Girls wage war against patriarchy

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They haven’t really seen any gender discrimination in their families. These girls were alowed to live their lives freely — doing what they want, developing their own thought process and having fun. But still, they can’t ignore the patriarchal system that rules our society.

Few college girls, who come from families that don’t discriminate between sons and daughters, have started an initiative to fight the existing patriarchy.
Bani Bains, a final year student of Political Science (Hons), Lady Sri Ram College, till sometime back wasn’t aware of the mindset that prevails in many sections of our society. She thought everybody to be as cool as her parents, who believe in providing equal opportunities to all. But reality struck her while talking to a close relative with a rigid mindset.
“He has set ideas about how a girl should conduct herself, how she should behave when in public, what she should wear and many other similar things, while for boys he had another set of rules. I was aghast after this conversation. I realised that the mindset penetrates so deep that it can’t be removed unless enough space is created for open conversations,” says Bani, who despite considering herself to be “bold and vocal” wasn’t able to fight back during this conversation.
“I realised that whoever wants to raise their voice against this social evil, stands alone. It feels as if the world is against you,” she adds.
After this realisation, she brought a few friends together to create a Facebook page, “My Fight Against Patriarchy” that aims to create a space for discussion for people who stand together to fight against it. “Patriarchy just isn’t discrimination on the basis of gender. After some legwork on the issue, I have understood that it’s a much bigger issue. It’s something that doesn’t let newer ideas grow or co-exist. For example, majority of the people can still not get to terms with a gay relationship. We have learnt to put people in boxes titled male and female, what about those who are different and belong to the alternate sex? They exist in the society and thus should have their space. Where do they go?” she remarks, as she says that it was this frustration that got converted into the Facebook page.
It’s been little more than a month and the page already has around 250 followers. Bani, along with her friends Richa Singh, Kanika Gupta and few others, regularly come up with ideas to engage people on the page in conversations that matter. “We throw an idea and let people come up with their stories and personal experiences,” she says.
While the idea is in a nascent stage, they want to make it big by involving social activists and people who are capable of bringing a bigger change. Bani thinks that in the present scenario, the online social media is the biggest power to bring a transformation and youngsters should use it as a tool for their fight for change.