Woman Empowerment-
What exactly is woman empowerment? Are women in this country not given an egalitarian status as compared to men? Do we have gender biased preference when it comes to family planning? Is female infanticide still rampant in the country? Are crimes against women increasing every day? The answers to all of these questions unfortunately is "yes". Woman Empowerment does not mean, fighting debates based on it, going on slut walks to oppose rape, introducing reservation in educational institutes to educate women. Woman Empowerment starts from home. It starts from educating your child about the importance of women and the respect they deserve ever since he is a toddler. The day the country can achieve that, women would truly be empowered. There won't be any distinction between male and female. That, I believe is empowerment.
If women are empowered, the world would be at peace. There would be lesser wars and more of talks to sort out issues between countries. Women bring balance to life. Women understand, listen and value the other person's perspective. Life would be so much easier with women around.
Today, in India many women are victims of domestic violence. Women are tortured for dowry.Sometimes, these cases go unreported due to societal pressure.
I personally know of one such instance. My household maid did not turn up for 4 days at a stretch. I was quite worried and at the brink of hiring another one. Then suddenly, one day she shows up at my door , torn and tattered with bruises all over her body. She said," Madam, rehne ke liye bas aaj ke liye humko jagah de dijiye bas ek raat ke liye.Humko maar daalenge sasuraal waale. Meri beti bhi hai mere saath."
I let her in along with her daughter. Her daughter was about five years old.
She told me her story. It seems, her father had paid Rs. 1000 less for her dowry. Being a poor farmer he could not afford any more. He had pomised to disburse the remaining amount in monthly installments after his daughter was married off. Failure to meet the expectation lead to the in-laws' torture. As a cherry on the cake, she could not give birth to a "son". So there was no one who could carry the family name forward. Branded as a witch, she was beaten up black and blue. She somehow escaped their fury and came over to my place to find a shelter so that she could protect herself and her daughter.
I told her ," Let's lodge a complaint with the police!
"No. " , she said. " Maa ji, mera badnaam ho jaayegi. Meri beti se kaun shaadi karega?"
I sat there flabbergasted. So this is what Indian society is? This is the culture which we are so proud of? Shame on us!
While on one side, woman empowerment is a boon for the citizens of the country, on the other hand, it might prove to be a bane for a few others.
The rape law is often misused by women, who develop a consensual physical relationship with their lovers and after breakup file false rape cases to force them to marry them.
In the corporate world also, there is a thin line between sexual harassment and flirting which people tend to misread. Then have been umpteen cases of women all over the world, filing false allegations of sexual harassment just because they did not get what they wanted. Some of the cases just go unnoticed, whereby the accused spends years in jail for no fault of his! Once he is cleared of all charges, he is bailed out. But what about those precious years of his life which he lost behind the bars? Will the court be able to return them? No.
Woman empowerment comes from within, it starts from the society, it starts with education. It is requisite to educate both men and women about the morals to be followed right from a young age. People change, places change, but values don't. If you have imbibed the right values, you will add a drop to the vast ocean that society is and make it a better place to live in.
What exactly is woman empowerment? Are women in this country not given an egalitarian status as compared to men? Do we have gender biased preference when it comes to family planning? Is female infanticide still rampant in the country? Are crimes against women increasing every day? The answers to all of these questions unfortunately is "yes". Woman Empowerment does not mean, fighting debates based on it, going on slut walks to oppose rape, introducing reservation in educational institutes to educate women. Woman Empowerment starts from home. It starts from educating your child about the importance of women and the respect they deserve ever since he is a toddler. The day the country can achieve that, women would truly be empowered. There won't be any distinction between male and female. That, I believe is empowerment.
If women are empowered, the world would be at peace. There would be lesser wars and more of talks to sort out issues between countries. Women bring balance to life. Women understand, listen and value the other person's perspective. Life would be so much easier with women around.
Today, in India many women are victims of domestic violence. Women are tortured for dowry.Sometimes, these cases go unreported due to societal pressure.
I personally know of one such instance. My household maid did not turn up for 4 days at a stretch. I was quite worried and at the brink of hiring another one. Then suddenly, one day she shows up at my door , torn and tattered with bruises all over her body. She said," Madam, rehne ke liye bas aaj ke liye humko jagah de dijiye bas ek raat ke liye.Humko maar daalenge sasuraal waale. Meri beti bhi hai mere saath."
I let her in along with her daughter. Her daughter was about five years old.
She told me her story. It seems, her father had paid Rs. 1000 less for her dowry. Being a poor farmer he could not afford any more. He had pomised to disburse the remaining amount in monthly installments after his daughter was married off. Failure to meet the expectation lead to the in-laws' torture. As a cherry on the cake, she could not give birth to a "son". So there was no one who could carry the family name forward. Branded as a witch, she was beaten up black and blue. She somehow escaped their fury and came over to my place to find a shelter so that she could protect herself and her daughter.
I told her ," Let's lodge a complaint with the police!
"No. " , she said. " Maa ji, mera badnaam ho jaayegi. Meri beti se kaun shaadi karega?"
I sat there flabbergasted. So this is what Indian society is? This is the culture which we are so proud of? Shame on us!
While on one side, woman empowerment is a boon for the citizens of the country, on the other hand, it might prove to be a bane for a few others.
The rape law is often misused by women, who develop a consensual physical relationship with their lovers and after breakup file false rape cases to force them to marry them.
In the corporate world also, there is a thin line between sexual harassment and flirting which people tend to misread. Then have been umpteen cases of women all over the world, filing false allegations of sexual harassment just because they did not get what they wanted. Some of the cases just go unnoticed, whereby the accused spends years in jail for no fault of his! Once he is cleared of all charges, he is bailed out. But what about those precious years of his life which he lost behind the bars? Will the court be able to return them? No.
Woman empowerment comes from within, it starts from the society, it starts with education. It is requisite to educate both men and women about the morals to be followed right from a young age. People change, places change, but values don't. If you have imbibed the right values, you will add a drop to the vast ocean that society is and make it a better place to live in.
