I have been following this huge enthusiasm in TV channels to portray the Woman's Day as a special day of celebration, and this has perplexed me. Would a celebration of this day mean that on other days we need not treat women with respect? Does not celebrating the day make you a misogynist?
The Indian culture is often blamed for having too many holidays for celebrations. But if one looks closely at any of these holidays, they are typically meant to celebrate an event - a triumph of good over evil, a welcome for a new season, etc. No celebrations have been meant to remind us of something.
So,where exactly did this culture of trying to celebrate days after persons start? I believe it is much more a western culture which we have been attempting to ape without really understanding the implications in our cultural settings.
India has a deep seated belief in the position of women in society - no, it is not rooted in equality between men and women as is practiced in the West, but in a clear understanding of the position each gender plays in making a society vibrant. No married man can deny that even if the man can claim to be the boss, at home, his ear belongs to his wife first and foremost. A man's domain is clearly different from that of a woman, and in India, this is acknowledged, mostly without shouting from the rooftops about it.
Just as the males have a reasonably undisputed say in domains outside the house, the women have an undisputed say in domains inside the house. The difficulty arises when, influenced by western thinking, we attempt to make men and women equal in everything.
The biggest demerit of such a claim of equality is comparison between the two genders, which is often unequal, and many a time leads to poorer relationships. The question should therefore never be who is superior - the man or the woman; rather the question to be asked is what is a man, or a woman good at, and are they given the space to explore these spaces.
It also leads to unhealthy competition. Should the country then consider reservation for women at all (for seats in colleges, in buses,etc.)? A well educated woman is an asset to any house as well as to society, but not necessarily by 'earning' her living through contributing money to the household.
Ancient India always gave space to geniuses of women, as does modern India. They have contributed to sciences as well as society without in any way contributing to the commerce. To respect these women (as any other women), is normal and should not require any further ado. To expect to remember a day to treat women differently presumes that on most other days, this respect need not be bestowed, and this is an unfortunate thought.
Let us take a moment to reflect on our culture of mutual respect, of quiet celebration of our uniqueness, of our togetherness, and the strong culture that persuades us to treat all with respect no matter what their strengths or weaknesses are.
TV studios have a task to increase TRP, and they are free to air programs of a certain nature - we need not fall into the trap of doing the same in our personal lives.
4 comments:
Sir, my take on this very wonderful article:
Close of 1000 years of foreign rule and the today's Western media influence has resulted in this...the media plays a big role in all this...they need stories to be in the race, but that blind race to reach or retain the top slot has led them from being a responsible one to a complete comic pack...My best guess, Reverse Psychology in full play...
Do we really need someone to show us the way to treat our women respectfully.. "Mata, pita, guru, devo" this is our culture...
Siva
Would a celebration of this day mean that on other days we need not treat women with respect?
No
Does not celebrating the day make you a misogynist?
No it does not. Its not mandatory that you wish someone and that is not bad
The women have an undisputed say in domains inside the house.
This is too generalized statement based on one or two households
http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/indian-women-denied-voice-in-decision-making-kofi-annan_909699.html
http://infogr.am/Women-and-Political-Decision-Making-in-India?src=web
I had several pdfs(paper presentations) as references too. But couldn't attach them here.
But the truth is women have no say in domestic decisions let alone financial decisions .
The difficulty arises when, influenced by western thinking, we attempt to make men and women equal in everything.
we don't attempt to make men and women equal in everything , we attempt to make them unequal, actually they are supposed to be treated equal . Nature made them best in their own ways with negatives and positives in both the genders. Its "we" who made the equation unequal.
So,where exactly did this culture of trying to celebrate days after persons start? I believe it is much more a western culture which we have been attempting to ape without really understanding the implications in our cultural settings.
I think culture aspect in India is overrated, that is a different dispute altogether. However, there is nothing wrong in adapting/learning from other "cultures", if they are doing something better than us
India has a deep seated belief in the position of women in society - no, it is not rooted in equality between men and women as is practiced in the West, but in a clear understanding of the position each gender plays in making a society vibrant. No married man can deny that even if the man can claim to be the boss, at home, his ear belongs to his wife first and foremost. A man's domain is clearly different from that of a woman, and in India, this is acknowledged, mostly without shouting from the rooftops about it.
Again a generalized statement based on one or two households. Several references can be given wherein a woman is never treated as a "Advice giving material" !!
To respect these women (as any other women), is normal and should not require any further ado.
Probably people are forgetting the fact that women should be respected , so things like this have been introduced.
Women's day in my view is never about reminder of respecting women. Its about reminding women that you can do something to empower yourself in the way you want ,that includes anything and everything as minute as which curry to make at home today to which bank should be used for savings to how much do I want to earn per month, be it working or non-working woman.
Some people(men and women included) respect women treat them normally and many others don't. Still we question if women should be reminded of empowerment sometimes.
If humans were supposed to be happy everyday or say like meet family and friends every now and then why do we celebrate festivals then ?? Shouldn't we stop celebrating them ??
Note:- I had to delete previous comment owing to grammatical mistakes
@ Pavani: Some very good comments by you, and they are humbly accepted. I would still say that the way power/influence is exerted by women is very different from the way it is exerted by men. Eventually, within their own domains, both men and women generally achieve what they want. For every woman who is denied her rights, there is perhaps half a man who cannot get to exercise his. The only difference, perhaps, is that society is more forgiving of a man who decides to err than a woman who does. That, according to me, is unfortunate.
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