Stop sexist poison daughters versus jitu patwari
As much progress as women have made in modern India the march to equality still has long miles to go, and reminders of that are daily in our face. This week Madhya Pradesh MLA and Congress leader Jitu Patwari took it upon himself to rub in the harsh reality by saying that five daughters had been birthed in pursuit of a male child – demonetisation, GST, inflation, unemployment, economic slowdown had been delivered while the wait for vikas went on. His case against the Modi government may be defensible. But the toxic sexism of the way he made it is certainly not.Patwari says people should focus not on the words he used but his meaning. But surely the words make the meanings. And his choice of words not only lent oxygen to a pre-existing preference for sons that has given India its warped sex ratio, but also inserted new poison into our cultural vocabulary. This is his innovation, that economic ills are feminine while economic wellbeing is masculine. However, thanks to an immediate uproar, this septic equation should not stick.
Language matters. From prejudice to empowerment it can all be coded in our analogies and metaphors. While the linkages are not simplistic, our turns of phrase do have material effects. Talking about daughters in dismissive ways gets connected to underfeeding them, under immunisation, under education etc. And of course vikas will not happen in any country that neglects half its potential.
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