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 27,2020

Mangaluru, Mar 27: A youth from Dakshina Kannada district, who had returned from United Arab Emirates earlier this month has tested positive for the deadly Covid-19 caused by the novel coronavirus. With this the total of Covid-19 in the district has mounted to seven. 

The fresh Covid-19 patient is a 21-year-old youth hailing from Karaya in Belthangady taluk. 

He had left Dubai on March 21 and land at Bengaluru Airport. Then he reached Belthangady through a KSRTC bus the very next morning. 

As he was suffering from fever and cough, he was admitted to Puttur government hospital on March 24. Same day his throat swab sample was sent for coronavirus testing. Today it was declared positive. 

His condition is said to be stable. However, his family members and those who were in touch with him are under observation.

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News Network
February 22,2020

Kalaburagi, Feb 22: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Waris Pathan was booked for his alleged remark against the Hindu community in his speech during an anti-CAA rally held here recently, police sources said on Saturday.

According to police sources, the FIR was registered against the AIMIM leader, following a complaint lodged by a woman advocate on Friday evening.

Taking strongly about the incident, the Karnataka Home minister Basavaraj Bommai had directed the Kalaburagi city police commissioner to submit a report on the incident.

It may be recalled that the AIMIM leader, in his speech at a rally held in the city on February 15 had said that if all the 15 crore minority populations in the country stand united they could take on 100 crore Hindu population.

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Ram Puniyani
March 8,2020

They say ‘history repeats itself first as a tragedy and then as a farce’. In case of India, communal violence not only keeps repeating itself, the pattern of the tragedy keeps changing every next time. Some features of the violence are constant, but they are under the wraps mostly. The same can be said about the Delhi violence (February 2020). The interpretations, the causative factors are very discernible, but those who are generally the perpetrators have a knack of shifting the blame on the victim community or those who stand for the victims.

As the carnage began presumably in the aftermath of statement of Kapil Mishra of BJP, which was given in front of a top police official, in which he threatened to get the roads emptied. The roots of violence were sown earlier. The interpretations given by the Hindu Nationalist camp is that the riot is due to the changing demographic profile of the area with Muslims increasing in number in those areas, and coming up of Shaheen Bagh which was presented was like ‘Mini Pakistan’. As per them the policies of BJP in matters of triple talaq, Article 370 and CAA, NPR, NRC has unnerved the ‘radical’ elements and so this violence.

As such before coming to the observations of the activists and scholars of communal violence in India, we can in brief say that violence, in which nearly 46 people have died, include one from police and another from intelligence. Majority victims are Muslims. The violence started right under the nose of the police and the ruling party. From the videos and other eye accounts, police not only looked the other way around, at places it assisted those attacking the innocent victims and burning and looting selective shops. Home minister, Amit Shah, was nowhere on the scene. For first three days the rioters had free run. After the paramilitary force was brought in; the violence simmered and slowly reduced in intensity. The state AAP Government, which in a way is the byproduct of RSS supported Anna Hazare movement, was busy reading Hanuman Chalisa and praying at Rajghat with eyes closed to the mayhem going in parts of Delhi.

Communal violence is the sore point of Indian society. It did begin during colonial period due to British policy of ‘Divide and Rule’. At root cause was the communal view of looking at history and pro active British acts to sow the seeds of Hindu-Muslim divide. At other level the administrative and police the British were fairly neutral. On one hand was the national movement, uniting the people and creating and strengthening the fraternal feeling among all Indians. On the other were Muslim Communalists (Muslim League) and Hindu Communalists (Hindu Mahasabha, RSS) who assisted the British goal of ‘divide and rule’ promoting hatred between the communities. After partition the first major change was the change in attitude of police and administration which started tilting against Muslims. Major studies by Dr. Asghar Ali Engineer, Paul Brass and Omar Khalidi demonstrated that anti Muslim bias is discernible in during and after the riots.

Now the partisan role of police has been visible all through. Sri Krishna Commission report brought forth this fact; as did the research of the Ex DIG of UP police Dr. V.N.Rai. Dr. Rai’s studies also concluded that no communal violence can go on beyond 24 hours unless state administration is complicit in the carnage. In one of the violence, investigation of which was done by concerned Citizen’s team (Dhule, 2013) this author observed that police itself went on to undertake the rampage against Muslims and Muslim properties.

General observation about riots is that violence sounds to be spontaneous, as the Home Minister is pointing out, but as such it is well planned act. Again the violence is orchestrated in such a way that it seems Muslims have begun the riots. Who casts the First stone? To this scholars point out that the carnage is so organized that the encircled community is forced to throw the first stone. At places the pretext is made that ‘they’ (minorities) have thrown the first stone.

The pretexts against minorities are propagated, in Gujarat violence Godhra train burning, in Kandhamal the murder of Swami Laxamannand and now Shaheen bagh! The Hindu Muslim violence began as riots. But it is no more a riot, two sides are not involved. It is plain and simple anti Minority violence, in which some from the majority are also the victims.

This violence is possible as the ‘Hate against this minority’ is now more or less structural. The deeper Hate against Muslims and partly against Christians; has been cultivated since long and Hindu nationalist politics, right from its Shakhas to the social media have been put to use for spreading Hatred. The prevalent deeper hate has been supplanted this time by multiple utterances from BJP leaders, Modi (Can be recognized by clothes), Shah (press EVM machine button so hard that current is felt in Shaheen Bagh), Anurag Thakur (Goli (bullet) Maro) Yogi Aditya Nath (If Boli (Words)Do not work Goli will) and Parvesh Varma (They will be out to rape).

The incidental observation of the whole tragedy is the coming to surface of true colors of AAP, which not only kept mum as the carnage was peaking but also went on to praise the role of police in the whole episode. With Delhi carnage “Goli Maro” seems to be becoming the central slogan of Hindu nationalists. Delhi’s this violence has been the first one in which those getting killed are more due to bullets than by swords or knifes! Leader’s slogans do not go in vain! Courts the protectors of our Constitution seem to be of little help as if one of them like Murlidhar Rao gives the verdict to file against hate mongers, he is immediately transferred.

And lastly let’s recall the academic study of Yale University. It concludes; BJP gains in electoral strength after every riot’. In India the grip of communalism is increasing frighteningly. Efforts are needed to combat Hate and Hate mongers.

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