The Idea of Being A Woman in My PoV

Little did I know that the sex and gender I was born as would carry this much complexity to live with.

I once heard Pak Rocky Gerung state, "If we want to see injustice, the women's body is the source of it." 

We can see almost all types of injustice in it, from their position in society in general to the narrowest version of it: the household. No community in society is strictly told to be certain figures to be respected, to behave in a certain way to be heard, or to dress a certain way to be secure. Well, even after all those ridiculous, rigid requirements, we're not yet free from any types of violence and/or harassment.

When I was little, it sounded so natural that as a daughter, I was raised hard and strictly. I thought it was all for my own goodness, my security. However, thinking back to those old days, I felt like I was raised in a very unfair way. I was limited to certain things that boys could do, that results to my less agile adaptation to the world. I was constantly demanded to prove that I'm capable of going to uni, for example, but for my brother? My mom already thinks that it's a very natural way for him to do (without any requirement of commitment).

I won't blame my parents alone in this matter, because I'm fully aware that this is a very systemic thing that happens in similar households like the one I grew up in. I dare to say that patriarchy is the biggest contribution to this unfair world for women to live in. We are pressed by both men and unenlightened women. 

Especially for women, those who experience bullying in this gender matter will do similar things to others. We often see how a mother treats her daughter badly and see it as a natural thing to do because she experienced the same thing growing up. This is what we simply know as a general trauma experienced by women across several generations.

To be one of the women who know this fact and can analyze it, and then choose the right approach towards this matter, I feel so lucky and grateful. At least, I'll cut this trauma in my next generation, which could be in my direct and/or indirect bloodline. I reckon this is gonna be one step to a more enlightened society that's more women-friendly, to be able to have the same amount of freedom as men in navigating their lives with equal rights.