The society that I come from is open-minded, or in simpler words, ‘cool’. I enjoyed the company of both boys and girls alike, and since the early teenage years, I was surrounded by close friends who were boys. My confidence stems from my parents and I thrive to be a worthy daughter. Then, I joined college.
We the women have minute say in organisational activities, concept development or management responsibilities. Our views are just embalmed and never get to flare. I am amazed that no one even thinks of telling the only girl in the team who knows how to tally, that the boys are fussing over finding a bug in her cost analysis.
We still hear, “This could be too tiring for a girl”, “Mechanical Engineering? Didn’t you get Computer Science?”, “We will discuss and tell you what to do tomorrow”, “Write my notes too, you are a girl and have good handwriting”, “It’s a technical fest, you will have a lot to do during the cultural fest anyway”. This would have been actually funny had I not been a student of a National level engineering college, 3,500 km away from home.
Not every girl who is studying is actually becoming an asset to the world’s economy or development. This is not because of fear or reluctance. For many women, feelings were successfully incorporated in them over the years while growing up amidst fellow men and women.