Roots and Barriers

Most Significant Forms and What Stops Us

When talking about the most significant forms of gender inequity, Rayat looks at the institutions in our lives that can be seen as the root cause of the issue. She talks about her own family and how even though there were no noticeable forms of inequality between males and females when growing up, there were certain things that were simply accepted. How certain family roles and jobs were given to males without question because that’s the way things have always been. Like how men do the physical work while the women stay indoors to do domestic work. But this wasn’t seen as inequality because there was no questioning it.
And as for the barriers to solving such issues, she says that it’s the fact that so many people think that the need for feminism is over, similar to what I talked about in my poem. Because of this, they refuse to learn about the harm they may be causing as if it offends them in some way. Rayat continues by mentioning how in South Asian Culture, this kind of thinking is even worse because it’s barely recognized by either men or women. The conversation around such issues has barely started, so it can be very difficult to talk about it at all.