Every Women’s Day, a graphic of a goddess-like superwoman with six hands resurfaces — a laptop, a hairdryer, a child, a ladle, a phone, and a broom in each hand. This is an evocative image, but it begs two simple questions: Who has six hands and why are we expecting six hands’ worth of work from women?
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This portrayal, of women juggling multiple roles simultaneously, causes harm by setting unrealistic and unattainable standards. This is compounded by the “tyranny of niceness”, a societal expectation that punishes women for asserting themselves and stepping outside the confines of expected silence and obedience. Additionally, the mental load, the never-ending cognitive and emotional effort needed to manage a household, has only recently gained recognition as a disproportionate burden on women.
While women have made great strides in education and excelled in many fields, they continue to face numerous challenges and hurdles. Beyond opportunities, it’s time to have frank discussions about support systems essential for women to step out and reach their full potential.
It’s not a glass ceiling; it’s the devil’s snare of patriarchy
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For those of us who grew up reading Harry Potter, the image of the trio fighting dark magic in Hogwarts’ dungeons to protect the Philosopher’s Stone from falling into the hands of Lord Voldemort is unforgettable. Harry, Ron and Hermoine successfully sneak past Fluffy, the giant three-headed dog, only to find themselves getting strangled by the tendrils of a magical plant. While initially happy that there’s something soft to cushion their fall through the trap door, Harry and Ron soon find their legs tightly bound by long creepers without realising it. Meanwhile, Hermione frees herself before the plant manages to get a firm grip on her. The boys struggle against the tendrils, only to find that the more they fight, the tighter the plant wound around them.
“Stop moving!” Hermione shouts at them, “I know what this is — it’s Devil’s Snare!”
Future Harry Potter readers should embark on their magical journey unspoiled, so there will be no revelations about what happens next. But as one grows older, the magic fades, and the image of the Devil’s Snare plant conjures analogies to things much more real sadly — one such image is of patriarchy.
Like the plant, patriarchy is insidious, constricting and dangerous. It traps people in restrictive roles and norms. Unlike a plain glass ceiling, which can be shattered, patriarchy often feels like a web that entangles and suffocates, strangling a person’s life and spirit. It starts with a sense of unwantedness even before birth, manifesting as an ever-present insecurity that many girls experience both in public and, tragically, at home. Many women endure harassment, exploitation, and abuse, often in silence, due to fear of repercussions and secondary victimisation.
To counter this, beyond opportunities for education, mobility, employment etc, support systems are required to give women the freedom to pursue their careers and personal aspirations. This support can take many forms, such as gender-inclusive workplace policies, including flexible work hours, affordable childcare services, and, more importantly, envisioning and nurturing/fostering homes with a more equitable distribution of domestic responsibilities.
Safer environments
In addition, we must also commit to creating safer environments for women. This could be through mandatory audits of all public spaces from the perspective of women’s safety, exploring strategies such as Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), ensuring adequate illumination and CCTV surveillance, capacity building in law enforcement agencies, and gradually increasing our police and judicial officer-to-population ratio to improve the efficiency of the criminal justice system.
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The life cycle of patriarchy mirrors the life of a woman, with its impact felt at every stage, shaping her experiences and influencing opportunities and relationships. International Women’s Day should serve as a moment of reflection on these realities and reaffirm our commitment to breaking these suffocating cycles/expectations. Patriarchy, operating from the shadows, distorts, diverts and even hijacks the crucial conversations we should be having about women’s safety and rights. Much like the Devil’s Snare, it thrives in darkness.
With light and fire, we must be relentless in our efforts to make it recoil and loosen its grip on us. We need all our bluebell flames and fire-making spells. Wands at the ready!
The writer is an IPS Officer of the 2014 batch, currently serving as Superintendent of Police, Kamareddy, Telangana
