Sudha Murty's bicycle analogy for gender equality: 'men & women are equal but...'

Sudha Murty is a renowned author and philanthropist.

In a thought-provoking discussion on gender equality, author and philanthropist Sudha Murty offered a nuanced take, emphasising the distinct yet complementary roles of men and women. Murty's analogy of life as a cart or bicycle with two wheels aptly encapsulates her views on the necessity of both genders working in harmony for societal progress.

“In my view, men and women are equal but in different ways. They complement each other like two wheels of a bicycle; you can't move forward without the other,” Murty tweeted sharing a video.

"What is equality, you should define first," Murty began in a video shared on X, highlighting the importance of understanding the inherent differences between genders. She pointed out that each gender has its unique strengths and weaknesses, which contribute to the overall balance of life.

In my view, men and women are equal but in different ways. They complement each other like two wheels of a bicycle; you can't move forward without the other. pic.twitter.com/MMShEOtg9Q

— Smt. Sudha Murty (@SmtSudhaMurty) June 27, 2024

"Life is like a cart, or a bicycle. There are two wheels. One wheel is male, the other one is female. You require both wheels to move. You can't say, I don't want the other wheel at all. Because life is not progressive."

Drawing from her experience, Murty elaborated on the distinctive qualities typically associated with women and men. She praised women for their linguistic abilities, managerial skills, and their inherent capacity for compassion and nurturing.

"Women are normally very good at language, excellent managers, excellent board managers. They are compassionately quiet, largely. They give love to mother, father, brother, sister, sister-in-law, mother-in-law, children. Look at all these relationships. She is always a giver of soft feelings and compassion and love."

In contrast, Murty noted the differences in men's emotional quotient (EQ) compared to women, suggesting that while men may excel in intelligence quotient (IQ), their EQ often does not match that of women. "Men are different. Their emotional quotient is not like women's emotional quotient. They may have good IQ, but definitely not a great EQ," she observed.

On Tuesday, in another tweet, Murty recollected a day when she received a call from the late President APJ Abdul Kalam and thought that the call was made to her by mistake, and was meant for her husband Narayana Murthy. It turned out that the former president had indeed called her to praise one of her columns published in a leading daily.