<p>“Cheers, to the women in my life,” my only brother wished five of his sisters, on International Women’s Day. Being the only son to our parents the patriarchal bug could have bitten him early on. Yet, my father set such an example because of which he knew that respecting women was sacred and unquestionable. </p>.<p>My brother grew up in the culture that enabled him to develop a genuine devotion to us, his sisters and to my mother. Little as he was, he must have gathered that a happy home primarily entails the happiness and progress of all women in that home. So, together with my dad, he cherished and honoured all women. Today, with two brilliant daughters, my brother continues to hold that the future of the world stands on the happiness and progress of all women!</p>.<p>Though the debate as to which gender is fair and superior is futile, honouring women never is. To that end, it should not be something that comes and goes. Rather it should be nurtured and strengthened within the precincts of a home. Those who are apathetic of women, I have found, are those who have picked up patriarchal views from within their own families.</p>.<p>I know of a man, who with three sons—and no daughters—would always be cynical of all women with a highly conceited attitude towards ‘girls’. He would openly encourage his sons to shun anything that is ‘girlie’. Obviously then the sons grew up considering all things ‘girlie’, from the pink colour to female superhero flicks portraying women as subjects of ridicule and joke. </p>.<p>There is no doubt that it is mostly with the encouragement of the elders at home that boys grow up with a retrograde attitude that they are superior to their female counterparts. Such patriarchal attitudes become deep-seated over time and stall progression. As Abhijit Naskar, the renowned neuroscientist and author to promote egalitarianism with his conscientious works of science and philosophy put it, “Any nation that does not learn to place women on the same pedestal of respect and dignity as men, will never in a thousand years attain greatness.” His words reiterate that the progress of a nation is linked to the progress of its women. Cheers indeed to all women whose progress is a key component to the progress of every nation and of the whole human race!</p>
<p>“Cheers, to the women in my life,” my only brother wished five of his sisters, on International Women’s Day. Being the only son to our parents the patriarchal bug could have bitten him early on. Yet, my father set such an example because of which he knew that respecting women was sacred and unquestionable. </p>.<p>My brother grew up in the culture that enabled him to develop a genuine devotion to us, his sisters and to my mother. Little as he was, he must have gathered that a happy home primarily entails the happiness and progress of all women in that home. So, together with my dad, he cherished and honoured all women. Today, with two brilliant daughters, my brother continues to hold that the future of the world stands on the happiness and progress of all women!</p>.<p>Though the debate as to which gender is fair and superior is futile, honouring women never is. To that end, it should not be something that comes and goes. Rather it should be nurtured and strengthened within the precincts of a home. Those who are apathetic of women, I have found, are those who have picked up patriarchal views from within their own families.</p>.<p>I know of a man, who with three sons—and no daughters—would always be cynical of all women with a highly conceited attitude towards ‘girls’. He would openly encourage his sons to shun anything that is ‘girlie’. Obviously then the sons grew up considering all things ‘girlie’, from the pink colour to female superhero flicks portraying women as subjects of ridicule and joke. </p>.<p>There is no doubt that it is mostly with the encouragement of the elders at home that boys grow up with a retrograde attitude that they are superior to their female counterparts. Such patriarchal attitudes become deep-seated over time and stall progression. As Abhijit Naskar, the renowned neuroscientist and author to promote egalitarianism with his conscientious works of science and philosophy put it, “Any nation that does not learn to place women on the same pedestal of respect and dignity as men, will never in a thousand years attain greatness.” His words reiterate that the progress of a nation is linked to the progress of its women. Cheers indeed to all women whose progress is a key component to the progress of every nation and of the whole human race!</p>