Think Equal -- Act Equal

I boarded a State Transport bus from my college. As I advanced in, I
was glad to notice that it was not crowded at all. But unfortunately
all the seats were occupied,...and as a consequence, I was the only one
standing in the bus. At the next stop, two "liberated looking" girls
got into the bus and noticing that two men were sitting on the seats
reserved for women ["Thanks" to a Government of India ruling], they
promptly asked them to vacate the seats and occupied them. Noting that
another man was seated on a "reserved"seat for women, one of the girls
jogged me and directed me to occupy my "rightful place"in the bus!!! I
responded by saying that I was quite comfortable standing as I was. She
gave me a look which evidently screamed "How dumb!" and in
dramturgically hushed undertones, whispered to her companion,'...these
girls jus' don't know how to stand up to men...'. The truth is that I
was not standing because of some innate or instinctive fear of
asserting my rights when faced with a man, but because of a sense of
equality. If a man can stand in a bus and travel, I, as a woman, have
the same amount of strength and coordination and balance in my legs to
stand and travel!

The point is that the feminists all over the place arevoicing the
slogan of
"equality between a man and a woman". But where does this sense of
equality wanders when we are reserving a place for ourselves on the
bus? By asking a man to get up and vacate a seat for me, am I not
automatically "reserving"an inferior position for myself and offering
him a stronger image of himself?

The women, today, have taken long steps and are now doubling strides
with men in all walks of life. But what some of us fail to recognise is
the fact that along with the privilege of equal status also comes the
responsilibility of equal workload. A contest for equality requests an
equal sharing of the dirt and the grime. The principle of "ladies
first" is antiquated now.

The issue of the "Women's Reservation Bill" in the Parliament of India
exemplifies yet another paradox to the jingle of equality. If a woman
believes herself capable of being a political leader, then the need for
reservation does not remain. By reserving seats, we are only saying
that a woman is inept and cannot reach a zenithal position on her own
merit and therefore need to be provided with special privileges. I
agree that the percentage of women in the Parliament is awfully low,
but a reservation of seats cannot pose as a solution to this dilemma.
To make leaders out of women, give them the opportunities of an
education and accoutre them with the correct tools so that they can
fight their own battles in the world and make a place for themselves.
The criteria for their selection should be their merit and not their
gender.

Equality is not a status we can apply when we desire and shrug it off
when the going gets too tough. If you THINK equal, then ACT equal.