By Shriya Katoch

Equality of the sexes has become a far fetched concept . All over the world women are expected to be the epitome of perfection. However we are the same as men ,facing the same trials of life ,yet we are expected to adopt holier than thou attitude .

Why the hypocrisy?
Why are we expected to fulfill such unachievable standards ?
We have the right to make the same mistakes as men .
We have the right to make decision about our own body .
We have the right to the same respect as men .

Yet we are denied all that. According to UN ,it will take 75 years before women can be expected to be payed the same as men for the same work.15.5 million girls will be married in the next 16 years as children and it will take us 70 years before all rural african girls can have secondary education.

As light over the recently celebrated women's day fades, the gender disparity is still visible . Women empowerment is a critical aspect of gender equality.It consists of uplifting women and providing them with the same social ,economic and political freedom that men enjoy . To this date no country in the world can say that they have achieved gender egalitarianism.
Somehow gender equality in today's world is considered as a women's issue , and the women associated with it are coined as feminists .They are conceived to be aggressive,isolating and even unattractive. People are choosing not to identify themselves as feminists in the danger of sounding unattractive .

However the sad reality is that gender equality is not a women's issue , it involves men too. It is the relationship between them .Men and women together are imprisoned by social restrictions. If men are not compelled to dominate to be accepted , women inturn won't be compelled to submit.

Men are made insecure by a distorted sense of what constitutes male progress . We don't see this but men don't have the benefit of gender equality either.It is time that gender equality becomes a man's issue as well.It is time we view feminism as humanism .
It is time that both men and women feel free to be sensitive as well as strong ,without being judged.As said by UN Goodwilll Ambassador "It is time we start viewing gender as a spectrum rather than two sets of opposing ideals."

Often we hear chauvinistic statements made by men and women alike .Unfettered statements like "man up" or "stop crying like a girl " abets acts of sexism .

These statements are engrained in our minds and we don't realize that we have inadvertently become sexists. Gender sensitization can be a solution to all and hopefully we will be growing towards a society where men and women alike are not bounded by societal restrictions and are free to live life in their own terms.

Shriya Katoch multitasks as an Engineering student , an avid reader ,a guitar player and a death note fan.
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