I recently happened to participate in the Debate competition at the VTU Youth Festival, Belgaum. What I experienced on that day, not only shocked me, but gave me a dose of the reality. It made me understand, that the so called ‘Progressive Youth of India’ hasn’t really progressed.
The motion was “Women make better politicians than men”. This motion was not only conspicuously sexist, but, and quite ironically, non-debatable. I would say so because it is impossible to prove Women make better politicians or the otherwise.
Astonishingly, participants and judges were more than happy to debate on this. What followed was a literal comedy-horror. Comedy for the judges and many in the audience, horror for the likes of me. The arguments were unbelievable. Participants were passing sexist comments and making accusations against the opposite gender, much to the delight of the judges, who were tapping and laughing at every such argument.
Sample these- A guy called women, all women, manipulators and devious liars, and coolly claimed that it was a known fact. Another one claimed that women don’t fight in wars, hence do not, and cannot be nationalistic! (Yes, you read it right!). A girl called men distracted folk, and went on to blame all men for the scams committed by the ones in power! Soon it was an all-out war between the genders, with the debate moving from who makes better politicians to who is makes a better person. The most appalling aspect about the entire thing was that the audience, which included girls, seemed to enjoy each and every sexist remark!
The statement “Women make better politicians” itself is a nasty conclusion. It’s like saying women make better cooks than men, or that women are horrible drivers. And no, I won’t give examples of Sanjeev Kapoor (Renowned Cook) or Susie Wolff (Formula 1 racer) to support my case, cause I believe that examples can’t be arguments, as every example can be countered by another. The problem is gender stereotyping or defining specific roles for a gender. Claiming that Men/Women make better politicians is as disgusting as saying women are meant for household work. We Indians love Gender stereotyping. And the motion was probably a product of a sexist mind-set.
Mind you I am using the word sexist, even though the topic here might sound ‘women empowering’. And mind you again, I said ‘might sound’, because it definitely is not. Sexism, as a simple google search would suggest, is prejudice or discrimination based on a person’s sex or gender. Notice that it says ‘based on a person’s gender or sex and not discrimination against women. I believe that’s where the confusion lies, and the dialogue or debate of sexism is largely biased towards the fairer gender and completely ignores the idea that Men could be victims too. And it is not empowering women in any way simply because it doesn’t deal with women empowerment. Claiming (or shouting loudly, for that matter) is not magically going to solve women issues.
Debating on how to make places safe for women, on why women should receive equal pay at work, on why women should get a maternity leave, on why women’s sports teams do not receive more funds and attention, on why marital rape should be punishable, will probably lead to women empowerment. If you really are interested in women empowerment, talk about these.
Moving further, I believe sexism is a huge issue. But sexism shouldn’t be restricted to female discrimination. Agreed that we have always lived in a patriarchal society, where women were never provided equal opportunities as men. But that doesn’t mean things haven’t changed at all. More and more men are willing to move the nation to a place where there are prejudices against women and where the laws are gender neutral. But empowerment and entitlement are two completely different things.
The debate motion edges on entitlement. Women cannot be better politicians than men, just like men cannot be better politicians. You, as a person and regardless of your gender, will make a better politician, if you have traits that are required to be a good politician. And this logic applies in each and every domain! Entitlement is only going to make things difficult, and blaming us men for what our forefathers did is not going to help. It is only going to make more men resentful, and take the discussion along the tracks of the terrible debate that I unfortunately happened to be a part of.
The fact that this motion was received with open arms to debate, which then turned became a stand-up comedy is saddening. It reflects that the youth of the nation, at least the ones who participated in this ‘Youth festival’, is still shackled by the mind set of their forefathers. What we need to ask ourselves is, are we progressing? And if not, will we ever progress?
Note: Image is only for representational purpose.
