Do we need a Woman’s Day?

When I began typing the first few lines I had nearly deleted each line at least 5 times in trying to rephrase; Such is the voltage of this topic and one is got to be careful 😛

I had asked few ladies & women “Why do we need a woman’s day?” There were 5 different kinds of answers I got and I am pasting them without mentioning who all gave it

Responses:

1.  I think you are a male chauvinist
2.  It’s a message that things are changing and its for good
3.  I too don’t understand why we need it
4.  It must be these marketing people’s trick
5.  Kya farak padta hain. Just wish and forget

Why, actually, do we need a woman’s day. We have Valentine’s day, Mother’s day, Father’s day, AIDS day and so on and so forth. Most of them are based on love and some of them are based on causes like Aids and cancer. So, in terms of sending message across or making your loved ones happy these causes make sense!

But woman’s day sounds groupist if not racist. It’s like celebrating the identity. Doesn’t sound very convincing. Before some of you are ready to pounce with punches upon me, I want to explain that this is what one can see with a naked eye. When we talk about woman’s day there are three sects of people reacting to it

1. One who took it as a sarcastic joke

2. One who are not bothered

3. One who are very vocal and chauvinistic about it

 

For those who took it as a joke

Lets imagine..

You might have heard some elderly women in your own family saying how I wish my lovely daughter/daughter-in-law has a baby boy, well I heard this a lot of times in my household and once I tried arguing with an old lady in my family over this, but owing to her age I could not argue for long. One thing I could understand was that she didn’t have a chance to opine since her childhood. She is purely influenced as far as her mindset or thought process was concerned and you could blame it on the people who did that to her under the shadow of traditional values.

We have heard about female foeticides and all. It is the heights of gender discrimination and a shameful reality rampant in the hinterlands of our country. One cannot even understand how the mother is willing for that or how she was made to agree to that.

Dowry, a phenomenon that has been reduced as far as colloquial dictionary is concerned but still a major cause for marriage failures.

So like they say in our marketing lessons that “Rural india has a lot of potential”; An India with rural mindset has these problems which are waiting to be tackled and solved.

 

For those who are not bothered

Woman’s day as a cause couldn’t appeal or create any influence on you. Fair enough.

Let me ask you a question,

Which avatar of an Indian woman you appreciate the most?

The classic lakshmi who is responsible and sensible, neatly dressed, well mannered and also softspoken. A symbol that every household is proud of and wants to respect the woman for the values she means to them.

or

The modern sweta who likes to hang out late, spend too much time on mobile. Partying hard and who doesn’t mind a smoke while being very social and open as far as attitude is concerned.

or

You need a customization option..

Well if you are a guy & chose the third one, I believe, there is a male chauvinist somewhere inside. Not for being choosy but somewhere you may prescribe her a certain behavior more often than not

I spoke to a lady who told me that it doesn’t bother her at all as she doesn’t understand the concept of Woman’s day. It sounds unconvincing to her

But when asked to choose between these avatars she said “I like any woman who does not have double standards

1. A smoking woman who does not stare at other smoking women

2. A traditional girl who does not secretly crave to smoke”

 

For those who are vocal about it

Its good to celebrate the identity. But unfortunately the ones celebrating could sometimes be the wrong ones. We see the city girls who have been well educated, with a decently good upbringing being more happy about this.

Probably many of us would agree that this is a male dominated society and a lot more can be done in trying to help the women but first let us support the ones who are suppressed and they are probably not around us.

If we see “Woman’s day” more as a cause than an identity celebration we all can question ourselves “Have I done anything to help the suppressed women of my country” The answers are with us. Some of them may ask “How can we help”

One angle is education. If we work on supporting education related moves it helps the coming generations by providing them a tool to opine.That would definitely rein in a lot of betterment in the future generations as far as gender equality is concerned. There can be many other angles in which this situation can be tackled. So we can use Woman’s day as a day to ponder and ideate on how we could help!

“Woman’s day is a cause that goes beyond the women in trying to help the deprived, suppressed and helpless beings who have been victims to rituals and mindsets. It is also about fighting the double standards in both men and women for the social upliftment of mindsets and also to create equality & dignity in their respective limitations”

It is definitely not about a PONDS or VIVEL throwing Katrinas and Deepikas to wish you a feministic Woman’s day Isn’t it?

PS: I thank all my friends who contributed for compiling this thought process.