September 3, 2011
The conscience of the society is never absent but always sleeping. Each individual in the society is responsible for putting it to sleep, and thus, has the responsibility of awakening it.
The English reading world took several years to come to terms with the fact that the seeds of creativity can grow into tall trees even in women. It is the same with many cultures and traditions across the globe. Many women were driven to take shelter under male pen names to reach out to the reading world. Sadly even to today the classics like “Adam Bede”, “The Mill on the Floss” and so on reminds us of George Eliot but not of‘Mary Ann Evans’ which is her real name. Somehow one finds it hard to associate such great works with a woman author.
The deep embedded belief, that 'creativity is specially designed for man, because he was created first and a woman shares only part of his ribs' has caused all the trouble. It is no wonder that Kathryn Bigelow walking away with the best director and the best movie awards at the Oscar for her breathtaking “Hurt Locker”, was hurting to many across the world who are not used to looking at reality through a woman’s eye. It was not easy for the first woman ever to win an Oscar for direction and for best film. She who in fact was contesting against her ex-husband Mr Popular, James Cameron and his much-hyped ‘Avatar’, to achieve that feat. When a section of people were joyous that the curse placed on women directors was finally broken, the majority of the world was highly skeptic about the whole decision making process itself.
Despite women proving their worth, given a chance in every sphere, still a genuine acceptance of them and their work remains a far hope. Be it music, movie, art, economics and politics, the touch of woman is evidently absent, and that is a sad part of the story.
Equality between male and female has remained the talk of centuries and continues to do so without much effect, because of the fetish attitude of the society regarding women. Women are placed in a golden cage, which is nevertheless a cage but many tend to place the ‘gold’ above the ‘cage’ and say ‘things are actually fine’, when it is not. Gandhiji was not ignorant when he said “our country is truly free, only when a lady is able to walk freely and without fear, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari at midnight.” He had seen the vulnerability of women from close quarters and understood the need for setting them free and treating them equally. The fact that every three minute a crime is reported against a woman in India, very well holds mirror to the injustice heaved upon them from the various sections of society. Police reports actually account for the rise in violence against women in recent years.
What do the growing literacy rates, developed conscience of the society stand for, If not to tackle and remove unhealthy social practices? It is very evident from the recent instances of violence on women that men who are educated and highly influential are no lesser in carrying out such atrocities in the society. I dare say the hatred or the desire to impose violence against women lies deep within the man who has learnt to believe in his superiority over a woman.
Getting women into mainstream society is the need of the hour. This should enable gaining a free access to every sphere of life be it movie, art, dance, politics and so on. It can be made possible, only by heeding to humanitarianism and undermining differences based on sex, gender and class. We often fail to remember that it is inclusion and not exclusion that is the key to success.
No country or culture can actually claim to have treated a woman equally giving her all the freedom to stand on her legs and think on her own, be it ‘civilized’ or ‘uncivilized’. The highly developed and sophisticated country like America is yet to trust a woman to lead her.TheGreat Britain is yet to find another woman to lead her after Margret Thatcher. No one has ever dreamt of seeing a woman president in China given the present situation. India might take few more years, in fact decades, to give a green signal to the women’s bill and implement it in the parliament. The social conditions of women in Indian villages form a voluminous book of tragedy. The fact that the child marriages and sati system continue to survive against Constitutional rights, speak for the vulnerability of women on Indian soil. The fight to bring women to the main stream society is worth and never without a benefit.
I don’t think I would be wrong if I say that the world is in conflict today because of its incompleteness and the lack of love and affection that a woman alone can offer. It is not even difficult to suggest that the monstrous world wars would have remained a distant dream, if women were to be part of the policy making and diplomatic process. We have lost much by not letting the world taste and be shaped by the philosophy that a woman could have offered. We have reached the brim of everything, be it global warming, de-forestation, inflation, food crisis, political instability and corruption. It is high time that we let women be our co-partners and co-producers. It takes only a rainbow and a moon light to teach us that everything in nature functions in co-operation and collaboration. Why not human beings?
I strongly believe that we Indians, who have given a special place for women in our culture and tradition, have a greater role in winning back the same at the national and international level. Women are ill-treated in refugee centers, calamity hit areas and above all in their own families. It is really sad to know when a natural calamity hits, it leaves the women twice affected, one by its effects the other by giving them to the hands of people thus making them vulnerable. Women working as housewives are not considered as labourers. They do not receive the respect and freedom that a working man receives. Even to today, the wage of a woman is far less compared to that of a man. The list is endless but you and I can make a difference. Restoring a dignity of a woman is twice beneficial - it helps the who one gives and one who receives.