Sunday, March 30, 2014

The cleevage

                             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

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