Born Equal (Poem For Women's Equality Day 26th August) Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

I did the same things other boys did
I played football, I stood first in the race
I laughed aloud, I seldom shed tears,
I ran and jumped across fences
and leaped from trees with stolen mangoes,
just like little naughty boys do;
I got pleasure out of playing many pranks
sometimes I would never go to school,
simply sleep and pretend I was ill;
I watched the boys getting fed more
I watched them tutored those extra hours
as they are less clever than girls
and as they mature much slower than us;
how much my heart shouted for equality
nothing changed, no one heard my echoes,
at every birthday our dresses were new
but the boys wore only a new shirt or shoes;
we for a wonder loved and laughed
they coyly watched the girls grow up and wed
and as we left home as per customs and traditions
the inheritance was theirs, the greatness was theirs,
as all family treasures into the laps
of their wives descend like rice pearls and jewels
so that the future generation gets it
and divides it among their children
while the eyes of the old close to snore no more;
those that get the bounty like kings live
while daughters as women face inequality
no matter how much they have studied and achieved
how much they loved their parents and siblings
the dividing line never ceases to exist
though every cell of the body of a woman
works laboriously to produce, nourish
and give birth to that child called man.