Gender Stereotypes

A gender stereotype is embedded in our veins

Reading has been one of the free-riding activities since my early school days. I used to read books when I felt like and never coerced myself to read if I felt like stopping it. It was only after I met some inspiring people at the end of the school days that I discovered a passion in me for reading. Similarly, writing became part of it although putting ideas into words and then sentence involves a great deal of passion and skills.  I can sense the low arsenal of energy in me because of late,  I have been struggling a lot to identify a topic to write, let alone making it to the end. Publishing into my blog is still a distant dream now. 

Out of sheer coincidence, today I happened to hear a conversation taking place among a group of elderly women in my village and it was sensible enough for me to note it down. As much as their hands were busy pulling out weeds, their lips were busy keeping the flow of conversation going longer. But this time, I found it was a little louder with seriousness in their tone. 

In seriousness, one of them argued that men, no matter whatever weaving skills and interest he would have, should not indulge into things like weaving and brewing liquor which are traditionally accepted as women’s responsibilities. While the rest of them agreed, another added, men, should never put on women’s attire. Cosmetics and beautifying ornaments are only for women. To everyone’s congruence,   I heard a young girl dissenting their stand and demanding reasons for such claims. 

An elderly lady then answered with confidence that these types of work are not in line with the belief that men have accumulated so much merit in their past lives. If they do these types of work, it is believed that they would be reborn in the woman's body in the next life, She went on to say that the life of a woman is inauspicious, unlike man which is considered propitious.  Another lady would, with anonymous reference, assert that a woman is allowed to imitate a man. She can wear gho so that in the next life, she is reborn as a man but a man should never wear Kira.

Their conversation suddenly took me to those days when I had to act as a lady during one of the inter-hostel Baedra competitions in the college. I had with me a few of the first-year boys from my hostel dancing to a girl’s style. In contrast, girls’ dormitories had a cohort of girls who got into men’s attire and tried being a  man. These are the reasons why Sherubtseans take this moment to be a grandiose and everyone would contribute to making the big hall trembles with their loud laughs. But to the context of those women who had to reason out so much, those girls who put on man’s attire were the lucky ones. But poor me, I have defiled myself by acting a lady at the concert. 

From the way they tried to reason out, their minds were clouded with webs of stereotypical construction which seems to be culturally embedded in their blood. I am not sure how far it is proven true culturally or scientifically, but it is obvious that this type of notions widens the gender differences. Theoretically, from the views of gender difference, in oppose to essentialism, this social constructionist views the gender difference or inequality as a synthesis of a various mixture of social structure and cultural construction as a reflection of the different social position one occupies.

My assumption is, in the traditional society, in order to subjugate women by the men, the latter might have produced this type of cultural ways of inferiority which intoxicate women’s thinking that would ensure obedience to them. The Buddhist belief of man being nine lifetimes above women shows men came to the world at least nine lifetimes ahead of women. Did men come to the earth before women? If it is, how did these men come to the world? From the golden ladder-like Buddha Shakyamuni?  

In another belief, in one occasion of Hindu tradition, a cat is supposed to be tied to a pole until the ritual is over. This practice has become a tradition without rationale and it has carried forward through times. The only possible reason behind tying the cat could be to avoid nuisance the cat would create in the middle of the ritual. However, it has become a practice that a family has to look for a cat from elsewhere to be tied to the pole during that ritual performance. 

As I was narrating, they went on adding more. By the time they halted their loud discussion, it was already lunchtime. From the field, I could hear my mom ask if the lunch was ready. I teasingly replied back, “Ama, I decided not to enter the kitchen from today, or else, I may be born a woman. So, I didn’t prepare lunch today. I was chopping wood.” 

After a long time of silence, I could hear them laugh. But what happened to their lunch?