Well hello, all you wonderful people out there, so another year of Women’s Day is here, and I am delighted to share with you that this year’s theme for the same is #EachforEqual. In words of the UN, they are calling it “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Right”.
It may seem like a moot point to have equality as the theme for the day as the whole concept for having a women’s day was to upgrade females as equal to their male counterparts rather as opposed to the second class citizen treatment that so many of us get. I don’t wish to sound condescending or spoil the mood, after all, it’s a day for celebration, also there are many things that women have achieved and the fact that women have won many battles, they do have many rights available that so many of our ancestors didn’t like right to vote, right to own property, right to education, etc. At least in many countries including our women have fundamental rights and in theory, we can say that we have equality. Isn’t that what so many people claim.
In all honesty, I want to ask women and men too can pitch, even if you are an educated woman, who earns her own money, is shouldering her responsibility, and is supposedly free, do you honestly free equal. I can personally guarantee that all of us if not on a first-hand basis have witnessed inequality. Women are not equal to men in any aspect, because that space has been denied to them for a very long time and not because either gender is better than the other, and this is the reason that we are happy that we are finally discussing equality.
Equality is not a word or concept. It’s an ability, it’s a feeling and it should have been the birthright and not something one should have to fight for. We hear it so many times, there is equality, what more do women want, and in India, we also have the rule of equal pay for equal work but like so many other rules and laws, it exists but mostly on papers. To be honest, we should not blame men for the patriarchy or misogyny, women have underestimated themselves, have grown up to be accustomed to inequality everywhere, to how they want to dress, to where they want to go, what they want to do, to what is expected out of them. They do all this sometimes in the name of the society, sometimes even hiding behind words like culture, traditions. Sometimes they use stereotyping, labeling, making a mockery of those who dare to deter, subduing their thinking, eons of silence and habit of tolerating is what has led us here. You can only push something so far before it rebounds, what we people need to understand that unless we stop this inequality, men and women will always be at odds and that doesn’t help either one of us.
So I urge you please speak up when you look at a person treat them like how you would want to be treated, think of the other person as just another human being first. Gender, race, religion, preferences all are secondary. If you stand for equality bring your hands forward and strike the equality pose, but more than that strive for attaining and providing equality daily. If we all collectively put in our efforts we can all create heaven on earth.
Arthur Ashe said, “You learn about equality in history and civics, but you find out life is not really like that.” Let’s change that, shall we?