I believe that this is one of the most controversial and misinterpreted phrases on Earth. And being a country that comes with culture and history of over 2500 years, whether we like it or not we do come with a father centric or should I say, a male centric lifestyle.

To begin with, I believe you have not heard of a single queen becoming the heir to a throne. If the king does not have a son it is either given to the wife’s brother or his own. The only queens we talk about  are the ones that have said silly things like “let them eat cake” or the queen who gave away the throne to an outsider.

Unfortunately, the king’s royal author only wrote about the king. And being under the patronage of the king you will never really find anything silly or dumb done by any of these heirs.

Coming from such culture, in today’s society most of the families are father centric. In case where there is no father in the picture, you would see the eldest son taking responsibility of the house. And only in a cases where there is no elder son nor father,  you shall see the role played out by the mother.

It is not that the mother does not make an influence in the family decisions at the presence of the father/ eldest son. Even back in the day, I do believe that the queen did have more opportunity in making an influence in the king’s orders than the ministers. It is just that their role was always played behind the curtains.

So when we come into talking about gender equality, I like to believe that it is more of being able for both male and female to be on the picture equally and with the actual amount of credits. It is about their right to have a say.

But today, many screams out from gender equality in a more confusing manner. Let’s be honest, while I am born as a female with unique body parts through nature, a male is given his body parts to match it accordingly. Being a woman, you may be bought up differently from your brother due to the cultural influence or the society. But I’d like to see it scientifically as well. looking at this through our physical capability, I do believe that women have the same potential as men. but here’s where it goes wrong: take weightlifting for an instance, research shows that heavy lifting does make a toll on women’s fertility. Yes, I’m with you, it can happen to men too, but the rates on women are way higher than that of a men. So, when your mum tells your brother to take it, or let your brother do it, it really isn’t gender biased.

Speaking for our male community, expressing emotions is one thing that stands out. “stop crying like a girl” line do a fine job in every man out there. It is okay for a kid to cry, regardless of their gender. They are kids!  This kid stops them from not just hiding their emotions until they are clogged up but also shows that boy that girls are weak. So growing up, if you have heard this line, you may have realized how crying has become a weakness than actually releasing your feelings out.

Let me make this simple for you, In the current society if a man raises their hand to woman it is shocked upon. The man is now not a man anymore. The society yells at the man. True. I would too. But say it was a woman who raised her hand to man, while some may make memes and laugh on it for a while, many would give reasons to this woman’s action. And you might also say, the man can be physically stronger than the woman, so it isn’t fair. But in world where we seek gender equality, regardless of strength, gender and the reason NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO RAISE THEIR HAND TO ANOTHER. THAT I believe is Gender Equality.

By Rtr. Sajani Mayadunne | Email: sajinimayadunne@gmail.com