The cleavage
Women empowerment – tokenism
or reality
It is obvious that no society can achieve
its maximum strength unless each individual makes his or her maximum
contribution. There is one group which exhibits feelings of disenfranchisement
in every region of the world, and that is women. Women all over the world feel
that they are second-rate and that only men can reach their full potential.
This discrimination begins while the baby is still in the womb, so that a
female baby is often considered of less value and the pregnancy terminated.
This discrimination continues throughout the life of a woman. This
discrimination is confirmed by tradition, by educational institutions, by the
legal system, within the family, and, sadly, even by religion in many cases. As
a result, women are often disadvantaged in terms of education, job
opportunities, and finance.
It is a century old anxiety of women oppression,
awareness, rebellion, voice, identity that has led to the 21st
century thirst of formation of a category called ‘women’ along with the
realization of impossibility of such homogeneous category. The first wave of
feminism’s revolt against the view of women as lack in men becomes only a
papered argument of a sentiment which is part of our very culture, religion and
society. The lack is fabricated from Freud’s psychology of castration complex
to the very application form where father’s name comes before mother’s name,
from Christian belief of Eve coming out of Adam to give him company and
ultimately leading to his downfall with consuming the forbidden apple to Hindu
belief of a woman during menstruation as impure and sinners.
From the primitive time of divided labor
of man and woman, the society as a whole shifted to the replica of the society
as presented in Khaled Hosseini’s bestselling novel ‘Thousand Splendid Suns’ where woman was more
of a lifeless slave to be controlled, monitored, and exploited. Luce Irrigary
saw women as commodities which are exchanged amidst men under the veil of the
business of marriage. From such a
commodity grew the capitalistic pride of being a product distinct from their
owners. Hence came second wave feminism which rejected any need to be equated
with men as that would have meant acceptance of the hierarchy. However the
celebration of women as women remained only in theory. Rather, sisterhood,
lesbianism became further issues; yet no solutions. The exclusively feminine
world remained Utopian only to be imagined where even the imagination is in
patriarchal symbols and semantics. The fantasy developed into a semiotic
carnival which remained a craving.
The continuous anxiety, awareness, temporal
journey and genetic development has ensured the moment of awareness to change
its meaning from insurrection to introspection. 21st century
provided women with exclusive rights, priorities, reservations, clinical facilities,
better education and humanitarian attitude. Outstanding examples of Amul
Cooperative Society, Gulabi Gang, movies like sex and the city, women D.T.C bus
conductors, women traffic police, female taxi drivers, the two columns of male
and female in educational and professional institutes, separate washrooms of
women on roads and in clubs, girls as D.J’s, all these suggest a booming
success of feminism to anyone time travelling in society.
However, if one moves few kilometers from
modern urban areas to those remote villages which are far off from even the
term or category called ‘women’, well one could see a picture not different
from past. The awareness has indeed brought revolutionary changes but it has
neither conquered over geographical obstructions nor psychological , where
mentality of all, even the elite or most common people still remain subdued
with the same narrow mindedness of ‘she’ as a subject open to all impositions
as per the requirements. The government ensures some progress for women
development but only on paper. Even if women are provided with 50% reservation
in political sector well not even 3% is made use of. Reason being – lack of
awareness or the taboos deeply conditioned in society’s mindsets. It is this
mentality that is required to be changed.
Women who have craved their path to success
like Indira Gandhi, Queen of Jhansi, Santosh Pal, Madhuri Dixit ad infinitude
might be considered as medals or pendants in the necklace of feminism but it is
each pearl that is required to be chiseled and made aware of their uniqueness
and significance. It is the most common and general women who must know their
identity rather create it. Merely modern clothes, professional works, academic
brilliance of few percent of the total does not ensure the success of feminism.
Till the time every particle doesn’t get it’s purpose, entity, acceptance,
motivation, resources, and both basic and desired amenities, progress of females, their families and even society as
whole could not be completely achieved.
This
is required awareness much before education. Even the eldest woman in remotest
village should be made aware of her existence, her entity, that she is useful
and accepted in the society. Then comes sex education, spiritual guidance,
economic support, literacy, entertainment. Clinical facilities, medicinal luxury,
justice, counselling, agricultural training, handicraft centers, markets for
their products to earn them money. It is required to treat them as people much
more than child producing machines or an aid for men’s family and
entertainment. It is woman who gives birth to life and holds two families, and
nurtures society’s future. More than anybody else it is her who should be
educated and made aware of her surroundings, of world, of things, content so
that along with the present even future comes out to be smarter and better.
Today media, NGOs, civil society,
government all are working for women development. But, it is urban areas which
are getting more aware of issues of village women rather than rural areas.
Though many waves of this mother’s milk are trying to reach to the bowl of many
secluded villages but they are not enough. It is required to live in those
areas, to set an example of an aware and educated human, to listen to them,
understand their issues, help them with whatever possible, give them an opportunity
to unleash themselves, to come out with their culture and explore the opportunities
that they can make possible for themselves.
What is most ironical is that the
requirements are observed by a mind many kilometers afar from rural areas,
relaxing leisurely in closed walls imagining such issues, having many ledgers
of past but no direct linkage with the problem area. Yet, the suffering is
common with a varied intensity. Yet that feeling is there where despite of all
rebellious attitude towards social impositions, the mind does not want to
exchange its body with the body of a girl it observed in some village doing
housework beside streets under scorching heat of sun and her quilt which she
had thought was to provide her comfort without being aware of it being made a
part of her body. It is she that I would like to know. It is women like she to whom I want to be of some aid.
- Surbhi Rohera
