As I was having a brisk walking session in the joggers' park beside my house - all in the attempt to go back to the pre-marital shape and size, I couldn't help but overhear a couple of old ladies. Early at this point, I should mention that I was just passing them as they were sitting on a bench beside the joggers' lane and have no habit whatsoever of eavesdropping on others' conversations. Anyway, one of them was complaining how she gives her son two pieces of fish and her son shares it with his wife whom she has given only a single piece. And the old lady seemed pretty indignant at the fact that the son's wife gets to eat a share of the fish that she had given to her son.
Here my question arises that, had the woman had a daughter, she would have praised her daughter if she had kept the bigger piece of fish for her husband. She would have been proud that she had brought her up with good manners where she prioritizes her husband over her own self. And here, she was angry that her daughter-in-law got a share of the fish she had given to her son.
So basically, if we take her as a prototype of the orthodox society with misogynistic attitude, then how is a woman going to be empowered? When sacrificing is taken to be the ideal path for a woman, while a man is termed a 'man' if he can earn his bread and enjoy it, how can we make women happy and independent?
Now I am a firm disbeliever in the policy of sacrificial happiness in every step and sphere of life. Of course giving up something for a loved one gives immense joy at certain times, but if that becomes the habit, one day very soon you'll be in need of a messiah to deliever you. And I believe in being my own messiah, my own saviour.
