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Let Us Celebrate Woman’s Existence

Muhammad Abdullah Javed
March 8, 2019

Today, the world is celebrating women's day. Looking at the wishes and greetings, loads of queries are popping up in my mind... What actually compelled the world to initiate Women’s day celebrations? What impact does this celebration has confirmed so far? What drastic changes we could find in dealing with womanhood at different levels? And most importantly, what kind of mindset does this celebration ensures?

It may be, perhaps, world needs a reminder with regard to women’s importance or it may be an international-act to pacify the grim situation of women’s rights violations? Or it may be for the elevation of women's status....or for gender equality, may be. 

Ok, let us justify it for the time being. It is almost 44 years now, since the first women’s day celebration initiated in 1975. At world level, the quantum of more than four decades is not a lesser quantity to not to conduct a deep introspection. Let us asses the present condition of womanhood at world-level.

To mention a few, let me relate few quotes of those who are into this field and have carried out extensive research work before arriving at their conclusions:

Thirty years after the adoption of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), many girls and women still do not have equal opportunities to realize rights recognized by law. In many countries, women are not entitled to own property or inherit land. Social exclusion, honor killings, female genital mutilation, trafficking, restricted mobility and early marriage among others, deny the right to health to women and girls and increase illness and death throughout the life-course. We will not see sustainable progress unless we fix failures in health systems and society so that girls and women enjoy equal access to health information and services, education, employment and political positions.

- Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General, World Health Organization.

The informal slogan of the Decade of Women became Women do two-thirds of the world’s work, receive 10 percent of the world’s income and own 1 percent of the means of production

- Richard H. Robbins, Global Problems and the Culture of Capitalism.

The UN report has authenticated today’s pathetic conditions by categorically stating: the international community had fallen far short of its commitments to empower women and achieve gender equality and that only eight out of 188 member states had certain global agreements for this.

If you focus on our country, the ongoing #MeToo movement tells a different story. The National and International conferences and loads of resolutions to safeguard women’s rights, have not yet materialized, the womanhood is unsafe. Neither an infant of few months nor a granny of seventy years old finds it a safe heaven.  In fact, women’s rights violations in different sectors have their own painful stories. 

Don’t you think, the present situation reveals that the focus of women’s day celebrations has been horribly misdirected? There are certain grey areas that have witnessed excessive exploitation of women in the name of empowerment. For material gains the womanhood has been reduced to a mere commodity, from paints to automobiles and from candy's to under wear....the advertisements need women and she is being constantly and indecently represented. We have been compelled to realize that the women’s voice is not for her rights but to let us know why the dialed number is not responding and which floor we are in and where our elevator is heading? 

When it comes to work places, she has been roped in to provide a sort of “balance” between the two genders. Ok, fine, let us ensure her economic empowerment, then why noticed and unnoticed sexual abuse and harassments cases go against feminine gender? 

To mention a few these are just glimpses of the highly exploited social statuses. If one goes into the depth of womanhood, there may be huge differences right from her birth, education to her marriage as compared to the other gender. And the world doesn’t seem to desist from keeping woman protected by incurring huge loses to its entertainment, fashion and cosmetic industries or socio-political advantages by abiding to the obligatory form of reservations and avoiding unethical and unmindful deployment of the feminine genders. 

The celebration may reveal a kind of gender supremacy; this is what exactly perceived if one emphasizes the rights of other, but the “other” is not allowed to emphasize the same. That’s why the world does not celebrate Men’s Day. It is the most dreadful misconduct that the world is indulging in, when the Creator has set and specified the rights who are we to intervene and decide? And what actually we have achieved so far, with our own perception of rights and statuses, could possibly be clear by the way women are being treated in our society today?

In the name of gender equality we have pitched the two genders to face and compete with each other, and the heightened irony of the fact is that the deviant equation of men and women has badly hampered the familial and social fabric and we are badly effected with it, helpless as don’t want to accept the fact of gender equality, may be.

The solution to the ailing issues pertaining to womanhood lies in changing the outlook not altering the form of celebrations or coining different slogans for each year’s celebrations. What I feel is women are part of humanity as men are. There is absolutely no distinction as we don't find any such difference between days and nights. They are part and parcel of each other, synchronization of both make our lives easy. So is the case of men and women, both clubbed together makes humanity. Therefore a man is incomplete without a woman so is woman without man.

The solution is stored in our hearts, we need to revive our hearts and adorn them with the highest degree of respect for the womanhood. With a woman as mother, I have my Paradise beneath her feet. As a sister I have an admirable supporter and a well-wisher. As a wife I have a mirror image of my perfection, and my credibility solely rests on her testimony. As a daughter, I have a fair chance of getting Paradise if I fairly treat her, nourish and educate her.

Let us enlighten ourselves and the new generations with what unmatched contributions women have ensured being a mother, wife, daughter and sister of our ancestors. Unarguably, all the historical persona, reveal one or the other impeccable roles of womanhood.

Let women fly high, let there be no restrictions, but the collective conscience and need should decide where the invaluable services of women are in need. When need arises let her fly in the air and dwell in all socio-politico-economic centers with honor and dignity. When there is no need let them nourish the younger generations to make the nations and the humanity fly high. We should regard, in and off the house services of women with equal regards as she sincerely makes our world, with utmost love, care and sincerity, in all her capacities.

The balance in genders depends on the balanced thoughts of genders. Let us change the equation and strengthen the importance of womanhood. Let us celebrate, not just a day a year, but her very existence, every day.

 

The author is the Director of AJ Academy For Research and Development, Raichur, Karnataka. He can be reached at [email protected]

Comments

Dr.Shafeeq
 - 
Tuesday, 12 Mar 2019

Masha allah..well written with good analysis. Keep up the good work

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News Network
March 19,2020

New Delhi, Mar 19: The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the validity of Karnataka's 2018 reservation law, which granted reservation in promotion to employees belonging to SC and ST categories.

A bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud holds that applications filed by a group of general category employees for applying 'post-based quota' and the principle of the creamy layer at entry-level in public employment are not maintainable.

The apex court had, in November last year, reserved its order on the applications filed by general category candidates in the matter.

In May last year, the top court had upheld the law allowing reservations in promotions for SC and ST candidates with consequential seniority.

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Agencies
January 22,2020

Ahmedabad/New Delhi, Jan 22: Interpol has issued a Blue Corner Notice seeking information about controversial self-styled godman Nithyananda, who fled the country amid allegations of wrongful confinement of children, officials said on Wednesday.

A Blue Corner Notice is issued by the international police cooperation body to collect additional information from its member countries about a person's identity, location or activities in relation to a crime.

The Gujarat Police had sent a request to the CBI, the nodal body for Interpol matters in India, seeking a Blue Corner Notice against Nithyananda, the officials said.

"Interpol issued the Blue Corner Notice against the controversial godman this month," Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ahmedabad (rural), K T Kamariya, told PTI.

The police said they are now working to get Interpol to issue a Red Corner Notice, a global arrest warrant, against Nithyananda.

The Gujarat Police had registered an FIR against Nithyananda after two girls went missing from his ashram in Ahmedabad.

He was charged with kidnapping and wrongful confinement of children to make them collect donations from followers to run his ashram.

Nithyananda was earlier declared wanted by the Gujarat Police.

While police continue to look for him, reports emerged in December last year that he has created a Hindu nation, Kailaasa, with its own flag and political setup, on an island near Ecuador.

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News Network
July 28,2020

Hounde, Jul 28: Coronavirus and its restrictions are pushing already hungry communities over the edge, killing an estimated 10,000 more young children a month as meager farms are cut off from markets and villages are isolated from food and medical aid, the United Nations warned Monday.

In the call to action shared with The Associated Press ahead of publication, four UN agencies warned that growing malnutrition would have long-term consequences, transforming individual tragedies into a generational catastrophe.

Hunger is already stalking Haboue Solange Boue, an infant from Burkina Faso who lost half her former body weight of 5.5 pounds (2.5 kilograms) in just a month. Coronavirus restrictions closed the markets, and her family sold fewer vegetables. Her mother was too malnourished to nurse.

“My child,” Danssanin Lanizou whispered, choking back tears as she unwrapped a blanket to reveal her baby's protruding ribs.

More than 550,000 additional children each month are being struck by what is called wasting, according to the UN — malnutrition that manifests in spindly limbs and distended bellies. Over a year, that's up 6.7 million from last year's total of 47 million. Wasting and stunting can permanently damage children physically and mentally.

“The food security effects of the COVID crisis are going to reflect many years from now,” said Dr. Francesco Branca, the WHO head of nutrition. “There is going to be a societal effect.”

From Latin America to South Asia to sub-Saharan Africa, more poor families than ever are staring down a future without enough food.

In April, World Food Program head David Beasley warned that the coronavirus economy would cause global famines “of biblical proportions” this year. There are different stages of what is known as food insecurity; famine is officially declared when, along with other measures, 30% of the population suffers from wasting.

The World Food Program estimated in February that one Venezuelan in three was already going hungry, as inflation rendered salaries nearly worthless and forced millions to flee abroad. Then the virus arrived.

“Every day we receive a malnourished child,” said Dr. Francisco Nieto, who works in a hospital in the border state of Tachira.

In May, Nieto recalled, after two months of quarantine, 18-month-old twins arrived with bodies bloated from malnutrition. The children's mother was jobless and living with her own mother. She told the doctor she fed them only a simple drink made with boiled bananas.

“Not even a cracker? Some chicken?” he asked.

“Nothing,” the children's grandmother responded. By the time the doctor saw them, it was too late: One boy died eight days later.

The leaders of four international agencies — the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization — have called for at least dollar 2.4 billion immediately to address global hunger.

But even more than lack of money, restrictions on movement have prevented families from seeking treatment, said Victor Aguayo, the head of UNICEF's nutrition program.

“By having schools closed, by having primary health care services disrupted, by having nutritional programs dysfunctional, we are also creating harm,” Aguayo said. He cited as an example the near-global suspension of Vitamin A supplements, which are a crucial way to bolster developing immune systems.

In Afghanistan, movement restrictions prevent families from bringing their malnourished children to hospitals for food and aid just when they need it most. The Indira Gandhi hospital in the capital, Kabul, has seen only three or four malnourished children, said specialist Nematullah Amiri. Last year, there were 10 times as many.

Because the children don't come in, there's no way to know for certain the scale of the problem, but a recent study by Johns Hopkins University indicated an additional 13,000 Afghans younger than 5 could die.

Afghanistan is now in a red zone of hunger, with severe childhood malnutrition spiking from 690,000 in January to 780,000 — a 13% increase, according to UNICEF.

In Yemen, restrictions on movement have blocked aid distribution, along with the stalling of salaries and price hikes. The Arab world's poorest country is suffering further from a fall in remittances and a drop in funding from humanitarian agencies.

Yemen is now on the brink of famine, according to the Famine Early Warning Systems Network, which uses surveys, satellite data and weather mapping to pinpoint places most in need.

Some of the worst hunger still occurs in sub-Saharan Africa. In Sudan, 9.6 million people live from one meal to the next — a 65% increase from the same time last year.

Lockdowns across Sudanese provinces, as around the world, have dried up work and incomes for millions. With inflation hitting 136%, prices for basic goods have more than tripled.

“It has never been easy but now we are starving, eating grass, weeds, just plants from the earth,” said Ibrahim Youssef, director of the Kalma camp for internally displaced people in war-ravaged south Darfur.

Adam Haroun, an official in the Krinding camp in west Darfur, recorded nine deaths linked with malnutrition, otherwise a rare occurrence, over the past two months — five newborns and four older adults, he said.

Before the pandemic and lockdown, the Abdullah family ate three meals a day, sometimes with bread, or they'd add butter to porridge. Now they are down to just one meal of “millet porridge” — water mixed with grain. Zakaria Yehia Abdullah, a farmer now at Krinding, said the hunger is showing “in my children's faces.”

“I don't have the basics I need to survive,” said the 67-year-old, who who hasn't worked the fields since April. “That means the 10 people counting on me can't survive either.”

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