Hello 8th March.

Today is International Women’s day and I’m sure I’ll get flooded with a whole load of Happy Women’s Day messages.

But do we really need a day to celebrate women?

Do we need special events organised for women? Discounts at restaurants and spas? Special deals for women?

Will this really iron out the differences between men and women? Does downplaying our femininity make us more equal?

Will it make women more assertive and men more respectful and mindful of how they treat women?

Coming from a patriarchal family of strong women, I sometimes feel that feminism sometimes goes over the top .

Gender bias? Of course, it exists. In my family, women have a distinct advantage over men.

That is because, unlike many traditional families, Our girls are encouraged to do what they want to do (education, music, athletics) not because they are women and need empowerment but because they have the aptitude to do so.

Similarly the boys are encouraged to help around the house, even taking on major chores like laundry, grocery shopping and cooking .

In fact, in order to impress on the younger generation of males in our family that jobs are not determined by gender but by aptitude, Anna Shetty presented Wow Dinga with a kitchen set for his second birthday!

Of course, this hasn’t curbed his inherent passion for cars and hats and other ‘manly’ interests.

Believe it or not, there are inherent differences between men and women.

Believe it or not , there are inherent differences between men and women .

My two younger grandchildren are born just five weeks apart. Strangely enough they seem to be connected and share a strange bond- when one of them sneezes, you can be sure the other one is also coming down with something.

They both are wise beyond their years and have a distinct sense of humour that was apparent even when they were toddling out of infancy.

Both were given gender unspecific toys. But strangely enough, the boy prefers cars while the girl prefers books and dolls . So my own personal observation is that there are gender specific differences in terms of attitude.

Men are from Mars and women are from Venus

And let’s celebrate the differences rather than try to make both men and women into androgynous creatures in the name of feminism.

Ciao