Last week I went to the doctor for a checkup.  I found her sweet and nice. But I was shocked when she asked me a question related to my gender.

We mostly see girls have long hair and boys have short. We also see girls wear shades of pink and purple while boys wear shades of green, black and blue. These are things our society uses to differentiate the two genders. This article says about my experience of the present. I have grown long hair during this lockdown for a new experience. I have been called a girl by many people like family abroad, friends of my parents, and even a doctor.

These have been some weird times for me. People have been calling me a girl because of my long hair. I have been out for walks or been to the shops in this lockdown. It has been a fun experience for I am an extrovert. Sometimes my father or mother's friends come to our house or video call and they see me. They also think I look like a girl owing to my long hair. It is fine as some of them have not seen me at all before or for a long time. My reactions are neutral. These were fine I thought.

But last week when I visited my doctor, I was more surprised with her question. My parents and I had gone for a checkup. As my father went to get some medicine, she addressed me. She asked me if my period had started. At first, I didn't get her meaning. Then, she said it again.

Then my mom told the doctor that I am not a girl. I was shocked -- even a doctor! She even had my details in front of her which clearly stated my name, age and gender. It was hard for me to believe that even a doctor would separate genders by appearance. I felt very bad. I took the remarks from my neighbours and other members of the society easily but was not expecting such question from a well-educated, younger doctor. There are still such stereotypical perceptions in our society which is a type of gender discrimination.

This is one form of gender discrimination. We must not do this as anyone can have the option of keeping their hair long or short, be it a male or a female. This is their free will.

This is one incident that happened to me. But there are a lot of such examples of gender discrimination in our society. In our curriculum, I have read about gender discriminations and gender role divisions occurring in our society. While reading, I used to wonder whether such things really do happen in our society. But this incident turned me to think about gender discrimination and gender role division. Such discrimination and role division usually start at homes and a child in that home is educated to discriminate based on gender and persist in gender role division.

To eliminate or reduce such types of discrimination from society, we must first be aware ourselves about these concepts. As the United Nations is marking 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence --  from November 25 to December 10 -- we shall all be aware and stand for it. With us educated about gender discrimination and gender role division, we must progress to make others aware. As we are young now, we can only educate or discuss within our friends groups, teachers and parents. But the educated adults in our society are equally responsible for this. They must stop gender discrimination and gender role division starting from home.

In conclusion, we shall not judge a person by their appearance -- based on their skin colour, dress-up, voice, among others -- which also forms part of gender discrimination.

Sauryaj Paudel is a sixth grader at Ullens School