One evening while coming back from work, i was having a tough time getting an autorikshaw to get to the metro station. Finally one stopped. it had three women already in it and seemed like they were from low income strata (based on their clothes, i could be wrong off course). So anyways i was confused as to why or how the autowala was going to give me a ride. He turned around and told one of the women to go sit next to him while i could take her seat. i saw her react with total discomfort and not less than a touch of anxiety. I was irritated by the autowala's assumption that her consensus was not required. So i told him no thanks and started walking. It was around 6.45 in the winter evening and it was already dark. The road was sort of empty as the office crowd was already gone. During my half hour walk to the metro station, i was whistled at, propositioned to and commented at. None of it was cute or harmless in the least. And yes, i felt uneasy throughout the walk. In that after work walk i experienced in stark, how class and gender roles play out.
So will you call me a lucky girl? a liberated woman? Is this what gender equality feels like? Is this the freedom i want? The answer is a clear NO. This is not freedom. This is not equality. At best i can say that we have so far reached one step closer to freedom and equality; maybe a bit better off than our grandmothers--but there is still a long way to go. Our definition of freedom maybe as individual as our fingerprints but let me venture a guess and say that sense of freedom cannot co-exist peacefully with the fear of persecution based on gender (or any other characteristic). And without freedom there can be no equality. As long i have to be fearful of the dark roads and as long as that woman has no voice to express her consent or dissent. I am not free. I am not an equal human being.
