I grew up in a house that was rooted in matriarchy, thinking that to be the norm, never quite understanding that the power and influence of women I saw growing up wasn't common for all women in every house and most certainly not outside of it. Women require encouragement too, along with opportunity to move forward and there's not always plentiful of that coming for us. I began to examine inequity in gender roles more consciously once I began my counsel practice, where I have often found myself held back in a male dominated profession who did and do much better when it comes to things like scoring new clients and are inhibited by a lot less in comparison to a woman. I cannot entertain a client like a man can.
The boundaries that exist for me don't exist for a man. A lady advocate is not appreciated if she is more aggressive in courtroom than her male counterpart. That's just not ladylike!
The rules are different for us. They are different for us even in the world of dating and thats why debates, this campaign, the marches world over and all the rebellion has real meaning because the cause is very real and is borne of unfair and unjust terms that have always been meted to women. Its not said to be a mans world for nothing, you know that even more when you're trying to play alongside them.
About Unnati Mishra
Unnati is a practising lawyer at the Supreme Court of India. She has done her law degree from I.L.S. Law College, Pune, Maharashtra.
