6 Nov 2013

#32 Gender Disparity

Gender disparity


This article has been written in response to an article that was published in TOI(Times of India) on 27th NOV,2013 under the section Times Nation , entitled “ India’s gender gap among the worst” . According to the Global Gender gap index released by the World Economic Forum, India stood at 101 in list of 136 nations. India ranked a lowly 101st of 136 countries, indicating a huge disparity in access of women to economic, political, educational, health care opportunities and their participation in such services. While India has bettered its rank by 4 positions from previous years, it emerged at the near bottom of the heap. Laxmi Lingamdeputy directorTata Institute of Social Sciences, believes India has traditionally being Schizophrenic in its treatment of women, worshipping them on the one hand and neglecting the girl child on other. The only sign of optimism lies in the political empowerment of women. Despite parliamentary dithering over the passage of women’s reservation bill for equal representation in the legislature, India bagged a healthy 9th rank when it came to political empowerment of its women.
      
So, by now Indians might have got aware of their position in treating the women of their country, if not then there is a strong need of introspection. Since childhood, we’ve been made to feel that we live in a patriarchal society where all the important decisions reside in the hands of men. The girls as infant grow up in fear in their hearts, no matter how successful they become in their lives, they have never been able to keep themselves out of this vicious and ugly cycle of discrimination. There is absolutely no wrong in adoption of patriarchal form of society until the rights and aspirations of the opposite gender are preserved. It is unfortunate to state that the mindset of some men have not changed after the tragic incident happened to Nirbhaya. In spite of getting lesson from this incidence, violence against women is still on rise. It’s completely shameful to find the newspaper filled with the news of cases of violence against women.  This curtails a woman’s freedom in many spheres, the most important being safety. They have to think many times on what they wear, where they want to go and at what time which is just ridiculous. Even though this fast paced electronic era has been successful enough to reduce the geographical distances between the countries, yet the gap between a boy and girl still remains unbridged. If you carefully look at the advancements made by the women, then you will feel difficulty in finding an area where women have not proved their supremacy. If you start the process of citing the examples of success of women from history to till date in a chronological order, you may probably never accomplish this task in your lifetime!! Malala’s speech against Taliban on the issue of education of Women, “Women are strong but Taliban fears that they may grow stronger through education” indicates a male’s insecurity of his position. In the words of ex President of USA, Abraham Lincoln “You can never make someone strong by making the stronger one weak.”  For fair competition between the two genders, the prerequisites must be equal opportunities.

It is totally absurd to state women to be the weaker section of the society and there by exempting them from taking up tasks that the opposite gender can perform. It is nothing that a woman can’t perform and a male can better than them. Women are beautiful creations of God and should be offered equal opportunities. They want respect and dignity from the society as they constitute an integral part of it.

I would like to end this article through a sms(after making few amendments) lying dormant in the inbox of my mobile. Here it goes:

It’s great to be a girl
We are the epitome of beauty and charm
We can use tear as threat
We can be both sweet and furious
We are the centre of universe,
We are the subjects of all most all love songs.
We are the most sought after species on this planet,
We don’t always mean what we say,
We don’t always say what we mean.
Our handwriting- better than boys.
We are daddy’s priceless princess
Mom’s helping hands
Every elder brother’s adorable doll
 Younger brother’s teacher
Sister’s best company
That’s why we are born in this world
And we are proud to be girls.

NOTE: This article does not intend to hurt the sentiments of any individual.

Swati Sarangi
4.11.2013




4 comments:

  1. Hello, my name is Daniel Kim, and I wanted to let you know that I have been following your blog for about three months. I was really impressed with your opinions and ideas. I now read your blog everyday.

    Now a little bit about myself, I have been blogging since 2010, so about 3 years give or take. I write my blog www.dailyopinioninternational.com . Well, if you wouldn't mind looking at my site and giving me your opinions, I would really appreciate it. Also, would you be interested in guest blogging for my blog. My blog gets about 5000 views a month.
    I really like your blog.

    Thanks,
    Daniel

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your encouraging words. I visited your blog and you also write awesome..

      Delete
  2. Well crafted blog. But it shows the same general resentment. It would be better if you showcase your own feelings. In India we don't respect our mothers but do talk big on gender disparity. Well everybody came to their senses after the episode of "Nirbhaya", as if nobody was aware of that problem before and now as the dust has settled down, the revolt also died down. Somebody wise correctly said, "aaj aurat hi aurat ki sabse badi dushman hai", currently the greatest enemy of a woman is yet another woman.
    ₹FOOD FOR THOUGHT₹

    P.s: I don't want to start a war of arguments. It may seem offensive to you nut trust me it was not directed towards the author, it is just an attempt to expose a weakness of human psyche (appliying to me as well) .Although a beautiful article, it is based on a popular anger. Write about what YOU think!. You have a rare talent of writing .Use your words as a medium to show your discontent and people around you.

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    Replies
    1. @Anonymous: I would like to draw your attention to the opening lines of this article i.e this article has been written in response to an article published in Times Of India.

      In India,people do respect their mothers a lot. What prompted me to write this article is the research stuff published in Times of India. I was shocked to see the rank of India, who claims to be a super nation in coming years. There have been numerous cases of violence against women but most of those cases are suppressed and hence they go unreported. Nirbhaya's case was one of those tragic cases.

      It's not the time for one gender to blame the other and initiate a blame game rather it's a time to stay consolidated to root out the evils thriving in our society.

      Thanks for taking all the pain to read this LONG article and also for devoting your time in framing YOUR views. In the words of Buddha,"Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace."
      Have a nice day. :)

      Delete