There are certain norms that no one agrees with. Yet most people are simply repeating those false statement because they are too scared…
…too scared to be true.
For example, society wants everyone to be married by 30 otherwise they would be “too old”. Unfortunately if that guy / girl becomes a widow / widower within five years the very same society will tag them as “too young” and they should get remarried soon.
How was someone being touted as “aged” became “younger” five years later, by the same set of people?
Or consider this picture of a washroom in a popular restaurant in a metro city. At one point of time people want their daughters and sisters to have their say in their life and family when they get married. Unfortunately when the same daughters / sisters visit their own family restaurant they find gender bias in the number of washrooms for men and women!
Does the two washrooms for men and one for women mean that the respectful society does not expect women to step out of their homes and just hang out outside?
If that being the case we really need to reconsider what are our expectations for girls of our own family when they grow up.
The best and most fortunate part of it is, society is not a different entity altogether. Society is rather a sum total of every single one of us put together.
Instead of labelling someone as old and not to be demanded, labelling the same ones as back in demand, and also giving subtle messages through our work culture, we need not expect anyone else to change.
Probably, today, starting with you and I, we can start dissipating the biases we hold in our own minds.
