I have a soft corner for tomboys and I have a genuine warm place in my heart for women cricketers. I inherited the love of cricket from my family but as academics were the supreme goal of our lives neither me, nor my parents thought that I might also cherish playing cricket at least at the club level. I would never really know if I'd be good at that! That is the reason I like the girls who are good at it. Especially those who are from South Asia.
In countries where cricket is like a religion and the male cricketers are revered as gods, it is very ironic that women cricketers don't get the same treatment. I remember in 1997 (the last time I watched a women's cricket match) we got free tickets to watch it at the stadium from our school. On the day of the final, only women were allowed at the stadium. It was a strange decision, but the good part was that many women got a chance to come to our beloved Eden Gardens who during regular men's matches would always have to give up the tickets for the male members of the family. Anyway, talking about the free tickets, I remember there was some commotion in our class about one ticket and one boy actually tore up that ticket up and threw it away. Would he do the same if it was a men's match? He wouldn't. That, probably was my first experience of men not taking women seriously. From my early teenage, cricket has shown me where men still do not lean in. We could not form a girls' team in either school or college. The games teacher was also not much interested in girls playing cricket (or basketball). We grew up together with boys in the co-educational school, we were equal (and better than many boys) in academics, most of us had parents who never differentiated between their sons and daughters, but there was still a little difference between a girl and a tomboy. Being on the receiving end of that makes you feel like swimming against the current. I know how it feels. Don't get me wrong, I am not complaining. I am just saying it helped me grow a resistance and made me believe that maybe cricket was not a practical option, but there shouldn't be anything I can't do "because I am a girl". It pays off in the future.
That confidence is helping me now.
Recently, there were talks about attending Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computing. It is a conference for women, but I know of many women who are not interested in attending. The most sad thing is when women look down at other women. How would these people ever become good leaders? Sheryl Sandberg is trying to inspire our generation in vain. There are women (and men) who think that this technical conference is like a ladies party. I wonder if they would try to submit papers and posters and see if theirs get accepted in the ladies party? If they feel that it is still not technical enough like IEEE or ACM, then doesn't that point to the fact that we are lacking women in tech? That should be the reason to try harder, attend and inspire.
Belittling women isn't anything new. I read today that the Pakistan men's squad captain Shahid Afridi has commented about their own women's team as - they have a great taste in their hands, implying the right place for them is in the kitchen. I fail to understand, as a cricketer how can he comment about another cricketer in this way, especially when they are representing the same country and have the exact same goal in life! Remember the scientist who said women are distracting in labs? And the CEO who said women should not ask for raises? All coming from the same bucket. When Netaji formed his all women's Rani Jhansi regiment way back in 1943, people assumed they were a showpiece too. Never did anyone realize that the girls would take part in real combat. They failed, true, but they were path breakers. (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_of_Jhansi_Regiment).
I can relate to these brave soldiers, the Pakistani women's team, engineers in male dominated fields and to all those who wish to follow their ambitions and are constantly swimming against the current of "you are a girl".
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That confidence is helping me now.
Recently, there were talks about attending Grace Hopper Conference for Women in Computing. It is a conference for women, but I know of many women who are not interested in attending. The most sad thing is when women look down at other women. How would these people ever become good leaders? Sheryl Sandberg is trying to inspire our generation in vain. There are women (and men) who think that this technical conference is like a ladies party. I wonder if they would try to submit papers and posters and see if theirs get accepted in the ladies party? If they feel that it is still not technical enough like IEEE or ACM, then doesn't that point to the fact that we are lacking women in tech? That should be the reason to try harder, attend and inspire.
Belittling women isn't anything new. I read today that the Pakistan men's squad captain Shahid Afridi has commented about their own women's team as - they have a great taste in their hands, implying the right place for them is in the kitchen. I fail to understand, as a cricketer how can he comment about another cricketer in this way, especially when they are representing the same country and have the exact same goal in life! Remember the scientist who said women are distracting in labs? And the CEO who said women should not ask for raises? All coming from the same bucket. When Netaji formed his all women's Rani Jhansi regiment way back in 1943, people assumed they were a showpiece too. Never did anyone realize that the girls would take part in real combat. They failed, true, but they were path breakers. (Ref: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rani_of_Jhansi_Regiment).
I can relate to these brave soldiers, the Pakistani women's team, engineers in male dominated fields and to all those who wish to follow their ambitions and are constantly swimming against the current of "you are a girl".
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