International Women’s Day
International Women’s Day is a global holiday celebrated annually on March 8th to commemorate the cultural, political, and social and economic achievements of women. It is also a focal point in the women’s rights movement, bringing attention to issues such as gender equality, reproductive rights, and violence and abuse against women. November 19th is celebrated as “Men’s Day” by men for the same reason. The only difference is that here it’s a woman and there it’s a man.
When the word “celebrate” appears, we tend to get carried away with celebrations. We eat, drink, dance, and celebrate. But what is the true meaning of being a woman? In my opinion it is “Motherhood”. Motherhood does not mean one has to give birth to a baby. Motherhood is imbibed in not just women, but in every human being. Today we have several religions, but the essence of each religion is lost in the world. There are very few people who really understand what their religion says. People are being too staunch about the rules of religion says. Similarly, there are a lot of women who misunderstand the word ‘empowerment’. Empowerment is the process of becoming strong, confident, and forging one’s own path by asserting one’s rights and faithfully carrying out one’s responsibilities. Today we have people who celebrate and claim their rights but conveniently forget the responsibilities.
A true woman is the one that understands the other woman, elevates the underprivileged, shares her light on the path of success and recognition. However, it is common to see women who crave recognition and hijack the success and recognition of others, all the while claiming to be the power center. Let us take a moment this Women’s Day to reflect, look within, and ask ourselves a simple question. Am I a true woman? Do I have empathy for my friends, colleagues, and daughter-in-law or sister-in-law? Do I cheat for my gain—a lie here and there, a truth hidden on purpose? One need to work on the same if the answers are in question.
If we go back to history, we have great women who held hands with other women and stood against great tyrants in deep, agonizing pits of despair, but with a firm determination to raise, elevate, and end the distress of their fellow women. Despite having the title and all the luxuries, people like Rajkumari Amrit Kaur were freedom fighters and staunch supporters of women’s rights. The co-founder of the All-India Women’s Conference in 1927 rose to become the president of the organization in 1933. She was the one who first spoke against the child marriage and pardah system of India. She took charge of the Ministry of Health in Nehru’s tenure and was the first woman to hold cabinet rank. In 1950, she became the president of the World Health Assembly – the first woman to hold that position.
Irom Chanu Sharmila, also known as the Iron Lady, is a civil rights activist, a political activist, and a poet—
Why blame fate endlessly?
Prove your strength, sister…
Dream your destiny as birthright
A high seat awaits you here.
After the Malom massacre (November 2000), Irom Chanu Sharmila could not bear the situation and took a 16 year long fast, which ended in August of 2016. She has been helpful in leading the fight against revoking the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which would restrain the power and corruption of the armed forces. She did not ascribe the happenings to fate and has taken a staunch step to irradicate the evil, for which she was taken into judicial custody by the government. Her strength and resilience stay rigid, making the world a better place to be.
MSN Poll named her the top woman icon in India on International Women’s Day (2014).
There are people, not just women, who contributed to the freedom that we are enjoying today. If we are celebrating womanhood in this era, then we must salute and prostrate to these women and more like them who made it possible for us to step out of family life and show the world who we are. Here I should mention Mahatma Gandhi, who in his speech mentioned that the female sex is the nobler of the two as it is the embodiment of sacrifice, silent suffering, humility, faith, and knowledge. He quoted that “of all the evils for which man has made himself responsible, none to me is so degrading, so shocking, so brutal as his abuse of the better half of humanity, the female sex, not the weaker sex” (CW. XXI: p. 105). In his speech at Bhagini Samaj, Bombay, in February 1918, he said that women were entitled to a supreme place in their own sphere of activity as men were in theirs.
On this Women’s Day, I pledge to remember the sacrifices, fights, agitations, and desperation of great people without whom I could not be literate enough to author this article. I thank every woman in my family at my workplace who stood as an inspiration to me and made me who I am today.
I hope soon I see a world where no gender needs to be empowered.