Sunday 14 February 2016

Free from stereotypes



As a woman you are judged by your Appearance. Like it or not, you are being judged by how you look, how you dress, and how you carry yourself—and, if you’re lucky, how you do your job. Like it or not, every day we women are being judged. People make decisions about us based on our appearance every day. What’s more, we’re doing the same thing. We are under the microscope every day. Our employees, our colleagues, and our clients judge us by how we look, how we dress, our table manners, and our grooming. Women should not be judged on their clothing.
Nielson India conducted a survey #IAmCapable on behalf of Nihar Naturals and the results are as stated.
a. 69% of men agree that their judgement of women is based on their looks.

b. 64% of women agree that the judgments passed on them have affected their ability to reach their true potential.

c. 70%of women agree that majority of judgments on women are from family members or friends rather than strangers.

d. 72% of women agree that working women face more judgments on their looks or their clothes than housewives.

Feminism has made progress as women start to make their rightful demands to equal status with men. Yet for every step forward, there will be steps backward. Why the girls are being judged on the parameter of clothing. Why girls are being blamed of wearing short shirts and skinny clothes when they are sexually harassed. It is the dirty mindset of certain mindsets of the society and not the fault of women in any way. Why does it matter so much what I was wearing?  I felt wonderful in that dress. And surely that’s all that counts. While these instances have different circumstances, they exemplify a problem the modern woman faces daily: being judged and evaluated almost entirely on her physical appearance. Somehow, society has found it justifiable to demand that girls follow a dress code that does little more than say to them, “Your body is a distraction, a problem. It is said you are what you wear. Women are affected negatively by being judged on their physical appearance. Majority of women believe they face double standards during job interviews and feel they are judged on their appearance more than men. It's a shame that today everyone thinks we have made progress, but when you have 84 per cent of women saying that there is a double standard between men and women then it means that little progress has been made. People should be judged on the work they do and not what they look like. When people are considering candidates for jobs, they are more likely to judge women on style, while men are rated more on substance.
The media need to stop displaying women as objects and start focusing on their accomplishments and skills. Young girls must stop being taught that their bodies are a problem or that they must self-police their appearances in order to be taken seriously. It is only with these changes that women will finally be portrayed and recognized for their skills.
I being a woman did not to be stereotyped. I am a housewife but I did not restrict myself to the four walls of my home. I did the impossible and opened a Gift Shop keeping in mind the needs of the children and their mothers as well. Of course the men were not forgotten. I had something for everyone. My little venture was a great success and now my relatives and even the chacha in law cited my example to his daughter in law. I had done it I had proved that #IAmCapable Now for once and all I had left the realm of stereotypes. I was free.

“I’m breaking stereotypes based on appearance by sharing my experience for the #IAmCapable activity at BlogAdda in association with Nihar Naturals.”

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