The thing women have yet to learn is nobody gives you power. You just take it.
~ Roseanne Barr
I strongly believe in this quote and find myself privileged to key in a special post for women on International Women's Day. Every women around the globe will be celebrating this day and we could see on news lot of rallies all through the world on March 8. I wish every single woman around the globe Happy Women's Day (sad fact is everyone cannot be happy while the world celebrates - that is reality - we will try to dig a little more in this post on that) . I consider this day to be a great opportunity to express my gratitude to every women in my life; family, friends, and women at work place and every single woman I have met and will meet throughout my life - you could find them almost everywhere.
Not only celebration: There is nothing wrong in celebration - who said girls should not party? party hard ladies - you got to celebrate this day because being a woman is a great boon given by God - I believe. But aside from all the celebrations, the main focus should be on establishing and maintaining equal rights and opportunities for women. I have seen Women's Day being observed like Valentine's Day and Mother's Day - giving gifts to women of importance and praising women and so on. I may sound a little different - no quite different, Yes, I am. I believe Women's Day is all about taking the women's issues seriously and addressing them.
Autonomy: I find this is the right time to key in a few words on autonomy. Women should enjoy the quality of being autonomous - yes 'enjoy,' I mean it. In a patriarchal society, autonomy is enjoyed only by men. Women are foolish (sorry to say that) if they expect their male counterparts to give them permission to enjoy autonomy - that kills the definition of autonomy. If you expect someone to decide what you do - it means you are dependent and not autonomous. The term 'womanhood' according to me means an adult woman who is autonomous and not dictated by neither men or women. The main reason for me stressing on autonomy is that if women start to function autonomous most of the feminist's issues will be addressed and we could witness a positive change - a welcome one. Sexism would try to hinder the autonomy of women, but women should take a pledge this Women's Day to be autonomous.
Women in India: Okay lets take quick peek at status of women in India. Women in India are held back mainly by the gender roles they are expected to play in a patriarchal society. Most men regard themselves to be more powerful and superior than women and this leads to prejudice. History tells us that in ancient India, queens enjoyed equal power and sometimes even greater power. We could also find a variety of goddesses being worshiped by Indians for centuries - powerful goddesses.
Today, the status of women has tumbled down. We console ourselves by reading about a few successful women in the media, but still the status of women in India is in now way comparable to other western countries. We still read about women being tortured, raped and killed on an everyday basis. This shows clearly that India is not shining. If a country records frequent violence against women - it reflects the human values of the whole country. We could find the female body being used commercially to bring in more sales to a wide range of products and flesh sells like hot cupcakes in the cinema industry. Women are merely considered to be entertainers and puppets in the hands of sexists.
Signing off: I would like to wind off this post with a few things that I feel women are unique about. The unconditional love they provide has no 'ifs' and 'buts' - no strings attached love. Next one is the smile they are armed with. When a man smiles its just a couple of muscle moving on his face, but when a woman smiles it is the smile in her heart which moves her lips to give out a smile.
Keep smiling ladies :)
Keep smiling ladies :)
