The fairer gender , the better half , the home minister... Society has given women many names. These names somehow find themselves playing the second lead in a story where 'the man' is the protagonist.Most part of documented history we find women facing heinous behavior from society. Behavior that puts humanity to shame. Power hungry masculine society has left a trail of blood for us to follow, that directly leads to the dark minds of people who were consumed by societal norms or greed and put the lives of their wife,daughter,friends on the line to prove some sadistic point. May it be the western 'Witch hunts' or the eastern 'Sati' it the woman who has to pay the price for tradition.
I am a woman of the 21st century and enjoyed the privileges of a modern lifestyle. Where I had the right to say no!! Today when I think of it, who gave me that right? The answer is my Parents,husband and society. Should this not be my birth right though? I don't agree something, I should have the right to say 'NO'. Will society respect my right if my background is not what it is.
Do other Girls have the right to say what the want ? In India there is so much discrepancy in the way girls think or are brought up. There are girls who forge their own way and stand up for themselves, there are girls who are supported by their families but there are sadly more girls who are asked to bare their misery in the name of honor.
Our freedom is not ours,in my opinion, but given to us by someone and until that is the reality, it can be taken away any time. What if one day the a large group of people come together and said, 'the old world traditions were better and we will follow them from today'. Meaning women stay at home under big "ghunghats" and men will be their owners. Some people might say, its outrageous wishful thinking, hahaha!!Well! Think again. Afghanistan. Did you know before the Taliban between 1979-89 50% of teachers, government employees and students were women, and 40% of doctors were women . A much better statistics then present day India, so what makes Indian women so safe from a life as our Afgani sister are forced to live today. Religion? The the answer is "NO"? Sadly no religions or philosophy practiced by current human societies have been fare to women. In-fact some have called women the the door to "Hell". Each human that has walked this planet, even a "Philosopher", was born born from the same hell.In spite of accepting the gift of life happily these people turn back and throw stones.
In light of the above, my question, Are women on safe ground? or is our feminist movement an illusion. The answer is up to us, meaning to the so-called empowered women of the world, believe me, there are not so many. We need to stand up, stand up strong and pick up others around us. Give them the strength within us, so that they can express . Give them the gift of knowledge and information that we have through our experience. Learn from them the meaning of life, love and devotion, because they can teach us so much, if we listen. What we want is to join hands and churn this earth until all poison is out. We want to permanently change perceptions not patch problems. I am not asking women to wage a war with the male gender, that's what 'Men' do! I am asking women to get respect that is owed to them. Stop accepting the crap that is given to us under the guise of tradition. This we need to do for our daughters who look at us a role-models and depend upon us for their future. The situation must change today, not in the next generation because for our mothers we are the next generation. Make the world more human, receptive, empathetic , helpful by being all of those things. Take responsibility of the society around you, refrain from following blind traditions. Bring up better men with strong characters and deep emotions. Take a moment to connect with women that are different from you. Be open to new ideas and objective in their evaluation, change if it means progress. Remember if a tradition makes even one person's life miserable then its worth rethinking about it.
Firm ground is when society understands the merits in equality, men are able to rise from their insecurities about equality. Acceptability is a norm. While we are at it lets revisit Cast, Religion, Color, Nationality , Race, Class and level the plane. Lets try !!
