Worship the Women-Goddess on this Women's Day

This poster has been doing rounds at most social network. Today, on 8^th March, women celebrate its 101^st International women’s day, and I am still undecided whether to celebrate or despair. True, that there is a history of struggle against inequality of gender and there has been lot of improvement in the lifestyles of women over the years.

“The global gender gap defies simple solutions. Eighty-five per cent of countries have improved conditions for women over the past six years, according to the World Economic Forum, but in economic and political terms there is still a long way to go.”  

As reported in ‘An Independent’ unearthing some surprising results.

But what does an average, common person feel?

I was in conversation with some of my friends over the cup of coffee the other day and I casually asked them how they would like to celebrate their women’s day.

“I would love to sit all day doing nothing, not to worry about the food for the family or any other chores, I need to relax real well” said one friend.

“I would like take my husband and my children out with me because they complete me as a woman” said another friend.

These women are the housewives who morally support their husband and expect just recognition and respect for the sacrifices that they make.

Many women are abused by their spouse just out of habit and are shown disrespect, many a times taken for granted. It’s only when they fall ill and husbands are inconvenienced, forced to fend for themselves with simple chores as simple as super-marketing and cooking, (which they are not used to) that they begin to realize the importance of their women.

Women’s day is the day to pause, take a deep breath and acknowledge their presence.

My friend says, “Women are important part of this universe, therefore they must not only celebrate every day of the year but there should also be one special day when they are to be treated like a princess.”

Men were born to do hard work and create an easy life for women.

Men did basically everything. They were sent as children to be trained as soldiers; they had early marriage but wouldn’t live with their wives until they were 30-ish. Their role was to provide military support, preach, own land or a business and just about everything.

So what did women do?

Women’s role was to take care of his assets while he was away, to oversee the smooth running of the household, to pamper herself and to spin wool. The spinning of wool was a central occupation, since the wool would be produced on their estates and indicated a family’s self-sufficiency.  Wealthy women spent lot of their time in dressing and pampering themselves. Wealthy women wore jewels such as emeralds, aquamarine, opal and pearls as earrings, necklaces, rings and sometimes sewn onto their shoes and clothing. The success status of the men was judged by the life style of their women.

In earlier times, wealthy women traveled around the city in a litter carried by slaves. Women gathered in the streets on a daily basis to meet with friends, attend religious rites or to visit baths. The wealthiest families had private baths at home but most people went to the bath houses not only to wash but also to socialize.

Wealthy women still enjoy such luxuries but they now contribute more to the social and the economic strata of the society. Remember they are earning too, they are independent women, some of them earning more than their men.

As a woman, I believe that everyone should pay attention to their own comfort first. It’s only when they are healthy, physically and mentally, that they are able to give their best.

How many women go for regular health-check up?

Last month, 350 women from Mumbai and 150 women from Pune, took part in Car rally called ‘Lavasa Women’s Drive’ spreading the cervical Cancer awareness. Every seven minutes, one woman dies of cervical Cancer. Many of the women were not even aware of its risk factor, or the symptoms and the treatment of this disease. Women who took part in this event attended work-shops and became more aware of this disease through propaganda and discussions.

How many women are treated with respect?

Some women are treated like they don’t deserve a life. Violence against women is common. At least one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused in their lifetime. Domestic violence, rape, trafficking of women has become a global phenomenon where victims are exploited, forced into labor and subjected to abuse. Many of the crime against women go uninvestigated and unpunished.

So kindly note…

Women were born to be treated like a flower, with care and nourishment, to be worshipped and pampered. They are your inspiration for writing poems and men must sing in adoration of having them in their life, be it wife, mother or sister and even a friend. Without women, there is no love, no poetry, no music. Let this woman’s day remind you to treat her the way she deserves -The Goddess of Love

Happy Women’s day!!

Justice

Where is the justice for 'Thangjam Manorama'?

Six years ago, on July 15,2004 Manorama mothers surprised and shocked the world.
Sapan Aruna writes:

In the morning at around 10:15 am, Twelve women out of nowhere, stormed at the western gate of the 17th Assam Rifles Kangla and in an unprecedented act, of protest shed their clothes and challenged the security forces to rape them. Facing the AR gate with their bare bodies, they shouted to the Assam Rifles, “If you really have the craze to rape, come rape us’

They raised banners where was written in bold letters, “INDIAN ARMY RAPE US,’ INDIAN ARMY TAKE OUR FLESH.”

Photo: UB PHOTO

More than 50 women from different women’s organizations of Manipur came from G.M.Hall and among them, 12 naked bodies marched on to the Kangla gate and cried against the killing of Manorama , “You dogs of AR! Come rape us like you raped meitei chanu (women) Manorama”.

They wailed. They shouted, “We are all mothers of Manorama. We stand for our daughter Manorama. Come fulfill your lust. Play on our body. Eat our flesh. Come Indian Army. They continued their complaint against AFSPA with slogans, GO BACK INDIAN ARMY. Withdraw the Armed Forces Special Power Act 1958 from Manipur!

Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) has been imposed in Manipur and most of the Northeast since 1980. The Act allows the army to use force, arrest or shoot anyone on the mere suspicion that someone has committed or was about to commit a cognisable offence. The Act further prohibits any legal or judicial proceedings against army personnel without the sanction of the Central Government

The protest of the women continued for about 45 minutes. Due to excessive emotion, more than half of them fell unconscious. Being surprised, some AR personnel watched the scene dumbfounded. They stood spell-bound. The scene broke the heart of the passers by. People even shed tears and closed their eyes.

There was no policeman when the women protesters sprang from no-where and staged their tear-provoking scene. Some minutes later, police officials along with Imphal west SP scolded the police officers for there were no women police. Disregarding the polices effort to carry the fainted women, the protesters used private vehicles to take them to hospitals. The women then tried to launch the same protest in front of the Chief Minister Bangaloo. Police arrested some of the protesters and dropped them at the gate of the office of the All Manipur Women Social Reformation and Development Samaj (AMWSRDS) situated at the palace gate.

As precautionary measures to control the possible drastic situations, the Manipur Government imposed indefinite curfew from 11am of the same day in Imphal East and West district. The D.C. Imphal West also issued orders under section 19 of The Cable Television Network Regulation Act, 1995, prohibiting the transmission of any particular program including news items.

That was an unexpected consequence of the custodial murder of Thangjam Manorama after rape."

But justice is likely to wait forever.

Living in this painful world.

Shobha shrieked with pain; the blows continued to shower. When she could not defend herself against her husband’s cruelty, she fainted. She found herself in the hospital ward as she opened her eyes. Eyes blood shot, body ached as she lay attached to thousand tubes “Do you have something to report ma’am?” asked the police officer. “No,” she replied simply supressing her pain.


Men subject more than 60 percent of women in the poor countries to domestic violence, according to the UN development program. It says: “Women may be half of the world’s population, but seven tenth of the poor people around the globe are women. Two third of the illiterate adults are women, and those who remain, if they are lucky enough to have the freedom to work, can only expect 75 percent of the salary as the man doing the same job. Everywhere women continue to be the victims of violence listed as significant cause of disability and death among women of reproductive age.

International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8. The idea of celebrating this day is for recognizing the importance of women’s role in the society. It is an occasion to review how far they have come in their struggle for equality, peace and development. It is also an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change.

It dates to the year 1857, when one of the first organized actions by the workingwomen anywhere in the world took place. Hundreds of garment and textile women workers went sent on strike in the New York city protesting against low wages, long working hours and inhumane working conditions. The event ended in violent struggle with the police. Fifty-three years later, in August 1910, at a meeting in Copenhagen, the women’s Socialist International decided to commemorate the strike by observing an annual International Women’s Day.

Today, they still refuse justice to women in those countries, where women are treated as second-class citizens or the property of men. Women’s work is unrecognized everywhere in the world and there are still disputes over women’s rights, sometimes cultural, sometimes religious and sometimes social. There are some women, who feel that there is no point in having the international woman’s day every year if the woman is forgotten for the remaining 364 days of the year.

Man and woman, both are essential parts of the most basic human equation. While the circumstances of the cobbler and the judge may clearly differ, nobody would question the right of each human to equality as a citizen, or before the law. In the same way, man and woman can only reach the true equality through the recognition of their substantial differences. A truly civilized society would relish those differences rather than punish women for their sex. But still, nowhere in the world can a woman claim to have same right and opportunities as man. “The advancement of the woman and the achievement of equality between woman and man is the matter of human right and a condition for social justice and should not be seen in isolation as a woman’s issue.” According to the Platform for Action the final document of the conference held in Beijing in 1995. “They are the only way to build a sustainable just and developed society.”

Society neither helps a mother to work, nor makes her feel that she has right to do so. Regardless of the evidence of research, a deep almost subliminal idea is encouraged to needle away at her conscience that the child needs his mother all the time. The guilt can go with her everywhere, augmented by the notion, that only woman has the natural proclivity towards the mother. At work she feels the guilt of not being a good mother and not spending more time with her children. Since she has children, she also suffers the guilt of not working hard enough at her job. In both the quarters, working mothers feel compromise and inadequate.

International Women’s Day is the day we need in order to remind the women around the world to stop, take a deep breath, and think about where we are, what have we achieved, to re-energize ourselves, to mobilize ourselves and set new goals to where we want to reach. This is the day, which the UN has conferred for women because it also enables nationals to stop and think about what they want their women to achieve.

Addressing the problems faced by the women is at heart of a global agenda promoted by the United Nations. By adopting international laws and treaties, United Nations has established a common standard for society to achieve equality between man and the woman. The world now has a growing number of women as policy makers, with a recorded ten women as heads of the state or government.

In his message marking the International Women’s Day in 1995, at Beijing, Boutros Boutros had said; “In the global efforts for peace and enduring progress, the promotion and protection of women’s rights are central. Success in the tasks means progress for everyone, young and old, men, women and children,”

And the success for the protection of women's rights is yet to come. We are still waiting......Alas!!

ps: I would like to request Sandhya, Pallavi and Annie to participate in this contest