The world was a less sensitive place in the past when I was in school. Issues such as gender discrimination were barely addressed at all since we were conditioned to accept without question the prevailing mindset of society. Back then, no one disapproved if an unhappy grandma shed tears over the birth of a granddaughter just when she was fervently hoping for a grandson. Nor was it unusual for us to be barked at by elders to “behave like a girl” if we tried to indulge in so-called boyish antics such as climbing a tree or roaming around unescorted. All that was simply seen as a way of life.
On a certain day in school, I remember, one of our classmates asked our English teacher, “Ma’am! Why should a genius be called a wizard if that person is a woman? Wouldn’t ‘witch’ be more appropriate? Or isn’t a witch as clever as a wizard?” The whole class including the teacher burst out laughing as it sounded incredibly funny. On second thoughts, it seemed relevant too because around that time, the maths genius Shakunthala Devi was visiting schools to demonstrate her extraordinary skill in numbers and was lauded for her “wizardry” in the subject.
That day, our teacher decided to depart from routine and engage us in an informal interactive session. She urged us to ponder deeply over this anomaly and express our thoughts. Maybe, she too wanted to vent her anger against a male-dominated world.
What followed was an all-out discussion before we came out with certain basic truths. Firstly, two individuals in the same field of sorcery were treated differently since they happened to belong to different genders. A wizard was always depicted as a much sought-after wise man with a snowy-white beard and flowing star-spangled robes, carrying himself with a certain dignity. In fact, he was counsel to several kings who saw him as a mentor. In contrast, a witch often suffered from a negative image. She was perceived as an angry malicious creature in an ungainly black cloak and pointed hood, riding a ridiculous vehicle of a broomstick with a nasty cackle. Most of the tales tell us how she was ready for revenge at the slightest excuse as she took everything personally. Again, if you notice, the choice of names too seemed deliberate. Wizards had majestic ones such as Merlin or Gandalf, whereas witches were given labels for names highlighting their meanness such as Maleficent, Evillene and what not. Last, this sort of characterisation was reflected in our daily lives too. Thus, in common parlance the term “wizard” has always stood for wisdom and brilliance, whereas “witch” actually means a scheming wicked woman.
Next, the teacher reminded us of a similar gender pair, “master-mistress”, and the context in which it’s used. “Isn’t there a difference between being known as somebody’s master as against somebody’s mistress,” she asked. A word which represents authority suddenly changes in connotation if it’s female gender and even becomes a matter of ridicule unless it’s about a mistress of an establishment. According to our teacher, the idea was to make a woman feel uncomfortable bossing over any man by calling herself either a master or mistress. Is it surprising then that there’s no ‘grandmistress’ in chess but only a ‘grandmaster’ even if it’s a female champion?
Much to our delight, our next day’s homework was to list all uncomplimentary women-centric words, as for instance, a “hag” who’s invariably old and frustrated, a “nag” who will never give a moment’s peace or a “shrew” who needs to be tamed and their opposite genders, if any. The latter part of the assignment was quite tough as we drew a blank for the most part. Anyway, thanks to our teacher, a shift did occur in our structured thought-process from then on.
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