I recently came across a newspaper commercial that
said: “While women direct all their angst towards men for putting labels on
them, do they realize that they themselves tend to be judgemental of other women
and their life choices?”
Take a minute and think. Shouldn’t there be a
sisterhood of support and understanding? Isn’t it great to come across a woman
who understands the challenges of other women? Wouldn’t you like to be that
“understanding women” for someone?’
I am sure many women do think about this ‘women
equality’ at some point. They may read inspiring stories of how women are
reaching the pinnacle of heights in various fields today. But what happens
next? Just like a bubble, it bursts or we sit over it and just forget all about
it as we become intertwined in our day-to-day mundane tasks.
India has
been a land of many a great men and women. “Sita” from Valimiki’s Ramayana, has
become an inspirational character in today’s India. Every father wants to see a
“Sita” in his daughter and every husband wants to see “Sita” in his wife. I
have a question as to why did “Draupadi” from the great Mahabharata did not
become a role model like “Sita”? Maybe a better question could be, should Draupadi
be the role model for the modern woman?
The point
I am trying to emphasize here is that, women need to look up to someone who
took a firm stand in tough times. This can then give women the courage to
believe in themselves enough to say that sometimes, it is perfectly alright or
justified to take a stand. Draupadi is one such woman who while doing all her
rightful duties, is willing and bold enough to take a stand. Draupadi actually
declared a war with the Kauravas long before it really happened in the
battlefield of Kurukshetra. Draupadi, in ancient times decided to take a stand
against the injustice, not as a woman, but as a human being.
All the atrocities against the women do take place
simply for the reason, the way we are shaping up today’s society. We tend to
ignore and not understand the fact of life which is,
‘Today is the future I created yesterday.’
We have the future generations at our disposal; as
mothers, as teachers. It is up to us how we want to shape them. What kind of
thought processes we want to inculcate in them? The day we will depart with the
thought; “it’s okay for a boy to do certain things while not following any
norms of the so-called society, but not okay for a girl to even express herself
boldly”, that day, we will be able to witness the true woman empowerment.
A few years ago I would have been tempted to write
something along the lines of, why Indian women selectively are oppressed in
many situations compared to their male counterparts. However, things are now
changing for the better with intentional diversity awareness being created by
both, the Government as well as the private sector.
The good news is that the
world is changing – for the better. More women are taking up bigger & more
impactful roles. The most recent example is our Indian Air Force (IAF) to get
their first batch of women fighter pilots. There are similar many more examples
of where women are raising the bar and challenging themselves, may it be Indra
Nooyi of PepsiCo, Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, managing director of Biocon or for that
matter Hillary Clinton who is creating waves by aspiring to be the leader of
the ‘most powerful’ nation of this planet.
We have the future generations at our disposal; as
mothers and as teachers. It is up to us how we want to shape them. What kind of
thought processes we want to inculcate in them? I would
say, this is one of the best times and history is being written where for the
first time ever with so much intentional efforts are being spent by so many to
ensure women equality is given its due attention. It is up to us mothers & teachers now, to seize the opportunity and ride the wave.
- Ms. Rakhi Karnik & Ms. Asha Kiran
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