Launching a sharp criticism of the Indian society’s preference for a male child, actor Anushka Sharma took to social media to say that having a male child does not make one privileged .
“The gender of the child doesn’t make you privileged,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday.
Her words come in the wake of the alleged gang rape and murder of two young, Dalit women in Uttar Pradesh earlier this week.
Sharma, who announced her pregnancy with Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli on August 27, on Instagram, wrote about the society’s “myopic vision” for considering having a male child as a privilege. Sharma wrote that the privilege of having a male child is “no more a privilege than having a girl child”. She added that it is the duty of parents of boys to ensure that they grow up to respect girls.
“In our society having a male child is seen as a ‘privilege’. Of course, it’s no more a privilege than having a girl child but the fact is that this so-called privilege has been viewed incorrectly and with an extremely myopic vision. The only ‘privilege’ is that one has the opportunity to raise a boy in a way that he respects a girl. That’s your DUTY as a parent to society. So, don’t think of it as a PRIVILEGE. The gender of the child doesn’t make you privileged but it is actually the responsibility you owe to society to raise a boy so well that women feel safe and protected,” she wrote.
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Reacting to the Balrampur rape case, Sharma had earlier put up an Instagram story where she wrote: “Barely any time has passed and we are hearing of another brutal rape!?! In which world do such monsters think they can do this to a young life. This is beyond comprehension, so distressing! Is there any fear in the minds of such men? How do we as a society put fear in them and protect our women? #NoMercyForRapists #Balrampur”
Earlier this year, Sharma produced web series Paatal Lok on Amazon Prime, and Bulbbul, a film released on Netflix. She was last seen in Zero co-starring Shah Rukh Khan and Katrina Kaif in 2018.