March 8: Celebrating the Spirit of Womanhood

On the occasion of International Women's Day, we bring you some inspiring and thought-provoking essays by our members!

 

"I think Women are foolish to pretend that they are equal to men, they are far superior and have always been"

William Golding

 "When a man denies the power of  Women, he is denying his own subconscious"

Amrita Pritam 

 

  Is Women's Day for all Women?

  Juveria Tabassum

It is true that today, women have come a long way. Every year, we thus celebrate Women’s Day to highlight the fact that women are marching strong on their road to success and prosperity. But sometimes, I wonder if all of us made it to the Promised Land? I wonder if all the hype and pomp of the day does anything to change the lives of the millions of uneducated, poor, under-privileged women in our country.

Come 8th March, the television, radio, internet seems to be exploding with inspiring messages on women and their contemporary success both as a home-makers and corporate hot shots.  Inspiring pictures, videos, GIFs flash across our eyes as "symbols" of women empowerment and crowd our news feeds; and we beam at the progress our society has made.

All this time, there are other women out there, working-class laborers, worn-out mothers and silent victims of injustice and assault, for whom it is just another day. 9th of March dawns, which means 8th of March is gone and we can keep all the compilations safe for another Women's Day; life goes back to normal for all of us. For those "other" women it had never changed, anyway. Do I sound harsh? May be…

The importance that we give to such "days" bothers me. Commercial enterprises seem to exploit these situations for their own purposes. I thus put a question, has women’s day, a day that is supposed to create awareness about the practical issues that still affect women across the globe turned into a mere capitalistic venture?

I wish that the ‘woman question” would be more than just an intellectual and commercial exercise. I wish this day would bring some practical relief to the women in need. 

My Mother: My Inspiration

Deepthi Priya

 

The only person who helped me in my worst times and good times is my mother. She was there with me from the beginning of my formation. She helped me in  crawling,walking,speaking and everything. After I grew up a little, I started feeling her love and attachment towards me. She made magic with her love in every moment of my life. 

When I was growing up and slowly becoming aware of the world, she was the one who taught me the ways to know about the world. She taught me about the good and bad, and other morals which are necessary for a growing child to build up his or her character. And at right time, she mentioned about the eternal things of our life. She inspires me a lot. I love her kindness and the ability to support me whenever I am right.

She involves us in every family discussion and make us understand the situations of our family. I love her genuine nature. In my hard times, she helps me. Her love is adorable and her friendly nature is incredible. She refreshes me with her pleasant words. She keeps me healthy with the food she cooks with so much love. She never asks me for help even when she is ill. She prays for my good health and future. She treats me in a special way,  always.!! She is the only reason for my well being. I love and respect her.
 
With her sweet words she fills joy in me. I'm very much thankful to my dear mother. I may not give her the same love and care... still I try my best to keep her happy and healthy.

Towards a Better Society for Women
Ms Pushpa Reddy

Every Year on March 8, we celebrate the spirit of joy and victory of women who have come a long way in realizing their dreams. 

Throughout ages, women have been constantly waging wars against the over-whelming odds within the confines of domestic life as well as in their work spheres.  

However, for every success story of one woman, there are women whose dreams and hopes for a life of dignity  are crushed at the altar of compromise. 

We live in difficult and ambiguous times: While digital technology has set new standards of progress and modernity, our cultural mindsets seems to be stuck in misogynistic traditions. For example, the prohibition of Hindu women  from entering certain Temples and of Muslim women from Dargah (because they are considered inferior, unclean and a distraction for men!!!), the rise in sexual violence, female child trafficking, female infanticide are some of the practices of the patriarchal hegemony that needs to be broken. 
 The day we stop compromising equality in the name of society, religion, tradition and culture and the day they cease to become impediments in a Woman's journey to achieving a a life of dignity, only then can we truly say that women have finally arrived.  We need to eradicate these social evils if we truly wish to create a better world for women.