Thread by @zehrajabeenshah

So I’m getting an apartment with a girl friend & this is just one out of many messages of owners telling us (& our realtor) that they won’t rent to us (despite possessing ‘excellent credentials’) because we are single women. The amount of times I’ve heard this confirms for me 1/

the stronghold a nuclear family structure has under patriarchy, ESPECIALLY in this country. The fact that UNMARRIED (& NOT necessarily single) women are punished for not abiding by this structure makes it clear how dull, unimaginative & homogenous upholders of 2/

patriarchy want society to be. How threatened they are by unmarried & single women living independently. How being financially successful to afford a place of your own is punished. How the whole construct of a state-sanctioned marriage is also nothing but a contract to appease 3/

& hold your own, survive in such a male-dominated society. I don’t blame the women who do, I understand. Anyway, we all know this in theory but women are the lucky ones who reaaallly get the full picture via “lived experience” as they say in qualitative research, lol. Oh & 4/

not to mention, complete rejection of queer relationships. Even that in a metropolitan, over-worked city that calls itself the financial capital of the country. Anyway, wish this “bachelor” good luck 🤪

NOTE: all the angry men who are msging me saying it’s not just “females”- a) I never said so. b) WHY ru turning this into a competition? c) each owner explicitly said ur unmarried women/ w/o men to our faces & realtors explained that too so I will speak from my experience & u 1/

rly shouldn’t be mad abt that. d) I didn’t speak of men for a reason. This is my thread, with my experience as a woman. Analyze ur own. e) I can’t say for certain but I’ve heard it’s worse for single men in the market & some horror stories so this DOES apply to 2/

unmarried/single/divorced/widowed/childless MEN. I do feel for you guys, though u shouldn’t lose ur wits over a stranger’s personal story over the net but sigh, I guess this is twitter. & LASTLY, though this real estate rule does apply to both single men & women, why can’t men 3/

just understand or accept how much MORE trouble, fear & additional stress it takes for a woman to go through this! & how society is rly stacked up against them more. Why do men just blind themselves to women’s suffering and agar aik jagga thori benefit mil bhi rahi hai aurton 4/

ko to lene dein bhai. Ajeeb. And again repeat after me bachon: PATRIARCHY has EVERYTHING to do with this. PATRIARCHY AFFECTS MEN TOO. Ab plz mujhey sune dein yaar 🙏🏽