Today is International Women's day.
I am flooded with mails and messages wishing me about the same. I respect the sentiments of people who have done it. But then isn't it a borrowed concept from the West? Why can't we follow other good things from West like meticulous planning, dedication to work, cleanliness, encouraging women leaders and managers?
I am not in favor of any such day celebrations. Especially, in a country like India, I think we all are hypocrites. We worship women as goddess, but at the same time the rape on women and the female infanticide and feticide rates are the highest here. Literacy rates for women in India show such a poor picture of how much importance is given to her education.
This is an average and typical scenario in India:
If a woman remains unmarried and wants to create a niche for her, she is looked with suspect and her potentials of being a virtuous woman are questioned. The ultimate aim which a woman can achieve here is getting a "good husband" and having kids. If a woman is more educated then her husband or partner and earns more than him, then it is not tolerated. No matter what, she has to devote time to kitchen and family. Why is the same rule not applicable to men if men and women are considered equal in today's world? Why is it that the upbringing of children and giving them a good direction in life is considered to be only a mother's responsibility? Doesn't the father have any role to play after helping the women bring the child in this world? Changing nappies, feeding the baby, taking him/her around, being concerned about the school homework, who is in charge of all this? Men are the earning members, so they have to be out of the house for 12 hours, but a woman, even if she is working, has to see all this. Why? When will this change?
The companies in India are celebrating today's International Women's day by giving gifts, lunch parties, arranging lectures etc. But then does a woman really need all these superfluous things? Rather she would be happy if she gets flexible working hours, gets help to put her kids in a creche which is near to the working place. It would really help her if she is able to spend more time with her new born rather than giving in to the pressure from the work place to join back in 3 months time. How many companies have really come up with these thoughts and consideration for their women employees? Hardly a few.
The women politicians in India, though they are really good are subdued by the male counterparts. Mayawati did a good job in UP, but then she lost the elections. Kiran Bedi changed the picture of Tihar jail, but then how long could she continue? Sonia Gandhi, though not Indian by origin, went to become the President of Indian National Congress, but then when she was in the race for prime minister, she was greeted with brickbats. She opted out and gave the chance to someone else. Where are our female athletes like P. T. Usha, Anjali Bhagwat today who made a name in the athletics and shooting sport respectively? Does anyone even remember them now? On the brighter side, we have our President, Ms. Pratibha Patil, who is the first woman to hold this position. There are many women leaders in the industry today like Kiran Mazumdar Shaw who is Chairman & Managing Director of Biocon Limited a biotechnology company based in Bangalore. Chanda Kochar is currently the Managing Director (MD) of ICICI Bank and Chief Executive Officer (CEO). Companies like HP, Pepsi and banks like ICICI have shown that they treat women equally and have put them at the top by giving them an equal opportunity.
I so wish that the picture of disparity between the men and women changes for good. But then it has to be an equal effort from everybody. People need to respect women and treat her with dignity and help her spread her wings in fields where she can prove she is no less. Army, Navy and Armed forces are now employing women too, but then the figures are not very encouraging there. She is an ocean of love and emotions, but intelligence and management are also not unknown to her or unexplored by her. It is just that she choses to take the back seat.
I will celebrate Women’s day when women achieve the highest literacy rate in all states of India and when the female infanticide and feticide vanishes from the Indian society completely!
P.S: Special thanks to my best friend, Aabha Karmarkar who gave me an impetus to express this.
I agree with the most of the points. But then this topic is as clichéd as it has always been. The paradox here is (young) girls who celebrate so called feminism and women’s days do not understand, care to know what it is about. The ones who really would appreciate even a single day with special treatment and celebration are not even remotely aware of this.
ReplyDeleteI used to be a proud feminist until some years back and then I came across ugly truths of life…! have seen naïve and harmless people getting trapped in nasty and false 498 cases. Girls misusing the “fairer sex” for their own advantage. Female employees being the first ones to pull down and be against female leaders, and what not.
Females who are raped, abused, harassed, killed, ill-treated are really unfortunate but gone are the days when we expect things to happen on its own. If you want respect, good positions, better salaries, better opportunities, no eve-teasing, no acid throwing, or want to deny ridiculous unimportant and irrelevant expectations from society then face it..fight for it. That’s the only way….if we depend on our husbands to commute or to learn driving then they are not be blamed. Logic is simple, have courage to fight for freedom/whatever you want, - come what may - or be comfortable in whatever you are given. Choice is yours, either sit back , be someone else that you are not for society and enjoy women’s day every year, or take charge of your life and enjoy the taste of freedom all 365 days in a year.
I appreciate your thoughts about the International Women's Day. Though I still believe the intention of commemorating a day of the year for the cause of women rights worldwide, I do agree with you that much more needs to be done and it's the change in people's perception of a woman's development that needs to be worked on first. Hope with the changing and ever modernising free thinking world we will truly have a society where there are no gender based discriminations.
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