In today’s world when everybody talks of Women Liberation, I am forced to think ….. are the modern women liberated in the true sense? Well, they have achieved a lot in terms of career ……… be it going to the space or holding prestigious positions in MNCs or better still becoming the President of a country. But have they achieved in breaking down the social demarcation which still holds them back??
Being an Indian, let me bring out facts from my own country where mythologies depict Indian women as educated and liberated but even there we get to see an instance where Sita had to prove her purity after being brought out from Ravana’s den. This holds true even now ….. be it the conservative society or the so- called modern one. Nobody questions a guy who stays away from home overnight but a girl is expected to justify about her whereabouts.
There are numerous cases of brides being tortured for dowry, girls being sold for prostitution, new borns being killed if it’s a female, families mourning and torturing a woman if she is unable to produce a boy and instead gives birth to a girl. There are still people who believe that education is a prerogative for the boys and girls need to learn household chores in order to become a good home-maker. Even in the urban section, where ladies have managed to come out of the closet and step into the men’s world, working with them on the same foothold, cases of sexual harassment is a common menace they face day in and day out.
Now let me come to the very mundane instances and this holds true for every woman, be it the modern city girl or a small towner. A woman, after becoming a mother is expected to dedicate her life towards the child …. And she does it on her own free will …. even if it entails giving up her flourishing career but a man’s life, who becomes a parent too, is hardly affected neither professionally nor socially. Men after coming home from office have the liberty to rest but a woman is supposed to take up household chores after returning. It’s her duty, she is born to do it but if men help with the household chore, he is being kind and helpful…… and the list goes on.
So today I want my friends/readers to take a few minutes out to give me answers to the big question I have in mind ………. Is Today’s Women really liberated? Will they ever be??
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11 comments:
the day we treat women as persons and not as women primarily....things will improve....but for that we require literacy...n for that need to curb our population explosion...sania mirza wants to quit tennis after her marriage...n she is only 23!! u have a point in fact!!
a well written content, pretty much dealing with the today's presnt scenario of women.
Today we can see and acknowledge or even debate about these issues. Today many men agree this is an unfair system. Today we have some laws to control and support women, even if the unwritten social laws are more powerful and still very oppressive.
True we still have a long way to go, but we are definitely better off than we were earlier- polygamy is not the norm, women can walk out of bad marriages, women can legally send a greedy family (dowry seekers)to jail, today killing a baby girl is seen as a crime, today we agree (mostly) that female children should also go to school...
And today we have the education to raise our voices, and to raise our children as equals, today we can choose who we marry, and who we divorce. Today we can bell-bajao and get the media to support us in wiping that smirk off a molester's face. Imagine there was a time a wealthy and powerful molester could molest a girl without ever being questioned... :( So although we are still not free but we can hope that our shackles are loosening and we continue to move, along with today's men (who also benefit from a fairer society, happier women means happier mothers, wives, partners, colleagues, mothers, sisters, daughters... a happier society), we'll shake these shackles off completely.
cathei do agree with a lot of points raised here though not completely with all of them........yes ofcourse women's liberation is very important and we are as a country working towards it.....we have come a far way from sati and dowry system is slowly withering off and also domestic violence is being strictly dealt with.....and a lot of other things and for that we primarily need to educate the women of our country.....and our constitution has provided enough means for that to happen and it is mentioned that there shall be no discrimination against women while employment too....and all this can be enforced only when women are enlightened about their rights and duties and all of these go hand in hand with economical conditions of our country.
I shall not be commenting about the rural area cause my knowledge is very limited about them but i surely can comment about urban life.In urban areas women are getting the best possible education and after that it depends on the individual's intelligence how much he/she can achieve and for that government is providing all kinds of facilities and an individual does not need to depend on anybody for that cause banks are giving instant loans for education.And if an individual performs well he/she will definitely get a good job irrespective of his/ gender so i completely feel that we in urban areas should not at all be cribbing about women's liberation.Yes ofcourse as far as sexual harassment is concerned that is a fact of life which every girl deals with since a very young age and that will continue however liberated women get unless the government takes very very stern steps.
And as far as family responsibilities are concerned i believe that a family as much a man's as it is of a woman.I do not kind of agree with what is written after work a man can rest and woman is expected to work.I believe an individual should do what he/she does best.And at the end of the day what matters the most is that the basic unit of a society which is a family should function in the best possible way it can irrespective of who's cooking,who's washing,who's working,who's taking care of the children,etc.Even after coming back home after a hard day's work my dad never says no to us if we want to go out somewhere or the likes......I have many friends who have stay at home dads and their moms go to work and also i have seen so many families where both parents work and they work in perfect tandem to work out things perfectly in their home yours being one of them ofcourse.And there are also many women who stay out overnight and go for official tours but ofcorse i am also very sure moving out of the ideal situation there must be many houses where that wont be allowed and all i would like like to tell them is "grow up"!In the urban areas at least gender equality is a reality.And rest how a person would like to lead his/her life is a personal choice even for sania mirza.
I would like to conclude by saying that a fact of life is that women are more sensitive and caring than men in general and that is why god has given women the gift of reproducing and being the central person in a child's life.But men are also very sensitive and that is why there are so many single dads who raise their kids successfully.So i believe in urban society gender biasing is a thing of the past and what matters the most is that we are successful individuals with a thick fat bank balance and a perfectly balanced personal life with a happy family which is i believe the ultimate joy of life.
i totally agree with you. men would be men & we r born to satisfy others. families still exist because of our sacrifices & compromises otherwise everyone would be single.
Anu, i guess you got me wrong .... i didnt say that men dont help at home but these instances are less .... going out for a drive or dinner is quite different from doing household chores, which are monotonous .... instances are very much there at your home and mine (no comments on dat).... there are exceptions in every scenario that i hv pointed out but basically the overview needs to change .... a woman should be treated as an individual and not as a female, as one of my friend stated.
I think a woman is another woman's greatest enemy ,yesterday,today & will continue to be so tomorrow.
I might sound like a MCP, but that is the basic truth.
Todays woman is much more liberated than our mothers ever were, & I think with time and with proper education this problem will continue to diminish.But Rome was not built in one day.So be patient me beauties, your time will also come.............& it send shivers down my spine, with so many more drivers of the fair sex on the road..............
Ya, women – still the 2nd citizens, more or less all over the world.
No nothing has changed, but yes a lot more amenities are provided to us..perhaps that is because we have proved ourselves and due to the support of a few great souls (men).
No I am not a feminist, I try to understand men-folk with the same empathy. However, if u ask the question of respect the woman receives in our society, it’s kind of farce to me..i feel very few men really do respect us what they do is they flaunt an outward chivalry more to pull the attention of a woman rather than really admiring her value…perhaps the scar is too old to heal, perhaps it is too deep.. the mark will remain forever..
I feel the real need is to feel liberated from within, mentally. I do not know if I can explain this well. While being devoted to our families we can still change our stance a little......be confident....love ourselves a little more. We need to be happy and busy with ourselves. There is also the need of putting our acting skills together and portraying that we do not care......not rudely....but subtly. I say acting because after all we are women ..........and we DO CARE.
I agree with almost all your points. But women's liberation is a state of mind which each woman willhave to reach. Nobody will give us liberation we have to liberate ourselves. Believe me we have it all in our hands...we are mothers who give birth to sons and we condition them since childhood in the way they grow up. Do let me know what you think on this...may be can have a disc on this....
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