In Random Musings By Vimala Ramu - THE GENDER BIAS

Posted by Team 4indianwoman at 25 April 2010, 4:56 AM
Categories: Random Musings By Vimala Ramu
Tags: Vimala Ramu Random Musings THE GENDER BIAS
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It is true that Indian women have had a phenomenal success by obtaining 33 % reservation in the Parliament (though the bill has been passed only in the Rajya sabha as of now). But, there are times when I prefer to have the gender bias, that is, when it suits me. Though it might sound retrograde, I sometimes like to be treated as the woman that I am. No bursting through the glass domes or whatever they call it, for me.  

Unlike India, United States of America may not be advanced enough to elect a lady President or a lady Premier. The Americans preferred to create history by electing a Black (the whitest Black as someone remarked) President than by electing a Lady President for the first time. But the women there work as hard as men. 

There are smaller airports which have small aircrafts carrying 20-25 passengers in short hops. In one such flight from Merced to San Francisco, a pregnant lady issued us the tickets at the counter. Later the same lady carried our luggage by hand and loaded it on to the hold. If I had not seen her waving the batons in front of the aircraft to give the ‘all clear’ signal, I would have imagined that the same lady would be piloting the aircraft too, just like our all-in-all ‘Jutka’ drivers of olden days. 

One time I very much appreciated a male taking over was when my husband offered to push the Airport trolley-- a trolley which unlike the balanced Super market ones, had a mind of its own. It was very difficult to maneuver it with all the heavy suitcases precariously perched, suitcases which were loaded to a bursting point with our and our daughter’s indiscriminately shopped-all over US- items. It had to be pushed quite a distance from the regional Aloha terminal to the International terminal at Honolulu Airport. 

You do not know where all the ‘Gender Bias’ plays a role. Recently I heard that the ladies abroad are campaigning for separate ladies’ toilets on the flights with the luxury of always-down toilet seats!  

Well, in my house I do have my own toilet though I do not exercise the always-down-seat option since the bathroom serves the occasional visitor too. But what irked me most was, when the country went berserk about ‘water conservation’, I was the first casualty. You must understand that I am a normal person with normal appetite and normal outputs. But, the ball valve in my flush tank was tampered, I mean adjusted, to release a measly supply of water while the flush tank in my husband’s bathroom gurgles merrily discharging gallons of water! Could it be because I am a woman and hence to be treated as the minor half of the family? So unfair!   

All this hullabaloo over genders really makes me wonder as to how it works in a gay marriage- who is chivalrous to whom? Who bosses over whom?
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