The clock strikes 12. It's noon and I'm in my room, listening to music , musing about life and also reading a book. Yup! Multitasking! It's an interesting way of mixing thoughts with whatever you're reading and then end up going "hmmm!" for a while, thus establishing a jobless, sleepy Saturday afternoon! Just when I'm bringing in some focus to the book I was "supposedly" reading, my mobile goes beep! The text message from my friend says "Women's day is coming up! We have a plan for printing a tee shirt. Check your mail right away! ". A smile and a frown compete for my attention - smile at the thought of getting another tee shirt and frown at the thought of getting up from my cozy corner to connect to the internet! Yeah! Born lazy! I connected to gmail and found my inbox glowing - happy at the thought of receiving an actual mail, other than Linked-in Reminders, Tweets and updates from Facebook , Orkut or just someone's status update on Buzz! I tried hard to bring back that smile on my face again and opened the mail. There were two attachments - both pictures downloaded from the internet. I submit the same for thy perusal ! ! ( Hahaha! Just kidding! Found the line extremely hilarious! Perusal! Why the hell does that sound like a turn on to me?! :D ) The first was about feminism and girl power while the second one was about evolution (atleast technically!! )
As soon as I saw the pictures, I realized just one thing. Women today are better than they were before. On a logically intentioned positive note, in comparison to women a few decades back, there's been massive changes in terms of development, independence, freedom of thought , expression and repression. Changes have happened and women sure have evolved. Being a newbee to the corporate world, everyday I find atleast 10 women inspiring me in one way or the other. I think we are fast approaching a balance that some "wise women" dreamt of years ago, atleast in the urban sectors! The term "weaker sex" is on its way to extinction. I'm more a supporter of equality than feminism as such. Having made that lame statement, I immediately type feminism on my search bar. Wikipedia comes to my rescue(as always!) Feminism refers to movements at defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic, and social rights and equal opportunities for women. (So, I am a feminist after all! *Phew!* ). Gender equality! The term itself is a distant dream. It's funny to expect this from a society that hasn't even recognized its third gender! Talk about equality and social rights for women. While female foeticide is still in practice in several parts of the country, it is depressing to find that the person committing the act is a woman, a female! The use of young girls for sex trade, sexual harassment at work places, domestic violence against women and the list goes on. While one half of the nation has developed to an extent of seeing women achieving greater heights in politics, sports, media, business, the other half of the nation is still caught in a web of poverty and dowry and hence opt for female foeticide! If someone's said that education is the basis for earning bread (which I'm sure noone has and it was just my mind in action!) the first step to this many-step approach is to make things available to all. When equality doesn't exist amongst people of the same race, then how can we expect it to exist amongst genders? I strongly believe that with education comes understanding. The next step is to stop portraying women stereotypes, especially in the media sector - tv serials, movies, "item" numbers! What is missing is mutual respect for all three genders ( stressing hard on the "three"!). This lack of mutual respect from all individuals somehow disrupts the balance, even if virtually achieved if not virtuously! Have we got our definitions right in the first place? Can mere acceptance change the outlook of an entire society? In a room of 10 people, atleast 8 of them don't have an opinion in anything(will be referred to as "neutralists" in the post). Of the two that remain, assuming them both to be men, the chances of finding even "half a feminist" in even one of them is far fetched! Picturing this itself is complicated! The problem with us is we are happy being "partial neutralists" ! Female foeticide! And we go "Oh shit! Soooo sad!" (By using "we", I include myself diligently!) I'm not discussing poverty issues. Nor am I discussing prostitution. Because the former is reality and the latter is choice - both of which I have no right to comment upon. The neutralists are high on acceptance, to the point that nothing has a strong impact on them. A lot of men I know think that equality is just physical and immediately try to prove the point with a hapless effort to host an arm wrestling match! Ofcourse men are physically stronger than women. That doesn't make women weaker in any sense. Does it? Women are strong, men are stronger despite being a part of the same human race! I guess it's as simple as that! If every person can just realize this, I don't think there would be any need for reservations !
Somebody said something :
"Because I am a woman, I must make unusual efforts to succeed. If I fail, no one will say, "She doesn't have what it takes." They will say, "Women don't have what it takes." - Clare Boothe Luce
On a funny note :
" Women are the only oppressed group in our society that lives in intimate association with their oppressors" - Evelyn Cunningham
Funnier :
"Sure God created man before woman. But then you always make a rough draft before the final masterpiece" - Author unknown
P.S : I picked the evolution picture!
