A girl who has never stepped out of her house, never worn any western clothes, never gone to a party, nor drank alcohol, is according to our society, a “GOOD GIRL”. A girl who has, is a “BAD GIRL”. And this is only an abbreviated list of qualifiers. Society has a never ending list of parameters for a girl to meet to make the label of a ‘Good Girl’. Boys though? They are denied the privilege altogether.
The length of a boy’s clothes or the hands of a clock don’t determine the quality of his character. This discrimination is shameful in our liberated times of gender equality (which is still non-existent even after 7 decades of independence). Boys are ‘just being boys’ when they go out in the night with their friends to party or have fun, they are not asked to stay in after dark, they are not asked twice to not stay independently, they are not held back in their hometowns for ‘their own safety’.
Now this is a really serious issue. Everyone is so preoccupied with women empowerment that boys are being deprived of all this ‘concern’ and all these ‘privileges’. They have equal right to their parents’ protection, don’t they? After all, to parents their child is precious, its safety, its future is the highest priority.
Society has so neglected boys that there are no fixed parameters by which to judge someone a “GOOD BOY”. In the books of society a guy who is able to take care of and provide for his family is entitled to that tag and one who cannot is given the tag of “BAD BOY”. But a woman who is educated, independent, taking care of her family, looking after her own parents, is of questionable character just because she stays out late, she goes out with her friends, wears skirts or jeans.
All the thought that’s gone into drawing this never ending list of rules, definitions and parameters for girls, makes me feel bad for the deprivation boys are being subjected to. I want MAN EMPOWERMENT. Let the boys be given as much thought as the girls, let them feel the same constraints, oops, sorry, concern, as the girls do, all the time. Let gender equality prevail.
