International Women's Day

Trivia: International Women’s Week is celebrated in the first week of March every year and International Women’s day is celebrated on 8th March every year.
There are many past events that are linked to this week and date to justify the celebration of women’s week and day on this particular date. Each of these events happened in different parts of the world but the most important event that comes closer to the explanation is the revolt of woman textile workers in USA on 8th March 1857(source: Wikipedia).

So….you got the topic of today…women’s day. Today is Sunday and justifiably I woke up late. By that time Dada has already brought newspaper inside and the first thing that caught my attention was some facts put in the newspaper about women in India. Questions put to women were:
1) What is more important to you? Career, Family and shouldn’t have to choose?
2) Is sexual harassment at workplace? Yes, No and can’t say?
3) Who decides how you spend or invest your money? Myself, Parents and Husband/Partner?
4) Who should decide what a woman can/can’t do as evening entertainment? Parents/Husband, Moral Police, The woman herself and can’t say?

Under the attractive packaging and headlines, newspaper has handsomely analyzed the data and put it in the way it wanted. Being an analyst I know how to play with data and being manipulative to serve my own purpose. So does all the magazines and newspaper. I don’t have problem with the facts but the basis of these entire conclusion.
What we wanted to present was figures that could let us understand how far we have moved in our fight towards women libration, freedom to women and their status in society as well as family।

None of these questions answered that!!!

If a woman feels family is more important to her। Does this mean she is not librated or has less freedom? Even I have my family more important than career and if situation warrants would not mind leaving my job or taking a sabbatical if financial situation allows.

Who decides how to spend or invest your money? I agree most of the women leave this far father or husband to handle। Most of the female actors do so…does this mean they are less librated or have less freedom? It is more to do with the confidence that they have in their father or partner. Even I prefer leaving money matters to my father.

Who should decide what a woman can/ can’t do as evening entertainment? Again not a justified question…don’t our parent decide what their children do in evening irrespective whether they are boys or girls? Don’t men inform/discuss their evening plan with wife?

What I want to stress is that none of the questions give us a clear picture of how far we have moved in for our aim of total libration and freedom for women.
If we sincerely wanted to check that it would have been better had we analyzed:
1) How many women are there in once thought men bastions like different wings of defense, religious preaching, administrative jobs and politics etc?
2) How safe women feel in house as well as society?
3) How many women related crimes led to conviction?
4) How have the women related crime rates in homes moved in recent past?

Analysis of answers to these questions would have better answered query that what the newspaper asked, though they might not have presented such an interesting picture.
All those so called women’s well wishers need to understand that women liberation is not all about wearing jeans, going to pubs, dancing in discos and working. It is all about acceptance as equals and availability of equal opportunities for them. Start at home……give them equal love and status….without any bias.