Dr Sona’s poem, featured in Different Truths, powerfully exposes how gender stereotypes indoctrinate children into unequal roles, fueling patriarchy, injustice, and lifelong disparity.
Biologically unequal,
The kids are stamped as boys or girls.
Forever unequal and stereotyped,
They begin with a life journey.
Different roles, different treatment,
In the name of patriarchy and social justice.
She is born to serve
He is to be served.
She is left to subservience
He is for dominance.
She succumbs and accepts
He humiliates and rejects
She cannot complain about being brutalised
He remains insouciant.
She nurtures and prunes
He neglects any partnership and violates her.
Picture design by Anumita Roy
Dr. Sona Agrawal is currently posted in MSJ College, Bharatpur. Previously she taught at Central University of Rajasthan, Kishangarh. For her doctoral dissertation, she worked on tribal literature. Besides tribal literature, her areas of interest are Dalit literature, post-colonial writing, literary theories, and criticism. She has participated in several national and international conferences and has also published six scholarly research papers. She also writes poems and short stories both in Hindi and English.
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