‘It’s Women’s Day. Gift something special to the woman in your life. Show her you care and make her feel special. It’s her day.’
This 30-second radio ad left me feeling nothing. And definitely not special. But it did make me wonder: for what did we celebrating Women’s Day in India?
A woman is raped every 21 minutes: Startling fact, right? Oh, there’s more. A dowry death occurs every hour. A woman is kidnapped every 14 minutes. (National Crime Records Bureau’s data, 2013).
Does this sound like a country that respects and celebrates womanhood? Arey, this country has zero tolerance even when it comes to telecasting a documentary (India’s Daughter) on the gruesome Nirbhaya rape. Instead of fighting the devil out there, we chose to silence it. We are happier doing candlelight marches after a woman is raped and dead.
Wearing jeans, going out in the night invites trouble: According to the right-wing Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha wearing jeans is vulgar. Who would have thought that jeans, the staple wardrobe of most humans could cause such harm? And wait, don’t they cover you from waist to ankle too?! *Facepalm* And imagine, if you’re wearing jeans and going out at night. Oh wait! You know what’s the cherry on the cake? Going out with a ladka. Tauba! Tauba! And we like to believe we are living in a cosmopolitan city. Ha ha ha ha!
We’re baby-vending machines: Heard the popular slogan, ‘hum do, hamare do?’ If our well-wisher Sakshi Maharaj had his way, he would’ve changed it to ‘hum do, hamare chaar’. Sakshi ji wanted Hindu women to produce at least four children. And then some Sadhvi pushed that number to 8 … and still counting. Aur kyu nahi bhai? Bharatiya Nari breeding machines, aren’t they? All for the greater cause - to save our religion. Cheers to that.
It’s sacrilege to earn a living: If you thought your battle to be a financially independent woman has been won. Think again. This is a long battle that you end up fighting against every jerk. That’s right. He could be your 70-year-old-creepy boss, who thinks he has the power to sexually exploit you. As though facing the demons at home, out on the streets was not enough. We have them at work too – Tehelka to TERI, and all organisations in between, HR policies are so weak that instead of fighting this misogyny, they brush it under the carpet.
Namita Handa is a Desk Writer at The Quint.
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