Orwell's pigs

Funny thing about equality - you cannot give it to some and not to others. And you cannot take it away from one and let the other keep it. Which is why I find statements like 'equality for women' a little strange. What you are saying is 'equality for everyone' - and that doesn't sound too bad, does it? 

My mom used to tell us of this old Brahmin lady who was our neighbour around the time I was just born. This lady was a big help to my mother and had a heart of gold. Apparently, my brother would always go to her house to eat, because he liked her food a lot better. My mom did not want to impose on her, but she could not repay her in kind. Being Brahmin, she could not eat food made in our house - it was 'madi' or 'unclean'. Having grown up on a diet of anti-casteism literature, I was stunned to hear this - we had a neighbour who thought us unclean? And my mom was friend's with her? To which my mother simply said 'In her case, she had earned the right to be superior'. Of course, it took me a few years to realise that this lady did not really think of us as inferiors. The madi doctrine has been handed down to her and while she did not believe in it, in principle, it was ingrained in her and she could not refute it either. 

I remember thinking at the time, that we were so lucky - my brother got to eat at both houses, while she never had the chance to eat our food. And I remember thinking that she really missed out on a lot :) 

This is true of all inequalities - one may be superior. But even superior is still unequal. And somewhere or the other, you are losing out.

When we talk of women's lib and equal rights, I don't understand why men don't stand up for equal rights too - an equal right to be a house husband, equal household responsibilities. Or when some others complain of gender baises, why don't they see that those are all due to this same inequality - in college, most women got more interview calls. But that was because there were only so few women - a product of our society that does really like to send daughters to MBA college. If we had an equal number of women as men... it would be really difficult to differentiate. 

No one can be equal, till everyone is. So to all of you there on the other side of the inequality divider - stand up for your rights to be equal!