What Power?
Indira Nooyi, Sonia Gandhi and Mayawati have made it to top fifty of World’s Powerful Women list. These three women reveal the increasing power which women have. Indian woman has emerged as a fearless being, who is independent, responsible and daring.
But there still lies a grave need to look through a microscope and examine. “My husband beats me, he has the right”; these words at first may seem to be the dialogue of a 1970s movie. Actually, this was actually a headline printed in Hindustan Times barely a few days ago. The survey by HT reveals shocking results. 47 per cent women justify being beaten as they are afraid of being destitute. They have no money, no job and no confidence either. And they are victims of domestic violence. No real attention is paid to even her basic requirements. They are unwilling to either protest or divorce their husbands for the sake of their children.
Since a long time, women are considered a burden on the families and sadly in the 21 C, the situation has not changed much. Fathers curse their wives if they bear a girl child. In Delhi, the capital of India, the male-female ratio is around 860 girls per 1000 boys. Furthermore, girls are still not allowed to make their own decisions. Unfortunately, this is the situation in many other countries too. In Pakistan, five girls were buried alive only because they wanted to marry someone of their choice. The stories of woman empowerment are nothing but a mirage. When we see with our magnified view, a lot of gender bias comes to surface. The rosy statistics don’t seem so rosy anymore.
In the August issue of Reader’s Digest, a story was published about a Lady Army Officer who was sexually harassed by her senior. When she protested, she was thrown out of her job and ironically, the officer, against whom the charge was registered, was promoted to a higher rank. We can see even with our naked eyes the oppression of women. At many work places, they are paid less and made to work for long hours.
The movie Provoked mirrors the behavior of men towards women. Female feticide has not stopped yet. After marriage, they are pressurized into leaving their jobs to ‘nurture’ sons. They are forced to drop-out of the schools for the sake of domestic duties. 60 per cent of women are still illiterate in our country.
Keeping all this into account, who would say that India is progressing? We are still unable to get rid of our age old customs who seek to oppress women. Until our society realises the potential of women power, we would not be able to make actual progress…
Tagged domestic violence, gender
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