Let her Fly

“When women and girls rise, their countries and communities rise with them.”

-Michelle Obama

‘Gender Equality’ is a term most people are familiar with, but few understand its actual meaning. Gender is the social and cultural, not the biological, difference between men and women. It is how the society perceives the two to be and the roles given to them. What we strive for is a society in which each woman is treated fairly and is given equal respect as the opposite gender.

Women and girls have not been allowed to live freely and on their own terms for ages. They have been oppressed, discriminated against and confined to homes. Many girls are still not educated, and women are forced to take the sole responsibility of household chores, as a result of which they are not able to do paid work and become economically independent. They are stereotyped to be weak and submissive. Girls and women are not even allowed to dream, let alone following their dreams. They are confined by the shackles of the age-old thinking of the society.

Through collective effort, we can surely make the world ‘gender equal’. We should ensure that we use gender-inclusive vocabulary like ‘post-person’ instead of ‘postman’, ‘delivery person’ instead of ‘delivery boy’ and so on. We should also raise awareness about the need to educate girls, and be vocal about the cause.

Today, in spite of the challenges they face, women and girls are breaking all barriers they are encountering and are shattering all glass ceilings. They are proving to the world that they are unstoppable. The world shakes when a powerful woman refuses to be silenced, that is exactly what we are witnessing. There is no stopping women now, because empowered women empower other women, and this chain would lead to the rise of a new era. A new era, in which each girl has the confidence to take a deep breath, spread her wings and fly.