Do Women Need to Be CELEBRATED ??? -

Dear Friends,

Its a wonderful day…8th of march, International Women’s Day.. But surprisingly I woke up today and did not feel so pleasant, somewhere in my dreams I remembered questioning the need for such a day…It reminds me of the line I read somewhere that says “There should be no need for this day to exist, but it does, because women are still far from equal.” True isn’t it???

In this era of modernity when women have even traveled to space, conquered all arenas of research….Played an important role in revolutionary changes that have changed the facets of our life; I may sound like a pessimist when I say we are not equals yet….When on one hand we remember with pride the names of women who changed history..Mother Teresa, Margaret Thatcher, Annie Besant, Sarojini Naidu, Clara Barton (Civil War nurse, founder of the American Red Cross), Rosetta Wakeman (Posed as a male to serve in Union Army during Civil War), Kalpana Chawla, Kiran Bedi, Bachendri Pal, M. Fahtima Beevi, Sunitha Krishnan and many many more great women who fought for and brought in wonderful changes in the very stringent society of ours.

Women are strong enough to fight their way through the societies rules and bindings that prevents them from standing along men in every walk of life..Through ages women have strived to make their position strong in the society. Witch-hunts, especially in Central Europe, resulted in the trial, torture, and execution of tens of thousands of victims, about three-quarters of whom were women. This practice still continues in isolated ways and that is what needs to be stopped….

The way old sati pratha of India,abolished years ago during our India’s freedom struggle still prevails though not in its original form..Today it has taken the shape of “dowry deaths, Rape, unsolved accidents, honor killing and female foeticide”…Its not just the case of India but round the globe……

In Afghanistan it is said that 44 years is the average life expectancy rate for women in Afghanistan, 70 to 80 percent of women face forced marriages, 1 in every 3 Afghan women experience physical, psychological or sexual violence…

Just type the word atrocities in the Google search tab and thousands of pages open up with stories that state the plight of women all around the world.. Where one page gives the news of Women Sudan being flogged for wearing trousers, there’s other that says “No woman in Somalia is happy to be a woman”….

Look around you, housewives, working women, single mothers..Women all around you, some capturing you with their charm, some pleading for their lives….Its a contrasting picture everywhere. We may attribute it to unequal distribution of wealth, lack of education…As it is said the world is a vast divide of Islands of Prosperity in sea of Disparity….

Women have the power to multitask, the power to bear burdens, emotional strength to withstand the tortures…But everything has a limit, it is for the society to think how long will a gender be discriminated??? Will it wait till it reaches the point where it would be a World Without Women (the idea that deeply struck me while watching the movie Matrubhoomi) ?? Women need to be respected not locked out in the four walls of the kitchen….

The world celebrates Women’s Day, just to remind women of what they have achieved and to make them realize that “they have miles to go….”

I salute each and every women for being herself, standing up for her needs, rising her voice in the male dominated society of ours. I pray for every women who works day long to keep her house clean, to keep her family members nourished, to help her children grow in the best possible way, who stands by her husband for better or for worse, who works towards creating a better world for tomorrow……

Praying For a world where humans shall coexist as humans not just Males and Females….Wishing for a cloudless future this is Satrangee Parachute flying off higher for a better view……..