Yet another year has come again,yet another day,is instituted in our name....just for the sake of it....leaders,organizations,spokesperson etc etc will come,discuss,talk and praise and then let it pass away until it comes yet another year,another day...Confused??
O yes, dear ladies....and gentlemen too...I am talking about International Women's Day! Today, I want WOMEN to question their very sense of being... think, ponder, discuss,debate...and till do not cease the day YOU have the answers to all these questions. Till the time you do not find the answers,you will be dependent on an 8th March to celebrate your emancipation and woman-hood and Woman's day like Valentine's Day will just be relegated to one day of your life to express your love and feelings!
But I assure you, the day you have the answers to the questions which I'm going to ask you in this article and you're able to institute a change in the "system" - be it your home, work, nationally or internationally etc...you will no longer need this day to celebrate your freedom over the trials, suffering and bondages faced by you over the ages. Mind you....it's not just finding the answers that's going to solve the problems, it's finding solutions to these answers that'd put us on a higher pedestal. In the past we have and continue to be secondary to man...there's no radical change in their psyche on this...the change may be surgical but scratch the surface and we are no more than a plaything of man....I know I sound mean and rude....but this is the plain truth....take any sphere and you'll find it....
Let's start with ....your homes first! In India particularly in the rural household and in plush urban societies as well you'll find that a heir to the family's fortune is a male. I have myself seen this that the pursuit of a male heir so strong that a neighbour I knew was pregnant for as long as I saw her till she had few girls and finally a boy in the family!And today, why is it that SDT (Sex Determination Tests) so popular that the government has to ban them? Why is the Male/Female ratio skewed? Why is a girl in a rural household not educated? Why is a girl made to learn the house-hold 
work? Why is a boy not made to learn any of these? Otherwise like China, why can't India or the world over impose the one-child policy? As a great leader once said, "If you educate a boy, you educate an individual and if you educate a girl, you educate a family". But words of wisdom as these...will always find place in textbooks....and never in reality...Sad!! More questions on this...Why are we assumed to be a super-woman or a Juggler? We are expected to work and efficiently run the house as well. Why does a man not help out in the daily chores like cooking food, doing the laundry, house-hold chores, looking after the child as well?? At times the contrary is also seen when we are expected to be totally domesticated and confined to the four walls of our house. I'm not against the above unless if it's by choice and not imposed on us.
work? Why is a boy not made to learn any of these? Otherwise like China, why can't India or the world over impose the one-child policy? As a great leader once said, "If you educate a boy, you educate an individual and if you educate a girl, you educate a family". But words of wisdom as these...will always find place in textbooks....and never in reality...Sad!! More questions on this...Why are we assumed to be a super-woman or a Juggler? We are expected to work and efficiently run the house as well. Why does a man not help out in the daily chores like cooking food, doing the laundry, house-hold chores, looking after the child as well?? At times the contrary is also seen when we are expected to be totally domesticated and confined to the four walls of our house. I'm not against the above unless if it's by choice and not imposed on us.
Let's talk of the dichotomies on the "expenses" involved in bringing up a girl. The points below will substantiate and negate this myth. Recently we had a debate on this issue in our studios where the host dismissed this allegation outrightly that bringing up a girl is an expense in itself, right from the day she is born till the day she is married and sent off to her new home with expensive gifts.She argued her point beautifully when she said -
a) Right from her childhood till the day she becomes an adult the expenses for bringing up the child are just the same like food, clothing and miscellaneous;
b) if a girl is married off, so is a boy - so expenses incurred are even in both ways;
c) When dowry is given to a girl she is gifted with things like car, television, refrigerator etc -all of which have a DEPRECIATING VALUE!!
d) But when a boy is married off, he gets the house,bonds,investments in his name and all of these have an APPRECIATING VALUE!
So, how can we say that bringing up a girl an expenditure??!! Very well said...Bravo!
Now take the work-place...Why are we not paid at par with man for the same work we do? Why are there no separate toilets for us? Why is it that for the position of secretary a woman preferred? Why is our role typecast even at work? Why is there no policy drafted in favour of us against harassment at work? Why are we not entitled to medical benefits?Are we less capable of doing manual work? Why is it that if a man's salary say from Rs 10,000 increased to Rs. 1,00,000 would not raise an eyebrow as much as it would for a woman?
Now coming to our representation in politics - Till some time back both in India,America and other countries, we did not have voting rights. We were in the fore-front of the freedom struggle - take Dr. Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu or even Rani Laxmibai in India...but still it needed the drafting of a bill to get us our rights!Women in the USA were not even allowed to contest elections....till Hillary Clinton came into the picture. Did we ever hear of a woman presidential candidate before Hillary Clinton ? And of course with Barack Obama becoming the first Afro-American President of the United States of America, we can now say that the society has moved one step forward when it comes to accepting a change irrespective of the race,caste,creed or sex (that we'll see when it really happens....you sure know what's in my mind!). Finally,if I had to summarize the political scenario, it just goes to show that we were not thought of as equals from the start of start! In India we are still struggling to pass a bill on 33% representation of women in Parliament!!
And now let's talk of films....ah, what a colourful topic, I could go on and on discussing it endlessly after having done a research on the "Portrayal of women in Hindi films". Talk of our depiction in English or even Hindi films....the sight is definitely not encouraging. Understandably the 
B.O (Box Office) is driven by the commercial interests of producers, distributors and of course people like us (including me) who inadvertently endorse such films. Again, women's role in films is just a side-kick to that of the hero's. The character a woman assigned in films is either something glamorous and ethereal or a 20+ young thing searching for a perfect guy! And in the rest of the film, her character is defined in relation to a man and of course no treatment is incomplete without an element of nudity in the film. It is positive to see that actors like Julia Roberts,Kate Winslet,Natalie Portman,Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson have vowed that they'd never do nude scenes in their future films even if it means losing out a role in a probable award-winning film.No doubt,there are some film-makers who definitely try to project a woman as the hero of their film, take films like Erin Brockovich, Chicago, Monster, Million Dollar Baby, North Country, Veronica Guerin,Nights of Cabbiria or even films of Francais Truffaut etc.
B.O (Box Office) is driven by the commercial interests of producers, distributors and of course people like us (including me) who inadvertently endorse such films. Again, women's role in films is just a side-kick to that of the hero's. The character a woman assigned in films is either something glamorous and ethereal or a 20+ young thing searching for a perfect guy! And in the rest of the film, her character is defined in relation to a man and of course no treatment is incomplete without an element of nudity in the film. It is positive to see that actors like Julia Roberts,Kate Winslet,Natalie Portman,Jessica Alba, Jessica Simpson have vowed that they'd never do nude scenes in their future films even if it means losing out a role in a probable award-winning film.No doubt,there are some film-makers who definitely try to project a woman as the hero of their film, take films like Erin Brockovich, Chicago, Monster, Million Dollar Baby, North Country, Veronica Guerin,Nights of Cabbiria or even films of Francais Truffaut etc.
So, today....in this thought-provoking article...I have asked many questions which not just you, but even I have to ask myself and find answers to...and till the day we don't find them, let's keep celebrating 8th March like every year....until the day we won't have to! That'd be the day when we'd have found the answers related to our true self of being, our identity and existence in the society..that'd be the day when each day of our lives would be a Women's Day!
Do share your thoughts/views/comments on this, if any...I'm waiting to hear from you.
With love,
Sonyaa
2 comments:
I really appreciate your article.
Even I am of the opinion that these days Indian movies are depicting the plight of the Indian women.There is no difference in the dress code of the item girl as well as the actress. No new actress has been successful in depicting a strong, brave, unique concept of a woman.
Another thing, have you read any book of the Twilight series? This is little off the topic matter but I am interested in discussing with an intelligent person like you. I really liked the first part "Twilight". I was very mcuh fascinated. (though i dont like love stories much) But as I advanced towards the next books, I got disappointed. I felt that the writer is more interested in corrupting the characters. What a wrong picture she has created of a woman in the minds of the people? The story in the sequel is more like those which we can find in any of the silly Hindi serials on Star Plus. Why cant even the female writers depict unique picture of the 21st Century Woman?
Oh, I see... The countries that has reached the goal of feminism suffer of this, and the countries that hasn't - suffer of discrimination... I'm from Russia - we has something middle. No real discrimination, no real feminism. But I often hear, the woman should run the house and look after children, have some hobby (or business) if she love to have and shouldn't try to be a family leader. Not because she can't (in fact she is a spirit leader of the family), but because it's against her nature. What you can say to this statment? Here in Russia women often say "He's such a miserable person/he can't do anything properly/ etc." and do everything themselves, complaining ther husbands are miserable etc. May Indian woman became a "spirit leader" and let her husband be strong and loving, let him be a hero for her and let herself be a queen for him?
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