Women 2011

"A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture, and transform. A woman knows that nothing can come to fruition without light. Let us call upon woman's voice and woman's heart to guide us in this age of planetary transformation." ~ Diane Mariechild

Well, I just witnessed the celebration of the 100th year of International Women's day last week.! And this year, it was different from the norm. There was a small celebration arranged in office, with all the women being greeted with a rose, and a gift in the morning. As I was reflecting on the success of the event, after a big time failure of V-Day event in the office, I was also a little surprised, as to why this celebration happened at all. There is of course an International Men's day, but most of the men out there don't even know such a day exists. Why this hype for women?!

It is obvious. After a baffling struggle to obtain our space in a male-dominated society, we can only feel satisfied at having succeeding in making men understand that we are no way less competent than they are, in ANY field. We have just crossed a major barrier; we still have a long way to go.! There is nothing to feel happy about for celebrating Women's day in such a strong sense, where end of the day, all that a woman gets is a pack of chocolates and gifts and fluffy dolls. Should women remain happy just feeling happy about what great women of the past achieved?! Dont we have the responsibility to succeed and prove our capacity until there is no necessity to encourage women to participate, but women are always part and parcel of everything that can happen in the world!

To be frank, I felt that women have achieved what they wanted in their life, seeing the celebration yesterday. But quickly did I also realize that the struggle that women took to reach this day, was longer than anyone could possibly imagine. This millenium has witnessed a significant change and an attitudinal shift in the thoughts of every woman and the society in itself, about women's equality with men and their emancipation. My point here is we have just started and we still have a long way to go.

Consider the women reservation percentage in India. This is primarily given for the reasons like:

• Encouraging more women to participate in politics and society.
• An attempt to bring down the rate of female foeticide, infanticide, and issues related to women' health. Sex ratio in India is an alarming 1.06 men for every woman.
• Bringing those women who are still in the dark about emancipation to light and life..

I bet most of us have listened to Ms.Sunitha Krishnan's speech at TedXClassroom Project. She is one example of hundreds and thousands of women out there who are fighting to establish the rights of women. She herself being a victim of rape in her teenage, has dedicated herself to rescuing those numerous children who are suffering because of the sex industry and she is keen on spreading awareness about the issue, and changing the mindset of people who treat women as slaves. The speech she gave was more than a motivation for many people around us. But still, we are bound by our family to keep away from people who have become victims. Such is the society today. This is one example enough to prove that women still have a long way to go in establishing their rights.

We see women these days, working at their office, taking care of their household, taking care of the kids and family and still trying to maintain the same calm she always had. Isn't this proof enough to understand that women can make good resources in any field, in any walk of life!? There are regions in India, that ban women as witches and ill-treat them. It is disheartening to hear such news, when the world is educated enough to stop believing in something blindly.

Today though we see a lot of change with respect to women emancipation, numerous issues still exist in all spheres of life - cultural, economical and political. There is till date, problems that could be rectified if only people understood that they are lives.

There is still a long way to go, in order to establish the fact that women and men are equal in all walks of life.! That day, there will be no reservation for women, because, that will be day when women are ready and willing to participate in every activity across the world. That will be the day, when men understand that women are capable of doing everything.