Doug Emhoff, Overrated?

It’s a sad spectacle to note that America, one of the most developed nations in the world still is home to misogyny and xenophobia. Blame it on the dilapidated, archaic mindsets of all those have in positions of power, ably passing on the legacy to the new generations that, sadly choose to follow suit, not looking forward to bring about a change and helping a section of the society uplift themselves and thrive thereafter. 

This perhaps explains why there has been so much pomp and frolic around Douglas Emhoff, by profession a lawyer, and the current Second Gentleman of the United States, and a husband to the Vice President of the States Kamala Harris, leaving his full-time career as a lawyer so that he could dedicate more time to the family, and be focussing on addressing societal imbalances, also taking up a job as a Faculty in Georgetown Law. What’s concerning here is why does the entire concept seem like a novelty?

In the fast, we’ve had the spouses of leaders as First and Second Ladies that have ably left their promising careers, and supported their spouses when they ran for office, and now when there is a role reversal in here, what’s so astonishing? Isn’t it something every better half is supposed to be doing when their partners have been appointed to official position? If yes, then what’s the unnecessary need for this gender biasness? Why is there no egalitarianism? Where is the equality that we crave for, one that the Constitution abides by? 

The change and thought process lie within individuals, and honestly, it shouldn’t be anything to deal with gender. In my daily life, I do come across several such instances where I do visualise men fighting ably for the rights of women and also have encountered several women that still believe in judging a woman by the clothes that she's donned, and wouldn’t even take an instant to slut-shame her. 

Now, who would be explaining this disparity, can we wash our hands off easily and be saying that yeah this is a so-called misogynistic or misandrist situation? Perhaps not. Also, here I’d mostly like to stress that I find nothing odd or usual in Mr Emhoff choosing to spend more time with family. Long ago, Rabindranath Tagore, in one of novels Ghare Baire had showcased strong male-dominated characters that challenged the status quo and spent their whole life serving and uplifting women, starting off with their wives. 

What’d we be calling that? Consider Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, a scholar that spent his entire life striving to make lives easier for women, starting with practices like female education, and widow remarriage, why didn’t it look weird and unusual then? 

In a nutshell, a Gentleman or anyone for that matter must be lauded for their efforts, and let’s try to build more and more of the same, but at the same time cherish all that has been happening to us in the past as well with the same glory. 

Image courtesy: Freepik