I’m a girl who loves all sports and wants to challenge myself like my father challenges or questions himself. Because my parents never raised me as if this is a girl or he is a boy. They were like, these are our kids. They should expose to all activities, all sports. I want to do everything my father does and try my best. I love horse riding, shore-jumping, polo, swimming, hiking, and tennis. Though I never learned these activities except cricket, I was always an old dog who couldn’t learn new tricks.

My favorite color growing up was pink. But now it’s blue and black, which probably are not very feminine according to the stereotypes. But I liked them. And I think that’s good. It’s not necessary that if she’s a girl, then the color should be pink. I never liked pink that much. Pink is slapped onto girls. However, I’ve had pink accessories in childhood, but not now. It’s like girl equals pink. I was like, why should I fit into this norm?

“Gender Consciousness”

It would be best if you didn’t make separate compartments or boxes for your children. I admire my parents for that. I played with barbies, but I also had Legos. I still have some little toy miniatures. So, there’s a tank with a barbie next to it. We never defined sports and activities with the gender that it’s for girls and boys. It gives you the benefit of making you more open to not putting things into specific boxes.

I’m happy that sports, education, and activities aren’t defined by gender in my childhood. So, I never think accordingly, and it also benefits that you don’t create limits or lines not to cross them. So, the whole universe is yours; you can explore and discover who you are. And you can develop skills that you might not be able to create not because of your gender but because of the roles that society defines with gender, which isn’t true.

People say that men shouldn’t cook. Why? Why shouldn’t they cook? If they are doing this, we should admire them and support them. In my family, my uncles cook food in the house, and still, they used to. We need to break down walls and defy stereotypes.

Limits

We implement too many limits on us by defining roles, it’s sad, but then I think we were evolving. We have so many more men around us. There are so many famous people, including men and women. I believe in every sector, you’ll see women and men standing shoulder-to-shoulder, and it’s getting even more common because people are breaking out the stereotypes. It’s very refreshing to see. It makes you secure.

If there is this kind of society where men and women are equal in every field, I think it’s refreshing, safe, and secure. Because if you aren’t pulling someone back, you don’t deny them. I believe it opens new avenues for bigger and better things because where there is collaboration, it always ends up in something greater and improved. Where men and women have collaborated, they can take any field to higher levels.

Values

I’m extraordinarily pathetic. Because that’s the values my parents installed in me, in all of us. Compassion and respect for humanity, no doubt whatever their financial status or professional class they belong to. Because if you want to earn respect for yourself, you have to respect others. Because where you are today, perhaps you aren’t there tomorrow. Maybe you are empty-handed, or you have double that you already have. But it would help if you didn’t forget who you are and what defines you. That’s humanity. Until you become the right person, you can’t level up or succeed in life.

My parents ask me every day: what did you learn today? What was the conclusion of today – this is how you live your life. That one day ends; it’s going to be yesterday or tomorrow, so what did you learn from that day? Because every day should be something that adds to you. Every day you grow, and you grow. So what growth did you have that day? It could be anything. So, this was our everyday conversation about how you could give back to society and make a difference.

Because everyone lives and dies. That’s part of life. You know you can’t deny the fact that you, I, and everyone is going to pass away. So, move on to whatever is next to us.

Purpose of Life

But what do we do in this life? It would help if you kept in touch with your life because most people forget that they are here in this world, with this life for a purpose. It’s a fact that every one of us wants to achieve anything financially or professionally, that’s not wrong, that’s right and good because if you don’t make yourself stable financially in this life, you can’t give an excellent start to your next generation. That’s not wrong, either.

I never wanted to be in the limelight. For me, my education was my priority because that’s very important. Because education is an effort, we do it to be recognized for what we are. I think knowledge is something it’s the thirst that can never quench. Knowledge isn’t just education. It’s experienced, learning every discipline. Like I said, my father always told me there is no limit to anything. Whatever you do, I’m always with you. It would be best if you kept learning and growing. Until you’re not satisfied with yourself, you don’t get the feeling of achievement.

Stay Down-to-Earth

You have to stay grounded. It’s tough, but you have to, not for anyone else but for yourself. Be like a tree that stays down-to-earth but holds its head high. Connect with your roots. Turn over a new leaf. Bend before you break. Relish your unique natural beauty. Keep growing. Because whatever goes up comes down.

As seen on:

https://interact.pk/breaking-the-stereotypes

https://issuu.com/hamnaqasim90/docs/breaking_the_stereotypes_2.docx

https://www.quora.com/profile/Hamna-Qasim

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/breaking-stereotypes-hamna-qasim/

https://medium.com/@HamnaQasim/breaking-the-stereotypes-41a6597b0463