progress. When it comes to education, our inclination towards boys can never lead us to growth. If we want an actual growth rate and a strong developed society, we can never ignore a girl child’s education.

Plato, the ancient Greek philosopher has written in his style:
“If women are expected to do the same work as men, we must teach them the same things.”

If you want to hear her story from her, please click on the link below:
"Dream Of Neha- An Unbiased Society"

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