Beyond the ‘cool’ hashtag

Possibly you too may have come across a bunch of images of women – and men – with their hands crossed over their chest on your social media feeds. Showing their support towards this year’s International Women’s Day campaign theme #BreakTheBias, these images of regular people speaks of the misogynistic chasm that continues to exist amongst us.

We would be fooling ourselves if we were to believe otherwise. There’s plenty of researched as well as anecdotal evidence to prove that irrespective of education and awareness, gender bias continues to corrode at our social thought and clouds our judgement. Recent MeToo campaigns, discussions on toxic masculinity or feminism – they all point towards the fact that while a lot has changed, much still needs to change at all levels.

But, I feel, that will happen when this entire #BreakTheBias debate transcends gender to include all forms of discrimination.

From the obvious kinds such as political leanings, religion, language, nationality, colour and wealth to the unconscious profiling we all indulge in when we judge people by their age, the friends they have, the university degrees they hold, the shape of their body, or the brands they wear or drive, it is vital that we take off our coloured glasses, step away from our constrictive myopic assumptions and erase the stencils we have drawn up in our heads.

Social media campaigns are great but it is time they translate into serious and sincere decisions that are based on merit and merit

There’s plenty of researched as well as anecdotal evidence to prove that irrespective of education and awareness, gender bias continues to corrode at our social thought and clouds our judgement

alone. And that will happen when not only people in positions of power but those less privileged too, truly understand and value empathy and inclusivity.

Any form of majoritarianism will only cause conflict and impede democratisation of thought.

Let me know what you think.