Understanding my Privilege

Photo by Ava W. Burton on Unsplash

I was born into this world, a financially wealthy Indian girl who wanted to make it big…

(Pause. What I was born with isn’t really what this article is about, it’s about the traits and advantages I was given. I’m just setting the scene.)

I was brought up by a line of financially stable, empowered and fierce women. My glass ceiling already had cracks in them. The reasons I bloom in this unfair world are…an overwhelming amount of access to family money, I am cis gender, I have fair skin and I belong to the upper-caste strata of our Indian society.

Having privilege does not mean that an individual is immune to life’s hardships, but it does mean having an unearned benefit or advantage in society by nature of their identity.

I asked a bunch of people what their privileges were and I got these answers:

• Freedom to select my career, have a say in who and when I marry. Not conditioned to believe that getting married was the end game.
• Financial stability, sometimes even excess.
• I live in South Bombay.
• It’s luxury unrushed. Ability/privilege to design my life unrushed!
• Supportive parents/family.
• Access to be able to afford clean water and food, the internet, the news, the COVID-19 vaccine and online banking.
• I was born a biological man.
• The ability to write, read and speak in English.
• I have a British accent.
• The basics, a roof over my head, food on the table and a family.
• Access to education and reliable transportation.
• Money, connections, exposure and hence opportunities.
• I get to choose my work.
• An education, though a basic human right, the reality is that it is still a privilege.
• Access to makeup.
• Access to a healthcare system for both physical as well as mental health.
• Heterosexual privilege.
• To be born in a sound family… in all aspects!
• Non orthodox parents.
• Adequate exposure to the rest of the world.
• I have a healthy mind and body.

Did this list bring up feelings of guilt?

Well that really isn’t the point of understanding our privilege.

With privilege, comes power. It’s important to really be aware of our opportunities in this world, and how we can be a little more empathetic towards people who didn’t get as lucky as we did. To do what we can to make more of an effort to spread the need for inclusivity, equality, humanity and love. A need for change!

It’s not only important to be aware of our privileges but also to change our language and behaviours accordingly. We need to understand the challenges people face in the world and the power imbalances we are part of.

A privilege can be something as basic as being right handed, because the resources that are available in the world were never designed keeping the left handed ones in mind.

Many groups have fought for their equal rights and place on this planet, while the rest of us are often blind to their lives because we don’t share the same issues.

Take the COVID vaccine as an example. How have we managed to develop a vaccine for COVID-19 in less than two years of it’s arrival?

Because in some way or the other, everyone, globally, was affected by it. We all felt the discomfort Corona brought into our lives. We all needed a solution, so it was expedited. Meanwhile, in contrast, marginalised communities around the world are still fighting for their basic fundamental rights.

But this is proof that with unity, anything is possible.

Plus, these systemic privileges really help no one. If we look at a patriarchal family, how is it fair that the cis man has to earn all the money while being deprived of the opportunity to bring up his children? By playing to each other’s abilities or basic desires, a couple can find less burdens sitting in their lap. No one and nothing but misogyny wins here.

Look at the state of women in leadership in our country. The gender gap in India has widened to 62.5%, largely due to women’s inadequate representation in politics, technical and leadership roles and decrease in women’s labour force participation, poor healthcare, lagging female to male literacy ratio and income inequality.

In 2019, the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index reported that India lifted 271 million citizens out of poverty between 2006 and 2016. Compare this with the situation in 2020: the highest global poverty increase happened in India. With irregular jobs and cutbacks on food items we have left our people to suffer the brunt of this global pandemic. Mass poverty is back in India.

On the other hand India has 56,000 dollar-millionaire households, Maharashtra leads the country in wealth creation followed by Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Gujarat, says a report. These states together account for 46 per cent of the millionaire households in the country.

According to a wealth report by Hurun India, known for its annual rich list, there were 4.12 lakh dollar-millionaire households last year in the country, which has been one of the fastest wealth-creating economies, producing the third most number of billionaires annually.

As a nation we can never progress if there is such a wide gap between the filthy rich and the hungry. We can’t push our own boundaries because we have to move together. One of the prime ways we can solve bigger issues is by increasing the standard of living of people across the world and granting everyone equal rights, for real this time.

We need to start responding to one another like the ecosystem does in the natural world.  We can’t invite change until we do, as a society we have to learn to check our privilege.

Understanding where we all come from and what we can do in our own way to help others, helps us find a place for ourselves in a better world. 

Plus, kindness is totally contagious.