It’s been a while since I put on the violet glasses. With them I am more aware that we still have a long way to go in terms of gender equality. There are days when I would like to take them off but it is now impossible.
The concept was born from a book for young people, “Carlota’s Violet Diary” which invites reflection, a critical look and questioning typically masculine values. We continually experience situations of contempt, disadvantages and inequalities and these glasses allow us to be aware of this reality. Since then, the term has spread outside the context of the book and violet glasses have become a metaphor for seeing the world with a critical eye as far as gender difference is concerned.
As a mother, I am concerned about this issue, because I do not want my daughters to experience situations of discrimination for being women. I want them not to experience this battle because we are in the 21st century and a lot has happened since in the eighties many laughed at sexist jokes and gender murders were “crimes of passion.”
Luckily, society is changing but there is still too much to do. In the business world, for example, where I operate now, being a woman and mother is an obstacle. Not because of what you can do, but because you have to constantly demonstrate that our work is valuable and that the choice to reconcile is legitimate and must be respected. Fortunately, I find more and more cases where there is conciliation and even more and more parents.
Although it is also true that we are all a little sexist, yes, women too. Many times we are our worst enemy. Everything is due to a question of education and this is the result of the inheritance of a society dominated by men and where women were relegated to her house or to “doing pretty.” And we are still surrounded by these vestiges. I think action and change are in our hands.
It makes me truly terrified that my daughters go out into the street and suffer from this sexist harassment because “they were not dressed properly”, “because they were alone and very late”, “because yes, because I said so and that’s it”….
Without respect there is no equality between men and women or between whites and blacks… and in this way, as a friend of mine says: “the world is going to catastrophe”
I invite both men and women to put on violet glasses (we all have a pair) and be more aware and critical of gender differences. I warn you that once you put them on you will not be able to take them off and they often cause high doses of bad temper.
Happy Breastfeeding.
