MEN OUGHT TO LEARN WEARING THE APRON

A good friend of mine – a typical IT professional, 25 something, who had begun the rigors of hunting for a life partner, casually remarked to me, “I’m tired of living a bachelor’s life yaar. It’s time I got married and had a wife who’d cook and take care of home.”
The statement not only shocked me (as I did not quite expect my friend with quite a modern outlook towards most things to say this) but also disgusted me, as I was rudely reminded of how the typical Indian male is still steeped into falling back on the draconian male dominated society’s outlook of – Women are there to cook, clean and look after kids and home.
My blunt answer to him was, “Why don’t you hire a cook and a maid?”

For centuries, the Indian society has grown to be a male dominated one. Women have always been shunned from stepping into the man’s shoes. But whenever they managed to step up to the mantle, they flourished. There have been numerous occasions in History when Indian women played a key role in what was viewed as a “man’s” job. But sadly it has only been in the near past that we are seeing Indian women starting to shine in various fields. One would hope that this change sweeping urban India will soon be seen all across the country.

However, while we claim to be breaking the gender bias and paving the way for equal rights for women on one side, we still have a majority of urban Indian males who still stick to age old views when it comes to the day to day life!
Women still have to be the ones who are responsible for all house hold work. They have to manage their professional career and still take care of cooking, cleaning and taking care of kids. And No! This view isn’t held only by the Mother in Law or Father in Law. The husband who represents the changing face of India – the modern Indian male, still sticks to such views. Truly sad!

How many men actually lend a hand in the kitchen? How many men clean up the house or take care of kids while mommy is away at work?

Cooking and cleaning certainly isn’t rocket science! Let’s accept it for a moment that women are better home makers. But it still does not stop the men from helping out and filling in when the women are busy in their professional careers! The typical Indian male is so busy living up to his boisterous tough guy image that he forgets to realize that times have changed. Cooking a meal for the family or picking up kids from school are roles that many an Indian male is starting to take in their stride. Let’s hope this change percolates to all pretty soon. It’s time to bury the male ego and move ahead with the times.

Most of us would remember the song on women empowerment that used to adorn the national TV channel many years ago – “Hum honge kamiyaab, hum honge kamiyaab…Ek Din”. I think that day has long since arrived. Women have a right to choose their profession and decide on their career. They need their space to prove their true worth. It would be a shame if a lot of their time was spent in the confines of four walls called home. After all, in modern India - if women have proven that they too can wear the pants in the family, then men ought to learn wearing the apron.

- STRIDER