March 8th is celebrated as International Women’s Day. IWD is a global event celebrated annually on March 8 to commemorate the cultural, political, and socio-economic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women's rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women.

Women on an everyday basis go through a lot of biases. In this article, we will discuss some myths surrounding women and we will burst those myths.

• The gender of the child is decided by the female

We often come across news of women facing ignorance and domestic violence because they are unable to bear a Son (the reason for the continuation of the family). Science says a female carries the XX chromosome and a male carries the XY chromosome. The gender of the zygote is decided by the Y chromosome of the male.

• Females should marry before the age of 30

“The biological clock is ticking!”

Females are considered child bearers. Being a mother is the main reason for a female’s existence. A man can marry at whatever age he wants, but a lady has to marry in time otherwise, there will be complications in bearing a child.

Giving birth to a child is not a moral obligation of a woman. Modern women are opting out of motherhood as a choice. Science has new methods of having children like IVF and you can always choose to adopt a child!

• Women dress up to impress men.

Dressing up, doing makeup is acts to impress men. Is it true? Go and ask the women around you. Women dress up to feel good about themselves. In fact, women dress up when going out with their girlfriends to have fun rather than to impress men.

• Girls should learn cooking and household chores.

We all have grown up with this idea, isn’t it? While growing up, the girls will be asked to help Mom in the kitchen, expected to behave nicely and serve tea to guests. Boys meanwhile, can focus on their studies and enjoy their time in sports and with their friends. Why? Girls need to learn all these to be prepared to handle a house after marriage.

Cooking and household chores are basic survival skills that everyone should learn irrespective of their gender. In modern times, when everyone is having a career of their own, it is important that everyone contributes to the household equally!

• “Why are you overreacting?” “Are you PMSing?”

Women are considered as emotional beings and men as rough and tough ones. If a female is emotional and crying, we generally tend to assume that it is probably due to hormonal imbalances and she is going through her period.

The fact is, our society conditions men to not share their emotions with anyone. Both men and women get hurt, it is societal conditioning! Psychologists say that it is a good habit to cry out emotions and feel relaxed and stronger. Keeping emotions within hurts.

• Girls can learn singing and dancing and boys can go for sports

We always feel women are physically weaker than men. We as parents tend to motivate our girls for activities like dancing and singing whereas our boys go for various sports or any activities that include aggression and physical stress.

Both the genders can be part of sports and other activities if trained properly.

• Women are not good leaders.

Women take things way too seriously if kept in a leadership position. Women overreact, get angry easily and make the lives of their subordinates difficult if in a leadership position.

It has been seen that when a woman takes charge and is in a leadership position, corruption decreases and the system functions in a structure.

• Women cannot grow in their careers after a certain age.

Women’s primary responsibility is to nurture their children. When a mother, a woman cannot focus on her career and hence will not be able to dedicate much of her time and energy to her career.

Nurturing children is an equal responsibility of both men and women. Both parents are required for the healthy growth of a child. It is important to incorporate both paternal and maternal leaves in an organization. Slight accommodations in organizations to parents can go a long way. It is then that a woman can equally focus on her child and her career.

• Women are the worst enemies of women.

Time and again we keep listening to this. Women do not support women; women are the worst enemies of women, etc.

It is societal conditioning. Women are women’s best friends. Nothing’s more powerful than a group of women supporting each other.

• Why do we only celebrate Women’s Day? Men’s Day should be celebrated too!

Since time immemorial, women have been deprived of their basic rights. Things changed with time. Women got basic rights like, Right to Vote, Right to Education quite recently- around the 19th Century. Even today, career-oriented women work in offices and go back home to cook for their families. At the same time, their counterparts get ready-to-eat cooked food at their homes. This is just an example. Such inequalities pull back women from growing further. International Women’s Day is celebrated to bring everyone’s attention to such issues of women and address it. After all, there’s still a long way to go!

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