March 8th is supposed to be Women's Day! i open my fb page to see one
website offering cosmetics to celebrate womanhood! And the other one is
displaying colorful dresses (suited for size zero and yours truly has number
one added before that zero!!!!) for discount on the account of women's
day! Is this what celebrating women about?
Business houses need excuse to sell their products. it could be women's day today, followed by mother's day and now evn father's day! As if you can celebrate those people only on that day! Still i am all for celebrating!
But after seeing the disturbing 'India's Daughter' i am finding such greetings very hypocritical and superficial! How safe is our country for women today! i have always thought safety is a very relative term. Nirbaya was one such normal lower middle class aspiring to be a doctor. Like any young woman she went out with her friend to see a movie. And look what happened to her! We did have people protesting when we came to know about the horrible crime. But was there a reduction in the crime? No! instead media seem to highlight more such crimes! So what is happening here? Why such crimes are still happening?
The documentary is very disturbing and makes me question about our society. The remorseless criminals, the backward thinking lawyers and women still conditioned by patriarchy are more upsetting! The issue is not restricted to the criminals of this one incident. There are many more who are free out there! And it is definitely not restricted to our country alone! But such incidents seem more common here in our country!
I used to think education would help people sensitize over such issues. But no these crimes are not restricted to uneducated people. Even educated elites seem to be part of it. So what is the root cause of the evil. The mind set of the patriarchal society needs to be changed. How will that change occur?
These questions need to be addressed. I see extreme reactions to the documentary and people worried about the shame of our country. I do agree that we don’t need a foreigner to show mirror about our society. But are we doing this self analysis? Earlier days I have seen wonderful documentaries in our news channels. Nowadays our news channels seem to love discussions and they seem to have their own elite group giving their ‘expert opinion’ on anything and everything. Nowadays we don’t get simple news but we only get arguments and counter arguments which are expertly edited to sensationalize. So when some outsider comes and talks about the issue, we need to look at the problem not shoot the messenger. There is no solution in hiding the problem under the carpet. This ostrich mentality will lead to more problems only.
When one lady in that film said, ‘how will a woman live without her husband in this society?’ I was disturbed. A young uneducated girl taught from childhood that she can have no life without her husband is what our society has taught us. And educated lawyers giving regressive comments about our culture are even worse. The documentary might use techniques to create maximum impact. But we should look at the underlying issue! After two and half years, what has happened? Were there any stringent punishments given for rapes? Will that deter the criminals? May be laws might help, but for that we need to wait for judicial action which might take ages.
What could a common man do to address this problem? First thing we should do is to change the mindset of male children to respect women. Let us teach our sons and brothers and friends that women are also fellow human beings who have the same rights as her male counterparts. If such changes start in homes, it will definitely create an impact.
We all need to collectively find a solution for this problem. Otherwise the future is going to be even more bleak! When other countries issue warning notice for travelling to India, I do feel upset. But when I see a tourist being sexually assaulted what response should we give. Instead of blaming others, we should look for solution. As a society we need to take responsibility and address the problem.
But will we????
Business houses need excuse to sell their products. it could be women's day today, followed by mother's day and now evn father's day! As if you can celebrate those people only on that day! Still i am all for celebrating!
But after seeing the disturbing 'India's Daughter' i am finding such greetings very hypocritical and superficial! How safe is our country for women today! i have always thought safety is a very relative term. Nirbaya was one such normal lower middle class aspiring to be a doctor. Like any young woman she went out with her friend to see a movie. And look what happened to her! We did have people protesting when we came to know about the horrible crime. But was there a reduction in the crime? No! instead media seem to highlight more such crimes! So what is happening here? Why such crimes are still happening?
The documentary is very disturbing and makes me question about our society. The remorseless criminals, the backward thinking lawyers and women still conditioned by patriarchy are more upsetting! The issue is not restricted to the criminals of this one incident. There are many more who are free out there! And it is definitely not restricted to our country alone! But such incidents seem more common here in our country!
I used to think education would help people sensitize over such issues. But no these crimes are not restricted to uneducated people. Even educated elites seem to be part of it. So what is the root cause of the evil. The mind set of the patriarchal society needs to be changed. How will that change occur?
These questions need to be addressed. I see extreme reactions to the documentary and people worried about the shame of our country. I do agree that we don’t need a foreigner to show mirror about our society. But are we doing this self analysis? Earlier days I have seen wonderful documentaries in our news channels. Nowadays our news channels seem to love discussions and they seem to have their own elite group giving their ‘expert opinion’ on anything and everything. Nowadays we don’t get simple news but we only get arguments and counter arguments which are expertly edited to sensationalize. So when some outsider comes and talks about the issue, we need to look at the problem not shoot the messenger. There is no solution in hiding the problem under the carpet. This ostrich mentality will lead to more problems only.
When one lady in that film said, ‘how will a woman live without her husband in this society?’ I was disturbed. A young uneducated girl taught from childhood that she can have no life without her husband is what our society has taught us. And educated lawyers giving regressive comments about our culture are even worse. The documentary might use techniques to create maximum impact. But we should look at the underlying issue! After two and half years, what has happened? Were there any stringent punishments given for rapes? Will that deter the criminals? May be laws might help, but for that we need to wait for judicial action which might take ages.
What could a common man do to address this problem? First thing we should do is to change the mindset of male children to respect women. Let us teach our sons and brothers and friends that women are also fellow human beings who have the same rights as her male counterparts. If such changes start in homes, it will definitely create an impact.
We all need to collectively find a solution for this problem. Otherwise the future is going to be even more bleak! When other countries issue warning notice for travelling to India, I do feel upset. But when I see a tourist being sexually assaulted what response should we give. Instead of blaming others, we should look for solution. As a society we need to take responsibility and address the problem.
But will we????
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