As we know, majority only talks about inequality happens with women but there are lot of places where men are also been targeted. SOCIAL MEDIA is the place where men are didn’t receive any equality. If something happens with women everybody raises their voice but if something happens with men no one give shit about that. Injustice happens with men.

This video is from state of uttarakhand, where a boy is lynched, because of fake claim of molestation by a girl.The girl called that boy to come to meet her, the guy came from Jaipur to uttarakhand to meet her, but when a villager saw both of them together, he asked the girl, what is happening here, and the girl replied he was molesting me, that villagers, brought some other villages, and A group of 7-8 village people, lynched him, and his friend. Who he brought with him from Jaipur, and the main Guy, bhuvan who actually came to meet girl, after her invitation, died yesterday in a hospital .Bhuvan begged for his life but these vultures of the society didn’t listen him once.

We live in a society where men’s are guilty until proven innocent.

1. There are some women who used to point out a reputed family they used to marry with the boy of that family, living for some time they used demand for money after satisfying that demand, they used to do more and more demands and after one point that family will deny to fulfill that demand so the girl used to pressurize them for money and threaten that if they will not satisfy the demand so she will accuse them for dowry, rape by father in law or any other man of the family, physical violence. Whenever business partners or somewhere else family has problems or issues so they can use this strategy to get back a revenge in order to  spoil a reputation, image, peace, money and happiness.
2. There are also some females, who used to accuse allegation just because they are not having luxuries life and her husband is failing in filling her luxuries demand so wife used to threaten his husband if he will not fulfill her luxuries demand so she will surely accuse allegations.  As we can see in this example where a wife doing blackmail for only branded perfume. There are some people, who gives more importance to money and luxurious life rather than family.

       To stop gender discriminations there are some activist, who has done so many campaign to stop atrocities on men when the #metoo movement was very famous this activist has also started #mentoo and #himtoo movement to raise the problems men as well but it was not get as popular as #metoo because in the society there is a myth that always man will be victim and woman always considered as a innocent helpless. It was nice to see that a woman activist named Pooja Bedi has started this movement to support Karan Oberoi.

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/spotlight/amit-deshpande-gender-equality-activist-we-need-a-movement-like-mentoo-because-crime-has-no-gender/articleshow/69356793.cms

There are also some lawyers who says that the law of dowry should give some concessions to men just to put their point and for bail as well. Whenever they fight for this kind of cases so only favoring woman witnesses are heard. Laws should not be only lean in side of females but it should gender neutral.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-38647822

After this all, we cannot say that every girls accuses are wrong or false but the point is male should also have some space to put his argument and there should be gender neutral laws it should not focus on any particular one gender. Court should not give judgments favoring only women because court cannot assume every man as a victim necessarily.

Because of these laws, men are tend to live in a fear of women because of this laws, if any girl accuse for sexual harassment or misbehave has been done with by the man, so no one will try to hear the truth and everyone will watch as guilty even if being innocent.

It also affect to women who are not guilty and actually have faced problems.

There are so many laws has been made for woman’s right but is there any law who also gives chances to protect men’s side?

By Kalyani Ingole, Pranami S Chauhan and Meet Rao

Name:-Dhruv Panikar

For now, let’s assume there exists a 17-year-old boy named Rahul, when he picks up his phone there is no one for him to call when he boots up his Instagram, there is no one for him to text, his DM’s always stay empty (unless he texts first of course).

Whenever he opens his phone and access any form of media, he is bombarded with reasons like, why the men are so cruel and when he opens his Instagram, he finds random people comparing his gender (and by extension him) with a chicken nugget covered in solid excrement. Imagine how must he be feeling? He has no one to express his feelings to, he never feels wanted, because no one made him feel wanted by the way the media portray his gender. He even feels sorry to be a male.

For a moment let’s imagine that Rahul does not exist, for a moment let’s imagine that Rahul is you. How will you feel? How will you feel when between the slogans of “you can cry!” People forgot to ask what is making you cry? Think about what you felt while imagining all of this, that’s exactly what millions upon millions of Indian men feel on a day-to-day basis. They feel as if they are the abandoned ones because of the wrapped view which the media created of men due to which men are forced into isolation.

One of the worst forms of torture that a person can endure is solitary confinement. Being closed in a small room with only four walls around you and no sky above is one of the worst feelings that a person can experience.

This is how a large number of Indian men feel, but the only difference is that they see the open world as a form of solitary confinement, the sky doesn’t feel like a sky to them, it feels like a prison where they are alone with no one to listen to them or help.

The dangers of a lopsided narrative

On one hand There is no doubt that the majority of the violent perpetrators of all abhorrent violent crimes are men.

On the other hand he most likely person to intervene when witnessing a crime and the least likely to get help when they become a victim of a crime is a man.

As the No.1 bestseller Sebestian Junger explains,” Humans are so extremely wired to help one another and enjoy such enormous social benefits that from doing so, that people regularly risk their lives for complete strangers that risk-taking tends to express itself in very different ways in men and in women. Men perform the vast majority of bystander rescues and children; the elderly and women are the most common recipients of them.

Children are helped regardless of their gender as are the elderly.

Women of reproductive age are twice as likely to be helped by a stranger than men are.

Men all over the world  have to wait on average, until age seventy-five, before they can expect the same kind of assistance in a life threatening situation that women get their whole life”(this is taken from the book Tribe: on homecoming, and belonging for further detail click here)

Despite majority of rescue done by men this is only a half part of the story When a crime occurs, news will use gender specific words like, “man”.

And even though the majority of those who intervene during a crime are men, at that time too these news of rescue  shares gender neutral terms like ,”people”, “good Samaritans”  are used in overwhelming amounts.

Isn’t it obvious that men will develop such a skewed reputation in the world if only their vile deeds are shown and their good deeds are downplayed. If we are only seeing men’s bad side why will people not want to,” kill all men”? Why are we telling only half of the story?

This skewed presentation of men leads to the stereotype of,” every man being potentially extremely dangerous” due to this narrative, which is formed thanks to highlighting the violence done by men and downplaying the good act done by men, Men are bombarded with media content which makes them feel guilty to be even a man. and while they are feeling guilty of being a man, they can’t even express it to anyone. If they talk about their issues they are ridiculed at. The epidemic of loneliness is so high in India that dating applications have discovered a new market of greed which flourishes by exploiting men and their loneliness.

A study reported by WHO  said that India is the most depressed country of the world(for more information click here) and it’s also widely known that the majority of people who suffer from depression, stress and loneliness are men.

These dating apps especially target the loneliness which resides inside men, using artificial bots to talk with men to provide them with emotional support with a promise of getting romantic with these men.

And for these psychological compassion  men must first shell money to buy their membership, after that they pay for it, then the women will force these men to make further purchases and then they would either block them or blackmail them(for more information click here and here ).

And the source of their misery is how abandoned they feel, most men desire positive attention while women often are drowned in it

This is the world we live in, where Men quietly fall down the crevice of our society and become invisible to the public whereas women often suffer from the intense burns of unwanted horrendous attention.

Most men will spend their entire life feeling as if no one desires them whilst women are often desired so much that people start treating them like objects.

And I am sure that so many women have a desire to not be seen.

While men are crying their hearts out just to be seen.

Women working, not only in India but all over the world face innumerable stereotypes but still come out strong. 

The stereotypical Indian society has again and again tried to suppress women by stating that women are meant to stay at home. They are meant to cook food, do the dishes, wash the clothes, take up the responsibility of keeping the house clean and disciplining the kids. These statements have been made to a lot of women since they were just young girls wanting an education. A lot of Indian girls are denied to be educated by their families because of these so called responsibilities. 

Even when a girl gets the opportunity to get education and start her own career, she faces more issues in her workplace which affects their mental and physical state. Women secretaries are forced into doing over time and still are not paid enough for their efforts, not only secretaries but women in general are not paid enough for the efforts they put in and are not appreciated of their work. They are not given credits for the work they have done. Men on the other hand are given promotions easily, have very well salaries and are given credit for their work. Men also at times are appreciated for work they have not even done themselves. 

Gender stereotypes continue to creat problems in the progress of careers for women. These stereotypes negatively affect the availability of opportunities for women and their progress in their respective workplaces. Gender discrimination based on gender stereotypes continue to exist despite the many policies to increase gender equality. Gender stereotypes are considered to be a huge issue in the career progress of women in managerial positions. Though an improvement has occurred, with increasing numbers of women acquiring various management positions in the workplace, women continue to face high levels of pressure from their jobs which constantly affect their self confidence as well as mental state. Women get demotivated and demoralised in their workplaces constantly due to the gender specific behaviours.

Negative beliefs in these organisational workplaces about women’s performance and skills may negatively affect their aspiration for career advancement. Women choose not to apply to challenging and leadership roles due to the criticism they might face and also as they fear that they lack the ability to be able to pull off such roles without any complications. 

The challenges women face due to gender stereotypes can be devastating. For example, Singh and Sebastian (2018) in their state-wide study of Gujarat, India found that women opting for entrepreneurship is because the business occupations were previously of their fathers and kinfolk. The process of their inclusion into the family enterprise is a matter of birth, not choice; and despite the exposure of these women to business practices, as women, they are not regarded as potential successors in business. Moreover, the traditional attitude poses a threat to the career progressions of women because they are not allowed to seek work outside the household or interact with persons outside the family. Such patriarchal culture produces masculine working environment, where women managers tend to idealise ‘men as managers, managers as men’ and women managers become part of patriarchal working culture.

Gender is something other and much more than sex. It bespeaks a social polarity that is fundamental and in no two places the same. What a man cannot or must do is different from valley to valley. Social-Science Sexism

Gender is not confined to the present, to the actions and tools that sustain life in the present of any historical period. Each culture also assigns some tasks to men and others to women when it celebrates its own past. 

Women prepare the sausage and men salt the lard. But  only women beyond their menopause can pick up salted pork from the larder, a few miles down the road not even they may trespass into this male space. Each village does its own dance to the tune of its own regional music.

local men’s club, which functions as a material witness to the gulf that exists between men’s and women’s space. The wine shops, the circles that prepare the carnival, the sunny benches on the church square are clearly men’s domains. Alone, the oldest man of the household clears with a special sickle the access to the field that will be harvested the next day. Though public space and men’s domain are by no means synonymous, in Provence, in physical extension, they tend to coincide.

As long as the gender divide sets the pattern and the tone, this identifiable community will continue to survive. Various terms have been coined to designate such a commitment to a normative code that has been sanctioned by the proof of survival.

Probity kept people acting according to their gender, down to the minutest details. For example, when guests came to the house, the woman had to fetch the glasses, prepare the salad, bring the wine, and listen to every word said without seeming curious and without getting involved in the conversation. This was expected of her; being one of the women, she was able to make known, in ways that are more powerful than the straight speech of men, what was in the interest of the household.

The woman acts in solidarity with the house, and without being dishonoured can say and do things that would never be forgiven of the man. Honour demands that she act as a screen for stolen goods; that she fight off the tax collector; that she threaten with revenge those who would bear witness against members of the household.

A notion called the sex role*^ has become very popular during the last fifteen years. Games people play, scientific treatises, pedagogical methods, and political rhetoric are all built on the assumption of its existence. Concern with sex roles seems to rise with GNP. In rich countries, how to choose, assume, and transmit sex roles has become a major worry for many people. Sociological role theory is a much more stubborn obstacle to the analysis of gender than the newly fabricated concepts of socio-biology. However, any recourse to role concepts will blind one to the perception of gender in speech as well as in action.

FEMININE SUBORDINATION

Many of the studies on differences between men and women outside industrial society made during the first half of the seventies infer that the lack of publicly recognized power and authority for women is a sign of their gender.Press does a little of both in somewhat different ways for middle-class viewers and for working-class ones. For the middle class, it drives home the dominant representations of women in contemporary culture while also serving as a cultural reservoir of images of feminist power. For working-class women, it proposes a middle-class life-style as normal and normative, while provoking a certain moral indignation among these viewers over the manner in which television women manipulate the patriarchal system by means of sexuality and weakness. Although occupational segregation is declining, 31% of all women in the labor force can still be found in only three occupations: teacher, nurse, and secretary. Also it is important that women more often work in “open-floor” jobs-subject to greater scrutiny and therefore greater control-while men more often work behind closed doors; higher status is linked to the greater control of one’s own space

For example

When women and men do not share the same workplace, women do not receive information that can be translated into higher status-in the form of higher wages.

BY- MRUGA SHAH, AND RIA ITAGI

                                                                   By Om Panchal and Devanshi Prajapati

The construction industry is the second largest industry in India after the agricultural industry. When we think about the construction industry a group of men comes to our mind. The stereotypical image of a construction worker is a strong man, covered in grime, wearing hard headgear. But this is the reality?

          No matter how we look at it, but there are so many women who has been underrepresented in the construction industry. Women currently make about half of the total working population. Construction industry is facing the employment crisis. It is the industry which is just not for a men. To meet the increasing demand of skilled construction worker are more and more women. There are numbers of female entering construction related programs.

          If we grew up in India doesn’t t matter which state  and city but we have seen women who work in construction site at railway tracks, airports, building roads, and office. After seen them one question is come in our mind that how these skeletal women doing physical labor and taking care of their children at the same time?

               According to the report by Reuters, about 20 percent of India’s 40 million construction workers are women. Women who work at construction field work really hard despite that they face serious problem like wage discrimination, gender and sexual harassment, unhealthy job relationship, and lower wages.

• Wage Discrimination

         Government fixed the wages for skilled and unskilled labors at private and public sector per hour. But contractor of construction site negotiate the wages. Male got more wage than women it indicate gender biasness. Women who work at construction site said that contractor paid them Rs. 80 per day at the same time he paid Rs. 100 per day to the men.

       If women have same skill as men have still women face discrimination. According to a Josrjournals study they found that in 15 minutes about 55 bundles, each weighing 7.8 Kg. passed through the hands of women. In an 8 hour shift 32,000 Kg. Would have passed through a women worker’s hands.

        Women work as hard as men but still they are victim of discrimination. In fact women have to take care of their children and other work but still people don’t consider them.

• Gender bias in construction sector

       Half of the construction workers in India semi skilled and unskilled including men and women both. But majority women are employed as unskilled labors. Women performed various unskilled work like cleaning the building site, carrying the bricks, morter and water up to the skilled carpenters and masons. Irrespective number of tears they worked women are not upgraded from unskilled to skilled as men. The anti women attitude of men at work site make complicate culture for women. Women live very tough life and they do not enjoy equality of social justice and status which they actually deserve.

• Sexual Harassment at work place

      Sexual harassment is a serious problem for female construction workers. Studies also reveled that insecure nature of employment create a trape in which women are forced to please a subcontractor to get a work. It is evident that majority of women are young between the age of 16-40 years at construction site. Women in these age group are able to do hard work and they are harassed by the contractor. Contractors always prefer to employee younger women whom they may exploit sexually. Contractors promised women to give them regular wages and 20 percent extra for next whole year. Women are exploit by contractor economically and sexually that’s why some women have to leave their jobs.

       About 46 percent of women who don’t want to work at construction site because of harassment but they have to work for some reasons as they are widow or abandoned by their husbands, or if husband is there he is either drunk or unemployed therefore to support the children and complete some need of family women have to work at construction site. Only 4 percent of the female workers join the jobs at construction site with their own choice.

• Health hazard

      The women workers going through gender based discrimination, sexual harassment to health hazards, physical problems, headache and other outcomes because they don’t have any sanitation facility at work place. Female and male both work to gather and due to free mixing with the male co-workers women might got sexually transmitted disease.

         Here is the story of one women who work at construction site. Kamlesh, 30 year old women told her story. She work with her husband in Delhi. In starting she was really exited to leave her draught prone village, but after sometime she realized that her new life wouldn’t be any better. She reveled, ” I didn’t realize how low the pay would be, how we would be living. Men always complain that we women are weak and don’t work fast enough, but that is not the truth. We work as hard as men.”

         The research of Priya Deshingkar shown that there are so many harassment on women by agent. They want to touch women, they making a comment on women. Women are in conflict because they constantly harassed by agents but they can’t tell their husbands about this because women fill that their husbands will punish them for behaving in a way that attracts this type of attention.

        Now this is the time that we have to change our mindset. Because when we talk about construction site the picture of men come to our mind but that is not the truth.

Women’s studies over the past few decades have based their attention on the role of media in influencing people’s perceptions and social behaviours. The role of men and the characteristic of masculinity has been considered the standard, and the representation of men in the media is seen as unproblematic and exemplary in most instances. In such a case, it becomes incredibly important not to figure out how to play the role. For instance actors like Hrithik Roshan and John Abraham had muscular carved bodies whereas others like Salman khan or Saif Ali Khan worked relevant to get those bodies to stay relevant and be acceptable to society. Going hairless also became popular as metrosexuality became fashionable in India without really disturbing the ethics of masculinity.And what has happened is that Bollywood has propagated unrealistic ideas of what the body of a man should look like, and it is not appropriate to do something more or less. That is needed. Isn’t it time that the industry took on some responsibility and began to contribute to the various discourses regarding gender fluidity and body positivity by presenting and popularizing bodies outside the reach of what is conventionally considered acceptable?Source- Times of India
One statement might be that many Indian women prefer the ideal muscle body but then Bollywood hasn’t developed that idea yet again? Hasn’t the propagation of Homogeneity in regard to the body type tricked the viewer into appreciating only one specific type of body and thereby ignoring the “other” completely? There was a certain kind of charm being a desi boy which has vanished completely with the revolution of films. Popular sequels of dabangg also show portrayal of men as macho and muscular. This is directly or indirectly cultivating a particular men’s image and if men do not make up to that mark or have all the qualities they are considered not manly enough. More over the male actors in films are adored more for their physical features than their acting skills which is very ill mentality blooming in society.

Bollywood shows the hero as strong muscular but never show them as vulnerable or weak or sensitive. The young side of Bollywood is making gender sensitive films. Ayushmann Khurrana is the one actor that is trying to bring change to these stereotypes with films he does like Bala, Subh Mangal Zyada Shavdhan, Andhadundh and many more. Ayushmann did a collaboration with “The Men Company” and featured in a video titled “What Makes You A True Gentleman” in which he talked about breaking stereotypes related to men.
https://www.instagram.com/tv/B4tq6bKgbMO/?igshid=10to5e76jdx4d

One fine evening I was spending my time with my family, watching Zee cine awards 2020 and a segment caught my attention. The segment was called Sara ka Saara Khulasa in which young actress Sara Ali Khan mocks male actors for their films. Sara mocks Ayushmann by calling all his films are male centric and Ayushmann only does films related to Man’s problems.

Source – amarujala.com

Even though the show was scripted but such segments shows irresponsibility towards the gender issues of our society. Bollywood showing its two sides one which produces films like Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga, Bala, Chappak , Thapad which focuses on gender issues and the other side reinforces the stereotype on the society.

By Rushiraj Panchal.

By: Hena Patel. Source: INDIANFOLKS, Google photos.

Today we see so many people voicing out their opinions on many issues, however not many people discuss about gender bias in sports.

India achieved her independence decades ago and we boast of having come a long way ahead. However, our mentality and thinking has not changed much. The best example for this statement is the situation of sports in India. The most important question that we need to ask is whether women sports players in India are given the importance that they deserve. There is a very prominent bias in our attitude to sportswomen and gender based discrimination is invariably practised in our country. Although, as a country, we have produced many world famous sportswomen who are doing really well in their professions by winning so many medals for our country, they are not given enough attention. The gender discrimination in this field is higher when compared to any other field. It is indeed a state of pity that we cannot even name the female athletes who represent our country and give us recognition on the world map.

Often, sportsmen achieve more respect and fame than women who play the same sport, in spite of them doing equally well. For instance, Virat Kohli is the captain of the men’s Indian cricket team and Mithali Raj is the captain of the women’s Indian cricket team, the latter person also happens to be the first person to score a double hundred in women’s cricket and yet not many of us are aware about this. The gender bias in our sports is so evident that, Virat Kohli is the brand ambassador of many companies like Puma and Colgate, whereas Mithali Raj does not get the same recognition.

In India, Hockey world suffers too. The inequality widens when we see a minimum of 10-fold wage gap between the two genders’ salary when it comes to national sports.

In Squash, India’s best female squash player Dipika Pallikal made headlines when she refused to play in the squash nationals, protesting against the unequal rewards on offer for male and female players. Male winner’s prize money was fixed at Rs 1,20,000, while the female winner would only get Rs 50,000. Unfair? Yes, it is! Dishonourable? Yes, it is! Coloured? Yes, it is!

• https://youtu.be/eBekEn9WSmY

The above mentioned link ride us to a closer look at the hurdles women face in their journey of becoming a Pro Athelete.
Credits:- Vitamin Stree [ YouTube ]

Of all the challenges women face in sports, wage gap is the most predominant as is seen from the above figures. According to a report, in India, the gender pay gap across all sectors is 25%. It is sad to note that till recently, BCCI did not even provide job security to the woman cricketers where the guys had their salaries running to several lakhs and sometimes even crores! Finally in 2016, women cricketers were granted central contract even though the lucrative amount is lesser compared to what male cricketers get, it is a progress nonetheless.

It is a pity that we do not recognise when Indian women are making their presence felt everywhere. While we speak of equality in corporate spaces, we should not be ignoring the same in the sports field too.

by- Aarya vyas, Aditi

A fine day in October, Mr. Tripathi, the owner of Radhe-Shyam residential society, hosted a party in the premises to celebrate the completion of a “peaceful” year of the society. The residents of the society barely knew each other as everyone was new to this area of Mumbai and was still adjusting to the life in a metro. People being as punctual as they could be, started gathering around an hour after the party was supposed to begin. As time passed by, clear groups of men and women seemed to form, one near the food-court and the other beside the garden respectively.

While the men started to bond over their food preferences and love for Sachin Tendulkar, women on the other side of the society sat silently on the chairs with cold drinks in their hands and a smile on their face. This is when Shaina, a rebellious and outspoken young lady in her mid-20s dressed up in shorts and an oversized t-shirt, felt the urge to begin a conversation by introducing herself as a free-lancer who worked for various radio stations and news channels as a content writer. Mid-way through her introduction, she looked at one of the woman sitting on the other side of the circle, with most part of her face covered in burkha and continued in a boastful yet sympathetic manner about how she has a Facebook page that empowered women to dress the way they felt like and that proclaimed that religion and society could not oppress a woman by asking her to dress in a particular way.

 Even after being the most introvert person one could ever meet, Asma felt the need to jump in and contradict the underlined message of Shaina. Asma very boldly protected her identity and beliefs and said that it was her own choice to be judged by the society on the basis of her personality and not on her physical attributes. She believed that people, and especially men, have the tendency to form a perspective about a woman on the basis of her looks and clothes. She believed that wearing a burkha and covering her face broke the stereotype of the society which asserted the idea that men are all about their intellectual abilities and women are all about beauty. Choosing to wear a burkha obligated the society to look at what she had to say over how she looked.

Thinking of the heating debate that this Segway could turn into, Madhu, a house-maker and a mother of two beautiful 10 year olds started talking about how amazing it felt after giving birth to her kids and how not being preoccupied with anything else gave her all the time in the world to look after her kids whom she loved so dearly. She could barely stop talking about how fulfilling it was to be the emotional backbone of a whole family and to get all the love and respect from the in-laws and your family itself even after not being able to contribute much financially due to lack of complete education.

Out of the blue, a woman sitting quite at a distance from everyone pulled her chair closer to the circle and introduced herself as Swara. She was a confident working woman in her mid-30s who always took stand against the unjust. She was in a constant turmoil as she agreed strongly to the idea of having financial freedom and loved the job she did, but at the same time she couldn’t bare the differences in the wages of the male and female counter parts working at a same level at her office. Her in-laws acted as a “cherry on the top” by forcing her to leave the job and have babies and take care of the house.

Swara couldn’t stop herself from judging Madhu for being financially dependent on her husband as for her a person’s financial freedom defined them, forgetting how a woman could be the bonding agent of a whole family and yet be empowered and hold a respectful position in the society. Swara also was ready to shoot all the misogynistic statements towards Shaina for what she wore and how she hanged out in the night, forgetting that the definition of being a feminist for Shaina was to do as she pleased. Nevertheless, Swara had her sympathies with Asma as she condemned how the societal and religious norms had gotten into her head and how she forgot her basic human rights, again, forgetting that a woman has all the rights to follow and practice any religion that she felt like.

While the bolts in Swara’s head were moving, there came a huge laugh for the group of men. Curious as they were, the group of woman sitting in sheer awkwardness by now asked the men what the joke was about. A man, in tears by now shouted “Mr. Sharma just shared a meme on how he feels like an insect in Bear Grylls hands when his wife drives a car.” After a moment of silence, all the woman got up from their chairs and went back home with a smirk on their faces. At least that’s what the expressions appeared to be through the veil that I wore while I was cleaning the dishes at a distance from the gathering. I have to work double time to educate and feed my children well since my left my husband who used to snatch my earnings away to keep his belly full of alcohol.                                                                                                                      

by-Nakul chavda,Divya deshmukh

GENDER STEREOTYPES IN BOLLYWOOD : 

Imange source-Google

Bollywood is undoubtedly one of the largest digital content creating industry in the world. Although movies made here have always been a subject of some or the other gender biases which women or the female protagonist face. The platform which entertains and creates an impact to such a large mass of public shouldn’t have any bias, and particularly gender bias because it has been a subject of matter from decades. Women had fought for equal pay, equal right, and even for the right to vote, we do not want this to continue in the entertainment industry.

Image source-Google

Movies made in the recent times are still male dominated and in disguise promote violence towards women. The most talked about movie “Secret Superstar” is the best example for it. The protagonist’s father is seen violent towards her mother and is seen hitting her multiple times.The dominance is not always physical but emotionally and mentally too, “the father used to take all the major decisions in the family and therefore as seen crushes his daughters dream to be a singer”. There are many more examples in the industry. “Bhaag Milkha Bhaag” This biopic of Indian ace runner Milkha Singh takes us to the time of independence and we still can see that how women used to suffer, the makers added that part to the content without taking in account that it might promote violence against women.From the role in the movie to the pay-cheques everywhere in bollywood there is a bias against women. Male dominance in the industry has made female lead to just be there to fulfill the glamour element, male dominance can seen in every major film from “Andhadhun” to “Happy New Year” every hit movie has a male dominance.Women are apparently shown as side character in every major film.

Image source-Google

It is based in the mind-set of the people about women that after marriage or later having a baby she cannot work neither can handle home at the same time, as the children and the home needs to be taken care of because it’s a women’s job and males cannot do it.

For instance, in a movie like War there were two protagonist Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff and the role portrayed by Vaani Kapoor was very minimal also did not give any base to the script, most of the people considered her for only an item song. Whereas in Chhapaak, Deepika Padukone was in lead but it does not suppressed the role of Vikrant Massey. Hereby the good content is necessary to teach the new generation about gender sensitivity and gender equality.

Image source-Google

There are many movies which presents the gender inequality as well as biasness. Where women are treated as an object to get more attention, always playing the victims in major bunch of it and men are shown as heroes, saviours and in dynamic roles. In movies like Grand Masti, Kabir Singh, Sultan and many more where women are the inferior ones who always want someone to protect them to take care of them. But now it’s the time for people to come up from the item songs and six pack abs. Issues like pre- mature balding (Gone Kesh, Bala), racism (Bala), queer people(LGBTQIA) who are not anymore considered guilty for what they are(Ek Ladki Ko Dekha To Aisa Laga , Subh Mangal Zyada Saavdhan), awareness regarding women’s hygiene (Padman) are brought up forward in the society through movies. These movies are building up the pioneers for the upcoming generation and as well for the current generation to modify the way of thinking towards gender issues. 

Image source-Google

The script writing and the plot should now cover more and equal roles for both men and women. The movie industry should positively contribute towards the society to improve the situation on ground. Good content can neutralise the difference between male and female performers and can get equal opportunities to showcase their skills.It is one of the most influential platforms in India which can practically improve the thinking and mind-set of every individual. Also, movies like Thappad, Chhapaak had been worked like a boon to women. Many women who were stepping back are now coming up with their problems which will bring courage and seeking of ray into the clouds.

Image source-Google

                                 Sources : Google images , Wikipedia

At present if a man files a complaint against a woman for committing offenses like rape, domestic violence, stalking, sexual violence, she goes scot-free as the 158 year old Indian Penal Code (IPC) believes only men can commit such a crime. In this time we are thinking about the protection of women from sexual violence and we have enacted a number of laws for them. What about the protection of males and boys? How can we protect their dignity and respect from the attack of sexual assault and domestic violence?

Indian men facing domestic violence at the hands of wife or female partner is a harsh reality. However, no one including our government has taken any stand on addressing it.In most countries across the globe, the laws against domestic violence provide protection to both men and women. Men can also seek restraining orders from courts, which restrain the abusive partner or wife from perpetrating abuse and even contacting the victim. Whereas in India, family violence against men is almost legal as there is no provision in the law to protect a man, who faces violence from wife or other female family members. There are uncountable cases where a husband has been abused, tortured by wife or female partners in connivance with her own family or relatives or even friends. Many times the violence is so brutal that the husband or the male partner suffers extreme injuries, which results in loss of life. 

Most abused men in India run away from their abusers and apply for divorce, because they are either afraid of losing access to their children or they are afraid of getting implicated in false cases of dowry harassment. They also fear for huge financial losses and long drawn legal process. This could be the prime reason when male suicides rate is much higher than the female suicide rates as 4966 for males and 4049 for females under the various age groups sharing in the category of marriage related issues,love affairs etc. As there is a lot of social stigma towards men abused by women.  Most of the male victims do not come out in open and do not share their ordeal with family, friends or colleagues. Male victims of domestic violence are ridiculed and considered as unmanly. Such thinking is chauvinistic and it is harmful.

Like men, a female partner also tends to bring the stress of the workplace to the home. This is one of the main reasons of domestic violence against men. The other reasons include intolerance and anger at non-fulfilment of expectations. Sometimes, incapability of husband to meet monetary demands of wife also leads to abuse and violence. Male victims of family violence go through low self-esteem and their performance at workplace suffers. Thousands of such men are approaching psychiatrists, who are not of much help, when a law to provide protection to men and restrain the women does not exist.

The surveys conducted throws light on unprovoked violence against men by women is evidence in the face. Notwithstanding the fact that double the numbers of men commit suicide compared to women, it should not be a surprise to ask for a law to protect men as such a law for women already exists. In fact, it would be preposterous in this age of gender equality, not to have such a law. Such a law to protect men from domestic violence would act as relief to millions of those men who feel victimized and left out. It would also provide them with a legal platform to come forward and share their pain and get some semblance of a relief.

By Nishil & Manisha