Woman?

All right, tomorrow we are celebrating both Holi and Women’s day. Two great occasions packed into one. I am pretty sure all of you must be having fun on Holi[if you are lucky, you shall be able to avoid water balloons and other types of unpleasant surprises- such as a bucket of egg yolk, mud and grease dropped on your head], but it’s the other occasion which goes largely ignored. Women’s day. Of what meaning is it to us nowadays? Not much, one could say. We invite a few prominent female speakers to give lectures on gender sensitive topics, and encourage female emancipation and greater participation in corporate. We speak about banning female infanticide, dowry, and make sure we punish rapists and molesters so that our country becomes a better place to live in for women. We speak about greater female participation in higher management areas, and increasing number of women taking admission into post-graduate courses and stepping out of their comfort zone to make ends meet.

Could then, someone please explain to me why one woman is raped every minute in India? Why millions of women are still caught into sex trafficking, and minors exploited on a daily basis? Why are women regularly beaten, burned and murdered, without people even batting so much as an eye-lid? Why are women always blamed whenever they are victims of a crime? Why do we always find fault with the way a woman dresses or speaks or works? Why is a woman usually considered inferior to a man? Why is the sex ratio in India so poor, and becoming worse by each day? These are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves.

I think the basic problem still lies in our mindset. Women have traditionally been oppressed for long, and looked down upon. We[the men] still cannot come to terms with the fact that a woman is capable of besting a man in work, can seek professional and personal independence, choose her own partner, be candid about sex, seek self actualization without the support of a man. So if you see a good looking woman walking down the street at night, wearing a short dress, then you must teach her a lesson that she will never forget. How dare she do something like that? How dare she go to pubs, parties, dance and have drinks? That too with male friends? She deserves to be raped. [I don’t think I need to give the examples of the recent rape cases(Kolkata or Noida). Its self evident] We do not have places for such women in our society. Women should not be allowed to take their own decisions. After all, we men are superior, physically and mentally. If a girl from our family marries someone from a different caste or religion, then she must be deemed impure and either ostracized or killed[of course it’s a question of preserving family honour]. It does not matter if we men don’t wear any clothes, pee regularly on the streets, whistle and use slangs on passerbys, smoke and drink and then get into fights, but a woman should never wear short skirts, always cover herself, and yet respond to our calls whenever we need them. Of course if they will refuse, we will beat them and rape them, since they deserved it for being rude to us.

Public transports are our birthright. Women should respect our rules or not use them. So if they do dare to board a bus, or the metro, they should be aware that we will leer at them, stare at them to the point of making them uncomfortable, pass lewd remarks, and occasionally try to touch them. Of course if they resist, they will be shouted at, or beaten up for resisting. For if they did not want physical contact, why on earth did they decide to use public transport? They should have resorted to a private cab in that case. Woman’s compartment? What is that? Don’t make us laugh. We should men not be allowed in such compartments? What do you mean by seats reserved for women? All this is a blasphemy, used to belittle men.

Of course we do not want any female daughters. How on earth are supposed to take care of their expenses? So we decide to finish them off while they aren’t even born. Technology has its uses right? But of course, we are the most hypocritical people in the world, so we want the best wives for our sons. Never mind the fact that we murder our own daughters. Women should not think of making their own decisions, definitely not related to marriage or relationships. They will only accept the boys which we decide are best for them.

Of course, the woman should be grateful to the person who is marrying her. Naturally, it becomes her duty to give his family considerable sums of gifts[read-dowry], submit to all his desires, and accept punishment[read-torture] when it is given due. No matter, domestic violence is so common and suicides have become even more frequent. But why should we men care? We can re-marry as often we like. But we will raise eyebrows if a woman thinks of doing a same. After all, she is being greedy and selfish.

Career? What a joke. Women should concentrate on taking care of her husband and family. What is the need for women to rise to higher positions? What will they do by managing teams? Isnt it enough that we are letting them study in co-ed colleges, where there is even a chance of them becoming impure[read-losing their virginity]. Thus, a woman should compromise on her career and make sure that her husband is happy.

Just to conclude, the above statements are a reflection of the actual state of our society. I know the text is heavy on sarcasm, but the objective is female liberalization. I do hope that the situation will improve in the country, and we will continue to have outstanding female leaders and decision makers. Till then, take care, happy holi and happy women’s day.