Gender Issues

Malini and Arjun were planning his 8th birthday party when Arjun suddenly observed, "Amma, time is going by so fast!" Coming from Arjun, this was not an entirely surprising comment - he tends to be somewhat preternaturally inclined towards such thoughts. Not wanting to miss out on a teachable moment, Malini quickly followed up with, "Yes Arjun, soon both of you will be all grown up and have to deal with all kinds of responsibilities."  Abhi - who just turned 5 and is an expert on all matters - chimed in, "And you will have to go to work like Acha." And then without missing a beat he continued, "Unless you are a girl - then you can sit at home and relax."

Fast forward to the weekend and we are having bagels for breakfast - I was doing the toasting and serving and Malini (ever hopeful) comments to the boys, "Acha is going to take care of all the food this weekend."  Arjun had no comment, but Abhi was having none of it: "What, we are going to have omelet for dinner? That's all Acha knows to make!"

I tried explaining that before he was born Malini used to work in an office just like me and that I used to cook regularly while in school, but I could see that my audience was highly skeptical. He knew what our respective roles were and that was that.