Stop Devaluing Women
Sensitizing people on violence against women is an important need and fact that this country faces. It is a known fact that worldwide women are somehow, somewhere affected by this social shame of gender discrimination and violence against women, the issue gains much relevance.
The forms of discrimination and violence are varied, sometimes from subtle imprecations to extreme torture, depending on the strata of society. In India the discrimination and violence is widespread, well-pronounced and intricate, deeply entrenched as it is in the mind of a male-dominated and feudalistic society, aggravated by illiteracy, poverty and lack of a smart redressal system.
Female foeticide has not been stemmed yet, marital rape and domestic violence is rampant, as are general incidents of rape and acid attacks. Kidnappings, murders, trafficking, prostitution, long working hours, sex abuse, exploitation at workplace and by in-laws or husband, child labour etc are all different forms of violence and discrimination that our womenfolk face daily in society.
It is said that violence against women is the ‘most tolerated’ form of injustice, for our women don’t have much of a voice to counter the violence, often manifest in various subtle and intricate forms. Women had to fight and are still having to wage a lot of wars everyday around themselves for their smallest rights and for justice.
It is a tremendous job to break into a male bastion, break the shackles and get even with them. The West, to a large extent, has been able to achieve that point of understanding and have been forced to give way to the feminine discourse too.
In countries like India, we are still far away from that level of evolution and hence need lot of hard work.
A civil society which devalues and discriminates women on various parameters is not a civilized society as yet, we must admit and accept that. That is the only way we can begin work. If we negate the truth, we would be duping ourselves and pushing the country towards darkness. Things are changing, but the moves are disorganized and tardy. We have come a long way from the days of Sati burning, but we have increased incidents of rape.
We may have a larger educated class of women than say what we had 20-30 years back, but side by side, we also have one of the largest population of anemic women. We need more serious and concerted efforts at various government, non-government, international and individual levels to get things going in the right direction.
This knowledge comes from education and awareness. That’s an area we have to work hard. We cannot afford to be reckless and wanton in our ways, and use women as a pleasure tool or as a neglected section of society who need attention only when menial work or physical pleasure is needed.
Unless we are able to develop the inherent belief in men that women are the other side of the same coin of humanity, who deserve every privilege of life in equal share as men do, we cannot create a just and equitable society and our values would be false.
We need to provide a conducive environment for all humanity, irrespective of sex or creed, to develop their qualities and help them prosper, because that way we will be benefiting ourselves and our society. If we nip the potentials in the bud and make a whole section of humanity a cog in the wheel of daily humdrum, we are curtailing the chances of having a more materially developed and culturally evolved world.
In our country, women in major parts of the country are still living in an imposed cocoon of inhibitions and restrictions, which lead them largely to remain withdrawn from the social happenings, as if they are ashamed of being born women and are better off hiding.
Often, victim women don’t even know who to approach in case of any violation and even if they reach the right place, their grievances are hardly addressed the way they should be. Sprucing up the system must be made an indelible part of the smart governance mantra we are adopting.
-Window To News
