If there’s one thing that unites women no matter what race or nationality, it’s the overarching patriarchal conventions drilled into us right from our infancy. It might differ in degree, but never in the final result.
How often have you looked at your brother, smugly sitting in front of the television screen with the other male members of the family, while you were expected to help your mother out in the kitchen after dinner? Or told told that you have to learn how to cook because one day you will have to feed your husband and children? If the answer to that is something along the lines of ‘a little too often’, then you need to watch this video from Singapore-based insurance company Income.
It traces the life of a woman, from the age of 5 until 40, and how she’s a product of society’s definition of ‘proper’ and ‘female’.
The video ends on a hopeful note, heralding the changing times, but we’ll reserve our cheers for the time we can actually achieve something on our own without people lauding us for doing it while being a woman. We’ll even settle for a permanent ban on the question ‘When are you getting married?’
