We talk of Equality, especially of the sexes, to a great extent. Its almost a style statement to say you believe in equality in sexes of late. Every other person - male or female- talks about equality of sexes with so much conviction, one tends to believe it indeed exists.

I was at a distributor's daughter's birthday party last noon. As it has been over the past few months, I was interacting with a bunch of retailers, a part of my team and some relatives of the host. Everyone was singing praises of the host because both his off-springs are daughters and he is still happy. What the hell. A girl child at home is a bad omen or what? What makes them think a person with two daughters and no son should be unhappy?

I know of couples who have had 4 children for the sake of a male child. I feel so sorry when you judge a child at birth itself. I dont judge who is better, cos at the end of the day, we are all parts of that puzzle we need to make sense of and each of us contributes in our own unique way. But it is the prejudices of people which should have been erased but are still intact, which enrages me. A male, no guarantee of what he grows up to be, is considered a gift and female, a curse.

When I was at a Madarassa in the interiors of UP, and saw a well dedicated to throw your girl child at birth and kill her, I was thankful that people in my state were not that backward-thinking. But we are no better. I have listened to spine-chilling stories of how girls in the houses of my team or my channel partners were killed, or got married against their wishes or discontinued studies. The stories are so heart-breaking you tend to forget if its happening to a man or a woman, you feel sorry for yourself that all these are happening in the world you are a part of!

Frankly speaking, an urban woman gets much more than what she should in the name of equality. I have always been a firm believer than when you believe men and women are equal, there ends the matter, no more concessions should be extended towards either parties. Exceptions and explanations can make another post.

Coming back to the rural setup, a woman has still not progressed. In a sales setup, a woman has no place, and a female MT from a reputed B-School is talked about cheaply because she is a woman and has chosen sales. Pity! The mothers, wives and sisters of all the people I meet in the up-country locations have a similar profile -discontinued studies somewhere in high school, got married before they could vote, and have been living the normal routine in the kitchen ever since then. Nothing has changed. No Equality. And we are still fighting over seats for women in buses, shorter queues for them at movie halls etc etc...