I am a woman. Whom do I blame?

I am sure as you read the title of this blog you are wondering- "oh! Another 'help me I am a woman', or 'sympathize with me' or 'feminism is in my blood' kind" article is here. Let me tell you, this is not. 

Today, I pose an important question to your grey matter. The question that has been haunting me for days nay months and years. The question, I have found no answers to, yet. 

I want to ask you, today. You wake up to a news of harassment on any given day. Your reaction is subjective. Either "oh another one" or "when will all this stop". But I have a deeper question.

As a woman, every day I face inequality and no, this is not a "please sympathize with me" story. It’s a fact. I am told not to go out late night, not to go out alone, not to travel in trains alone, not to go out in the dark, not to dress a particular way, not to raise my voice against a reckless driver on the road, not to take an Uber alone, and believe me this isn’t even half of what all I am told not to do. But whom do I blame for this? And this is the question I pose to you. If I, or any other woman today is facing a suffocating set of don’ts, she is being punished. If she is being punished it has to be for someone's mistake, because obviously that's how Karma (or whatever synonymous jargon you give it say balance of energy) works.

 

So whom does she blame? The mother who gives her this list of don’ts because the mother spends sleepless nights when the daughter is in another city? Or the father who has, at any point in his life, heard how cheaply a few men/boys look at women indulging in any of the above don’ts? Or the society, who despite years of evolution and civilization has not been able to humanize its entities completely? Or those parents who unknowingly failed in rearing humane kids? Or those animals who have zero control on their hedonism despite education and a sane human mind?

I don’t know whom do you blame. I don’t know whose mistake it is. I know I have fought with my parents for no fault of theirs but concern of my well-being. I know I have consciously debarred myself of certain wishes for the sake of being safe. 

But, I, and every woman, need an answer. I am a woman. Tell me, whom do I blame?
                                                                                                                                               ~~ Palak Marwah