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]
Apr 23: An FIR has been registered in Nagpur against Republic TV channel's editor Arnab Goswami for promoting social disharmony and accusing Congress President Sonia Gandhi of orchestrating the Palghar lynching.
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Masha allah..well written with good analysis. Keep up the good work
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