Understanding The True Nature Of Women’s Day

Women’s Day is being celebrated on 8th March with full vigor and enthusiasm. Women’s Day does not entail being treated to a lunch or dinner; or buying clothes or jewelry. I wish the shops would stop this false advertising of this day. Respect women for who they are and not treat them as slaves who cook and take care of kids. 

Women’s Day had started in the 1848 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott started a convention where they demanded religious, social, political and civil rights for the women. The 1908 garment workers strike showed the terrible working conditions of women in USA. 28th February was United States first Women’s Day to protest against the ill treatment of women. The United Nations formed the “Fundamental Freedoms for All” charter on 24th October 1945 to eliminate discrimination based on sex etc and give equal fundamental rights to all. Eleanor Roosevelt urged women to become actively involved in national and international affairs of the country. The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) fosters equality of women in all fields and ensures women get their rights. Throughout history we have seen a progression of the fight to give women an equal right. Yet today also men are paid more than women in the workplace and given leverage. 

This year the Women’s Day theme is to “Inspire Inclusion” where women’s voice will be heard and given importance. A mere granting of a seat in the assembly is not sufficient. The women’s ideas need to be implemented. Today a man still buys a house in his own name and the woman is just living in his house. The woman still gets the kid ready for the school while the man goes to the gym. The man is busy so the kid goes for tuition. The woman has to take care of every relative that visits the house irrespective of whether her health is good or not. A woman’s can never be busy in pampering herself. She always has to first take care of everyone’s needs. She can only work but when trouble arises she has to give her home the importance. She is married and cannot perform her parents’ last rites. The puja is always given in her husband’s name. A single woman is still looked down upon society and people will keep pestering her to get married. She cannot disclose her marital problems to anyone. Divorce is a shame she brings to her parents. She has to have a baby or else is looked down upon as a useless woman. Her skills are limited to cooking and home decoration. 

A woman needs to have the equal rights as a man from childhood. She should be allowed to study with the same vigor as a man. She should be given more exposure to all fields like art and science. The focus should be on quality education. Women should be allowed to realize their full potential before they can compete against men in the professional world. Women need a safe world where they can ride back home in public transport at night without being molested or raped. Their clothes should not be made fun of. When women are given economic freedom then the inequalities are slowly reduced. Why do 12 percent of women spend their free time in doing housework in comparison to 6 percent of men doing housework in their free time? Research has proven that women are paid less in jobs they excel at. Women even get less pension. We celebrate Women’s Day yet we forget to ensure that women are given equal rights in every arena of life starting from birth.    

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