Becoming & Unbecoming Patriarchal

Lately, I watched a movie where Hitler's time was shown and people of Germany were calling its land "fatherland". This gave me a little jolt and I felt we always refer to our country or even the earth as "Motherland". I started wondering how and when a country like India became patriarchal? And also I don't think a country can respect its land, nature or power as a female entity if it's Patriarchal. But somehow it became a natural and ever-existing thing that must have evolved gradually and become a challenge now.

Did patriarchy take this shape because we as women and every other good people made peace with it? Did it happen out of fear and at the cost of protection that our significant others can provide us? Did it happen because we wanted to picture and present ourselves as one who sacrifices freedom for being respected? Whatever be the reason, one thing is sure that a major part of it came with oppressing women by not educating them and alluring them with a comfortable life.

It was certainly not the first thing to exist and while the world is struggling to resume the status quo, we can put our bit too. It can begin if we start normalising true freedom without fearing being judged or hurt, both physically and mentally. It hardly takes some small changes that we can make in our day to day lives. Like if a girl travels solo, we need more and more examples of this. Going to a restaurant, cooking for oneself, listening to music, not doing any chores at all sometimes and making mistakes are the easiest things we can start with. These might seem little things but they play a big role in creating new normals for upcoming generations while also making them more accepting.

Along with gaining the gut of habits for women, it's equally important to be physically fearless. Learning self-defence and always being equipped must be a must for every girl child so that they can protect themselves. Speaking our mind and heart without any guilt is something we have to inbuilt in our girls so that they believe in themselves and further raise better sons.

As a society, we need to accept patriarchal existence and determine to alter it. Becoming fearless, self-confident and raising the boys without any superior treatment are the only solutions that I see to combat the situation. As women we need to be responsible for ourselves and our actions, we need to be reliable so that we can be dependable and of course, we need to be reluctant to let the patriarchy be.