Every year is a new beginning. Every year we make resolutions that help us make the year goal oriented. One such resolution is to unlearn biases that the previous year infiltrated us with. Many things happened in 2022 that have made us wonder where we are lacking as a society. Why is it so difficult for us to maintain social harmony? Why do we always fail to respect others and not see them from the lens of biases?
The problem is that we don’t talk about issues that breed in our society, and we continuously ignore them as someone else’s business until we are roped into their consequences. And gradually, the issue spreads and infects every one of us. So to avoid this, let us make a new resolution this year to achieve social harmony by addressing social issues and finding inclusive solutions. Here are a few problems that are threatening social harmony and hence require to be addressed.
New Year Resolution 2023
Gender inequality
In our society, gender inequality is everywhere- at home, in offices, in public places and more. Gender inequality impacts the upbringing, conditioning and daily lives of people. The unfair distribution of housework, sexual harassment in the workplace and crime against women at home and in the streets threaten the balance of our society. Although gender inequality has existed for ages, we cannot ignore it as a tradition, and we should try to reverse it every day and every hour. So as we walk into a new year, let us bid goodbye to gender inequality and try to give equal rights to all genders.
Religious harmony
In 2022, many issues threatened the world which had religious colour. For example, the recent controversy over Pathan’s Besharam Rang song took religious colour when people blamed Deepika Padukone and Shah Rukh Khan for hurting religious sentiment by making Padukone wear a Bikini of saffron colour. Moreover, in Karnataka, female students were barred from wearing hijab in schools and colleges, leading to religious riots in the state. Mahsa Amini lost her life due to Islamic laws of wearing hijab which further led to worldwide protests against hijaab.
These issues point out that we lack religious harmony. We have less tolerance towards the breach of religious rules even if it means crushing a person’s freedom. One needs to question whether the religious rules are created by God or by people to make their religions a hegemony. So this year, let us start conversations on these lines and try to achieve religious harmony. Religion is a way of living and not hegemony or rules written in stone that everyone should follow.
Sex education
In our society, it is taboo to talk about sex or sex education. And because of this taboo, many remain unaware of consent, good touch and bad touch and &t=59s" target="_blank" rel="noopener">safe sex. Then follows unopposed sexual harassment, non-consensual sex, marital rape and STIs. These issues grip our society and make it an unsafe space, especially for women. So how can we avoid this? By discussing sex and consent. Let us promise to ourselves that this year we will teach our kids about safe sex and consent. Let’s keep in mind that no sexual encounter is right without consent.
Period talks
Like sex education, periods is also a taboo in our society. Whenever one talks about periods, they are stopped and reminded how shameful it is even to utter the word periods. Because of the shame around periods, many women fail to communicate their problems to others. They face a lot of shame when they stain their clothes and miss school when they get periods to avoid bullies. The lack of period sanitisation is also a result of the taboo around periods because no one wants to invest in learning about or practising period hygiene. But this year, let us not put women’s lives at risk of shame and infections by sewing our lips on periods. Let us talk about it openly so that women feel comfortable and not alienated when they bleed.
Caste discrimination
One of the major issues that have gripped society is caste discrimination. In our country, lower caste people are not allowed to drink water from the wells that belong to upper caste people. The practice of untouchability is so rampant that murders are committed for silly reasons like touching the slippers of high-caste people. In our society, 50,900 cases of crime against SCs were registered in India, according to National Crime Records Bureau. But this year, let us ensure that caste discrimination ends and that we don’t harm people just because they belong to a lower caste.
Views expressed are the author’s own.
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