Coming out of our closets.

A Poem by Juanita John

One summer noon, we were having classes in the lab and I was teaching the kids about the new experiment. This involved the electrical items and the winding and connecting of them. I go to a bunch of girls who probably were taking some time to make the connections and tell them something like, "The boys usually get this easy, but don't worry you'll will get it soon." I catch this girl staring at me and she says, "Mam, that is so unfair!" Unfair..... I thought about it. The heck it was! What was I thinking when I said that? Here I am, a girl who chose a slightly unconventional subject maybe, teaching a class of girls and boys, handling the class probably much better than most of my classmates who were boys could have ever handled and making judgments about how capable girls are. I sounded ridiculous to myself at that point of time. I thank this student who made me realise what I was hiding behind.

If asked, I would put myself under a free-spirited, independent individual but there were holes bored right through my thinking. How much more so for people who grow up with ideas that girls are less significant or less important to the running of the society? Consciously or unconsciously, we make these distinctions which may seem harmless at that point of time but they can end up bearing deep roots to the stigmas and discrimination present in our world today.

One of our English teachers once said that every woman can do exactly the same amount of work that a man can or maybe even more. It's only a matter of being less trained for that job. I'm starting to agree with him more and more.

I wish every girl is encouraged as much as her brothers to ride a bicycle or fly a kite. I wish every girl is allowed to choose what she wants to pursue and when, without the society terming her an obstinate, stubborn and proud woman. I wish every woman can marry if she wants to, for her own reasons, not for the fear that her life without a man is unsafe. If our mindsets can change, the society definitely can. I do not know if this can reduce the number of rape cases in our country, but we surely have to start somewhere.

Sometimes, as a woman I am in a closet hemmed by the society, family and sometimes even by me. Coming out of this closet is hard, it may defy barriers set over the ages. But there is a breath of fresh air once you step out of it and an applause in store for you. Not everyone will agree with you but you just know that you are doing the right thing. God made women so special. We have to live it just as special.