Stop Moral Policing And Expecting Women To ‘Hand Out The Cake’ Etc In Colleges & At Work!

In this society, patriarchy is everywhere. Be it at home, office, college or school, patriarchy just has its roots everywhere. There are double standards for women and men in all these places, rules for men and women are different.

These rules don’t always have the same motive, for instance, rules for men in educational institutes are no drinking, smoking or drug abuse but the rules for women are different such as dressing “appropriately” needing a parent or guardian’s permission to leave campus, not to leave their rooms after 9 p.m.

Double standards at colleges and universities

These rules imposed on women are patriarchal and do not make any sense. Almost every educational institute in this country has these rules for women, be it bachelor’s degrees or master’s degrees or PhD scholars, all girls need to adhere to these insensitive rules that colleges impose.

In some universities women research scholars can’t work in the lab during evening hours, they need to get special permission to work. That might get permission only once or twice but it takes a lot of work and questions to get there.

The reason they cite is the university needs to ensure the safety of the students present inside the campus. Sure, it’s a valid reason, but why only restrict the girls alone why not boys, does the safety of boys not matter?

Most campuses are closed and have a lot of security, but safety is not the problem here; it’s the patriarchal mindset that doesn’t let women work late hours. If university authorities think women are not safe from the men on campus then why not restrict the men from stepping out? Why not forbid MEN from working late in the labs?

Dress restrictions for college students – REALLY?!

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Another thing is women’s clothing. Many institutions still control women and restrict them from wearing the dresses they like. Women are not allowed to wear revealing dresses or modern clothes. In many colleges wearing t-shirts and jeans is still prohibited but this absurd rule applies only to women. This  again, is also due to the patriarchal influence that wants to control what women wear. The institute’s respect lies in all these matters.

It’s the 21st century but still, these things have not changed. Boys are allowed to go outside the college hostels without their parents’ permission, girls are not allowed. Boys are allowed to come late but girls aren’t. Sitting and talking with boys inside the campus is still frowned upon by the teachers and wardens.

All restrictions are only for girls. If abuse happens then victim-blaming is still the first thing these people resort to. “She dresses like that so she had that coming”, “she was always been close with boys so she might have initiated”, and all these comments and blame is shifted to the victim.

Are only the women at the workplace able to ‘hand out the cake’?

Heavy gender bias is also seen in the workplace; even little things like during a party or cake cutting ceremony, the girls are asked to cut the cake and distribute it to the crowd. It’s like only girls are apt for such a job, I mean what’s so difficult about cutting a cake and distributing it? These are scientists and students, can’t boys do that why should only girls be made do that.

In every function from lighting lamps to standing in the reception, women are requested to wear traditional dresses and asked to look beautiful. These practices are like just seeing women as mere beauty objects. Why can’t guys do these? What’s the need of looking beautiful to light a lamp or stand in the reception and invite guests? Just some manners would be fine.

These are all patriarchal influences that these are the only duties women are fit for. We have all seen many functions in our own institutions where men go outside to buy food and women are requested to distribute it. Women are expected to do the decorations and drawings on the floor. All these activities are seen as a girlish activities – from decorating to cleaning, and women are requested to do all of it.

Such gender roles aren’t needed. All the activities can be done by everyone. We all need to work together to change this, in our colleges, schools, workplaces.

Patriarchy has roots everywhere and we might be doing all these things consciously or unconsciously, but it’s high time we wake up and make the workplace and our educational institutions patriarchy free!

Image source: a still from the series Outsourced

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