Happy Women’s Day? Not really!

I live in a country which is totally ironic. A country where goddesses are worshipped, but women are disrespected, a country that promotes ‘Beti bachao, beti padhao’, but kills female foetuses, a country that talks about women empowerment, but decides how I talk and how I dress.

I keep coming across news articles where women’s head was shaved because she could not deliver a male child or a woman was set on fire because she was dark skinned and her husband wanted to remarry a fairer bride. For those living in urban areas, this might be unbelievable or hard to digest. But the sad truth, my friend, is that such things do happen.

Travel less than a hundred kilometres from any of the cities and towns, you will see that women must do most of the family chores, but have no exposure to growth opportunities or health facilities. Most girls, not boys, handle household chores from childhood, at the cost of going to schools. Women are suffering from malnutrition, neglected health ailments, domestic and sexual violence. It’s a scenario where a woman owns nothing, not even herself.

And this is not just in case of rural areas. Pick up the newspaper and you will read at least two stories on rape. And the funniest thing is that the rapist claims that the women’s dress or behaviour is what provoked them? Dude, like seriously? With such incidents happening we see our family imposing terrible rules on us. But, we can’t blame them.

Somehow, tradition claims it is okay to nurse men’s sadistic entitlement to something as petty as women’s dress code, simply because it has always been that way. Well, here’s my two thoughts: How about real men started exercising self-control? We don’t jump into ditches daily just because they lay in front of us along the street. So why not ignore, or resist those women with whom your ‘indecent’ standards don’t match?

And oh yes, if you’re not brutalised and are fortunate enough to be born into a family that actually cherishes you, prepare yourself for a biased society that is itching to blame you for everything. Sometimes, you will be given less respect and you will be expected to sacrifice more.

There are so many things that we are subjected to on a daily basis. Eve-teasing, harassment, disrespect and what not? I’ve just cited a few points. And under such circumstances, I feel it does not make sense for an Indian to celebrate women’s day. Is celebrating women’s day not a mockery of oppression suffered by women?

Life is really tough for women. I firmly believe that nobody needs to dictate to a woman what she should wear. We all say that India is a developing country. But are we really? I believe that development also involves breaking free from the so-called restrictions and concepts. After all, it is one’s choice.

The real India, which reels under poverty, struggles for survival and earns daily bread to sustain life, is least concerned, bothered and impacted by such events like Women’s Day. So, to say, women empowerment is really non-existent in rural India?