In an exclusive to the Sunday Pioneer, Bollywood actress Soha Ali Khan writes about her opinion on what constitutes women empowerment. She writes that sometimes a shared bucket of laundry goes a long way in ensuring gender equality
They say, if you educate a woman, you educate the entire family which in turn leads to an educated society. Personally, I couldn’t agree more. I would go a step further and add the phrase ‘truly empower her’ and it will lead to a better tomorrow. When I look around me, I notice that women are gaining equality at the work place and taking up more leadership roles and it is evident by the rise in the number of women CEO’s not only globally but in India as well.
Women are excelling in any and every field that they belong to, be it doctors, engineers or even actors for that matter. We are seeing a wave of change in Indian cinema today, where more and more women oriented movies are being made. Today, the perception of the Indian woman continues to evolve and we are progressing as a society, with woman empowerment taking center stage.
Accordingly to a recent survey, 76% of Indian men still believe that laundry is a woman’s job. Ironic, considering the change we wish to bring. Household chores are still looked upon as the woman’s domain. Cooking, cleaning, doing the laundry to even getting the kids ready for school, the woman is expected to lead the way. This inequality within the household is misplaced as — “Well, she’s best at it”. It is time we draw light to this, and drive the change. In fact, according to the same survey, 80% of working Indian women want their partner to share household chores.
‘Sharing the load’, is critical for a happy marriage. Kunal and I have always strived to ensure equal responsibilities at home. We both have equally busy work lives and it is not fair for one person to bear the weight of running the house on their own. From cooking dinner to taking care of our laundry, Kunal has always made it a point to contribute, especially when I’m away on shoots.
Kunal and I are lucky in that sense, that our parents really championed this cause. They made sure we were raised with the values of sharing the responsibility. Even in their day, they pitched in for household chores like laundry, cooking and cleaning. The added advantage of splitting the responsibilities at home is that it gives you quality time with your partner. We’ve had take-out dinners over the washing machine. We’ve gossiped while doing the dishes. We’ve discussed scripts & rehearsed lines, while cooking some yummy ‘ghar ka khana’. It has become a part of our routine, and I’m lucky to have Kunal with me.
By sharing these small responsibilities with your partner, it just makes you realise that little things like doing the laundry and sharing the load can lead to a much happier environment and keeps the romance going. I truly believe that our homes are where such values are formed and passed on to the future generations. So, such small changes can go a long way in transforming society at large. And who knows - maybe a shared bucket of laundry is all that’s needed to set gender inequality right.
(Soha Ali Khan partners with Ariel India to launch Gender Neutral Wash Care labels)