The One with Gender Musings

I've had this thought once too many times in the recent and not-so-recent past... If only I were born a boy.
It's probably not as erratic a thought as my mom makes it out to be. What she probably doesn't understand is that the thought goes deeper than the reason I told her.

Couple of days back, we had to go attend a house-warming ceremony.. and my mom wouldnt let me wear my old pair of jeans, instead I had to wear a dressy salwar kurta.. which made me absolutely uncomfortable. And she wanted me to wear jewellery also...!!! Sometime during the ceremony, I voiced this thought of mine to mom and she was astonished, and told me all the good things about being a girl.

Is it because the Indian society is like this... ? I would call my parents very accomodating, they give me as much freedom as I could ask for... but if I tell them I would never trade my pair of denims for a diamond necklace, they find it wierd...

I know anyone reading this would probably find it shallow , that based on clothes preferences, I'm writing up a blog entry..
But the thought runs deeper...
Living in Delhi, where the newspaper proclaims everyday on the front page that, This City is Unsafe for Women, I find myself often wondering why women as a gender are always at danger... be it on the roads, or on a bus, or in the workplace? What gives men the right to treat women as they do, on their personal whims and fancies?

Being a regular commuter of Delhi buses, I know what a female faces on a regular basis on a minimal level - leceherous glances, snide comments on your clothes , and this is just the beginning.

Why are women weak? What I'm probably trying to voice is , why should only women have to even think about what could happen if travelling alone, or walking alone... why should they have to follow numerous precautions that the papers suggest? Why can't they walk free on the roads, without being treated as just an object for men to look at?

I guess, I'll never know why.. cause nobody can answer that. And until this type of treatment stops, the question of gender equality can never be completely answered, no matter how advanced the world becomes.