Gender Privilege Violates Cosmic Justice

A UN report says only 87 countries have ever had a woman leader. Globally, women make up 23% of cabinet members, only 27% lead ministries, and 36% hold positions in local legislatures. The idea of 'balance' is a fallacy. There is no balance when one side has held power for millennia. We need a reckoning, a radical redistribution of power, a dismantling of the foundation upon which this unequal world has been built.

We must challenge ingrained biases, subtle acts of misogyny, casual sexism that permeates our daily lives. We must hold men accountable for their complicity in a system perpetuating inequality. More than apologies; we must demand action. We must rewrite rules, redefine boundaries, and create a world where women are not just equal but sovereign.

At the core of patriarchal system lies a fundamental misperception of reality, based on gender and distorted understanding of the Divine, often projecting masculine attributes onto the Supreme, while relegating feminine qualities.

Ancient wisdom speaks of the cyclical nature of time, ebb and flow of power. Women are daughters of Lilith, inheritors of Kali, reclaimers of Inanna, Mesopotamian goddess of love and war. Our future is equitably human, and the first step is dismantling unequal status quo. From a spiritual lens, patriarchy is antithetical to principles of oneness, and equality. Upanishads, Bhagwad Gita, and other spiritual texts emphasise cosmic unity of all beings. However, centuries of patriarchal distortion have overshadowed this wisdom, relegating women to margins of social and spiritual recognition.

Deconstructing patriarchy, therefore, involves reclaiming this reverence and ensuring that women are seen as harbinger of spiritual and social prosperity. Law of karm, a cornerstone of Indic spirituality, asserts that all beings are born into their respective conditions based on their past vasnas or inherent nature, not their gender. To privilege one gender over another is a violation of this cosmic justice.

Hence, patriarchy becomes an act of collective ignorance. Overcoming it is, therefore, an act of collective spiritual awakening recognising that women are equal co-travellers on the path to liberation.

Furthermore, ahimsa, nonviolence, extends much beyond physical harm to include emotional and systemic violence. Practices such as female infanticide, child marriage, and denial of education to girls are gross violations of ahimsa.

In Indian tradition, women are regarded as an embodiment of 'Saraswati', goddess of wisdom. To educate a girl is to honour Saraswati. Cancelling patriarchy demands that we move beyond mere rhetoric and recognise women as torchbearers of wisdom and harmony in society.

The call to cancel patriarchy is not a polite request. It is a demand for complete annihilation of a system that has thrived on degradation and erasure of women. We must reject false dichotomy of victimhood and empowerment, recognising that true power lies in our collective strength and our refusal to be silenced.

Authored by: Ullhas Pandey