40 Are The New Twenties

Women who redefined success later in life.

- Anuradha Dev

In the eighties and nineties, middle-class parents realised that girls' education was essential and sent their daughters to college after school. Still, they never encouraged their daughters to be independent. Education was another parameter for a girl to be compared to in the marriage market, along with height, colour, and figure.

Building a career is not a level playing field for men and women, especially in their twenties and thirties. While these years are mostly single-mindedly dedicated to career building for men, it's different for women. Girls have to appease their parents and get married in the hope of getting enough power to live their lives their own way after marriage.

But it rarely happens. After marriage, they are burdened with the responsibilities of husband, in-laws, and eventually kids. Most of the time, they give up their dreams. There are many families who do not "allow" their daughter-in-law to work.