Women's Day, Everyday! Anybody game?
Why do we celebrate womens day? Honestly I don't know. Why the flowers, chocolate and gifts and all the fuss. Now, people don't get me wrong, I did not intend to start on such a cynical note, but i guess it sets the tone for the post. Logically it doesn't seem to fit. In the western world, people dont live with immediate families after they are 18 or even younger. So only time they get together is for christmas or thanksgiving or if somebody is terminally ill! I could be wrong, but thats my understanding. So these are days like father's day mother's day or valentine's day (yes even couples live apart, they re called travelling couple!!! husband lives in one city and wife lives in another, even if they have no children, why i specifically say that is bcos here our mothers stay in one city for the children's education sake) are celebrated so that they get another chance to be together and foster their relationship. Then again this is largely promoted for business. Card sales, flowers, gifts, expensive dinners, clothes, spa treatment etc etc.My hubby once told me that Santa Claus is dressed in RED bcoz for the promotion of Coco Cola. This is re inforced in the recent Coke ad "naan romba crazy" where a guy hands a bottle of coke to a Santa.
Anyway back to the post. Now atleast Father and Mother and Valentine are different as all human beings dont get to father or mother a child and there are celibate men and women of God who dont have a valentine. But celebrating womanhood, the woman in you etc, did we choose to be born as a woman? Traditional Jewish men at the beginning of the daily morning prayers say:
"Blessed are you, Lord, our God, ruler the universe who has not created
me a woman". I dont know if they still do. God destined half the crowd to be male and other half to be female and they both compliment each other, because God is both male and female (remember we are created in His image). So it is the order of life and if life has to continue they have to be together as one body. Then how can you celebrate only one part of the body and leave the other. This is one argument.
Again there are so many who wish women thro email, msg and fb but still continue to treat them like BS. I have so many examples that this post will run out of page. A friend of mine got married came to Chennai, now the only person she knows in chennai is her husband and this is the first ever time she is coming to this part of the country. This husband takes an on-site project and leaves her alone in Chennai. Later does she comes to know that he was not interested in the wedding and got married under compulsion and now settled with his girl friend in a foreign country! This i read in an internet news couple divorced because the wife gave birth to a deformed child! Whose fault is that now? How many daughter-in-laws are still ill-treated for not giving birth to a male child. Another friend got married and went to the high tech city but they were remotely operated by the father in law in down south TN. Once due to non compliance this girl was made to kneel and apologise to all village elders to save the marriage! what did the husband do? nothing. Now mind you, all this happened to well educated post graduate women, who are also employed! You can imagine the plight of other not so educated women who get beaten up by the drunk husband and robbed of their precious earnings. Like I said it will go on and on...
So I would like to conclude that treat us like human beings, as your
equals ALWAYS. Thats like celebrating women's day everyday. How many of
us are game for that? I guess half the crowd is gone... So we will stop
taking the easy way out of celebrating one day and trashing us for the
rest of the year. How we celebrate it is an entirely different post but
just a few tid bits. Make time for them, it's giving a part of your
life, read somewhere so it's also very costly. Call your mom to enquire
if she had her lunch, play with your daughter/son, baby sit for your
friend, cook for you wife, run errands for your grandma. You want to
appreciate the women in your life, give them your time.
Thanks to Jeremiah's picture
Comments
A well thought-out post, I must say. Most of the problems that you mention somewhere connect to the patriarchal tradition of honour and family name ad somehow it boils down to women being the safe-guards of the same. And most women are sucked into believing that they SHOULD keep the honour of the family intact. Thankfully this is slowly changing but in spite of that there continues to be cases like the ones you've mentioned.
And the commercialisation of days like this one is somewhere building on the idea that women should carry on with their roles but it should be made easier - the gadgets, the ads and every proclamation stresses on that. A woman is always recognised by the roles she plays - mother, sister, daughter, spouse, aunt and so on. It's high time the system sees her as a woman - for the worth she possesses in spite of the roles she straddles.
Good post.
Joy always,
Susan
P. S. Sorry for the long comment.
It is the marketing agencies who exploit the loopholes.
Yes, we do not want to be celebrated or trashed. We just want our men to treat us equally, ALWAYS!
Loved this post. :)