GENDER discrimination is not a conflict between men and women, it is a system that forges two cages out of the same iron. One is painted obedience, where women are told to shrink, stay silent, and accept dependency. The other is painted domi-nance, where men are told to harden, provide endlessly, and never betray emotion. Different labels, same chains. And both corrode the soul.

Its poison runs deep. Women are barred from earning, while men are burdened with carrying everything alone. Women who dare to speak are branded rebellious, while men who dare to soften are mocked as weak.

Even harassment is silenced at both ends: women fear not being believed, men fear not being taken seriously. What we call tradition is, in truth, fear hidden behind the mask of respectability.

Things being what they are, gender equality cannot be framed as generosity towards women alone; it is liberation for men as well. A society that forces one half into silence, and the other into exhaustion is not surviving, it is decaying. In either case, it is not thriving.

The ‘war’ was never across gender lines. The war is between us, the victims, and the system that convinces us that cages are natural. And, here lies the truth we prefer to avoid: the cages are not divine, not destiny, not sacred. They are man-made. And what is built by us can and must be dismantled by us. Let us do that together.

Tooba Tariq
Karachi

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2025