Wednesday, April 1, 2015
MY IDEAS ON FEMINISM: FEMINISM REDEFINED
MY IDEAS ON FEMINISM: FEMINISM REDEFINED: FEMINISM REDEFINED “I think women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and alwa...
FEMINISM REDEFINED
FEMINISM REDEFINED
“I think
women are foolish to pretend they are equal to men, they are far superior and
always have been” –
this famous quote
from Nobel Laureate William Golding pretty
much sums up what the writer wishes to enumerate in the following lines. There
can be no better time than the International Women’s Day to celebrate the
beauty of this amazing creation of god.
The history is filled with examples which have proven time
and again that the so called “fairer sex” has infact been the guiding light of
humanity since the stone ages, and that is the reason why we find statues and
lithographs referring to the female gods in all the ancient civilizations, be
it Athena-the Greek goddess of wisdom and poetry , Diana the Roman goddess of moon,
fertility and childbirth or our very own
Goddess Lakshmi who provides us with abundance of material and spiritual
wealth.
According to scholars, women in
ancient India enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of
life. Rigvedic verses
suggest that women married at a mature age and were probably free to select
their own husbands. Scriptures
such as the Rig Veda and Upanishads mention several women sages and seers, notably Gargi and Maitreyi ,also worth mentioning is queen Dharma, mother of king
Ashoka who taught him the doctrine of non violence that converted him into an
icon and hero of non violence in Indian history !!
However their status began to
deteriorate by the fifth century onwards, later with the advent of Islamic
invasion and consequent restrictions in
other religions lead to worsening of women’s freedom and rights .
Medieval India saw further
degradation in the status of women ,be it in the form of Child marriages, ban on widow remarriage,
Sati, purdah pratha, the Jauhar of the
Rajput’s or the Devadasi system practiced in religious places of south India
where the women were abused in all ways possible. The women of those torrid
times still managed to fight and gain prominence in history, Chand Bibi the
savior of Ahmednagar against the Mughal Forces , Razia Sultana the only female
ruler of Delhi, the Gond queen Rani Durgavati or the famous medieval saint
Mirabai are few worth mentioning .
The British Raj showed signs of
recovery for the status of women, but only after a defined struggle by the
great social activists like Raja Ram
Mohun Roy whose consistent struggle led to the passing of the Abolition of sati
act in 1829, Ishwar Chandra vidyasagar The great scholar and reformer, helped
open thirty five schools for education of women in India.
The first struggle for Independence
in 1857 saw the heroics of one of the
most idiolised women of all times, Rani Lakshmibai, who fought valiantly
against the Britishers and martyred for the cause of our motherland. The below
words describe the amount of fear and respect she created in the minds of our
colonial rulers.
“The Ranee was
remarkable for her bravery, cleverness and perseverance; her generosity to her
Subordinates was unbounded. These qualities, combined with her rank, rendered
her the most dangerous of the rebel leaders."
-- General Sir High Rose
Officer commanding the force that took Jhansi and Gwalior.[To the Women of India (Young India, Oct. 4, 1930)]”
Annie Besant , Though she was British socialist she was a supporter of
Indian self-rule. In 1890 she joined Theosophical society as a member and later
became its President , She joined Indian National Congress and once
became president of the Congress for one year. Her active participation in
politics gave way to Indians to gain independence.
Sarojini Naidu , popularly known as “the
nightingale of India” contributed towards freedom struggle by joining politics
during the wake of Partition of Bengal in 1905, she has many first credit tags
to her credit- she acted as first governor of the United Provinces of Agra and
Oudh, with this she also became first woman to become governor of any Indian
state. She was the second woman to become the president of Indian national Congress
and the first Indian woman to become so.
The list of great Freedom fighters is
endless, be it Kamla Nehru, Begum Hazrat
Mahal ,Vijay Lakshmi Pandit, Aruna Asaf Ali, or kastuba Gandhi, they took
active participation in mobilizing the masses, creating awareness ,awaking the
country from a slumber of sleepiness ,picketing shops, boycotting government
,taking part in protests, political ideas ,revolutionary conspiracies and doing
whatever was needed of them.
Coming to the present times, the world
of globalization and liberalization has been facing more challenges from
amongst itself, there are new and peculiar problems that have been emerging , and
like always the world has needed the expertise of Women to fight the odds and that is why they are called the ‘better
halves’,.
The Margaret Thatchers,(Longest serving
PM of the UK) the Marlyn munroes (American actress ,singer who personified
beauty) Catherine’s (Empress of Russia)
,have made this world a better and beautiful place to live in.
In the world of Philanthropy , the great
light of Mother Teresa shines bright
,and the present world is illuminated by the fight against terriorism and for
the education of girl child by Noble Peace prize winner Malala Yousufzai.
Mary Kom, Sania Mirza, Anna Kournikova,
Williams sisters,Saina Nehwal etc have been
idols in the field of sports
And who can forget the contribution of
women in space research ,our very own Kalpana Chawla and Sunita Williams have
made our heads proud and our flags waving even in space.
The Blings and shine is although, restricted
to very small pockets of the pie chart defining women, most still live in
underpreviliged conditions, Meternal Mortality rate has been very high in parts
of Africa and Asia, slavery and low levels of education is still a major
setback and women are not able to enjoy the fruits of life.they are denied
basic human requirements .
The December 16 gang Rape case of
Nirbhaya, the girlchild we worship, is a blot on the face of India, more so on
the men of this nation, the recent Interview (now banned) by one of the rapist
claiming that the poor girl should have allowed the rape without resisting and
she was killed because of that, shows the mentality of a band of men inhabiting
the country and the need to change the mindset before changing the laws.
Girls are bought and sold like commodity
in the market, prostitution is thriving in places where there is a skewed sex
ratio ,like in Haryana, UP and Punjab where girls from poorer states are sold
as brides and for sex, brothels are unregulated, sex education is desolate ,resulting in STD’s to most of these women.
The writer of this essay is himself a
supporter of feminine rights but finds some actions of feminists as populist
and irrational, these people try to
promote themselves and their own ideas under the garb of feminism and that
hurts the credibility of the whole movement, feminism ought not be a movement
of super ‘touchy’ factors, of providing ultimate powers and bringing down the
men ,it’s a man’s world out there and to make it equal ,there is a need of
willing support and participation of the majority of males, by sensitizing
issues that show the women to be weak (when she is not) , does not help but
alienates the male population from the movement, some women have also settled
scores by using the laws made to protect the women ,this is no feminism but a
clear misuse of the movement. Women are not weak , they are strong, they need
support at some times ,but things ought to be brought to a level playing field
when prima facie, a clear case is made
out .
It is not that steps have not been taken
by the government and society in this regard, some watersheds in women’s
movement are as follows
1971 National Committee on the status of
Women was setup
1983 Rape laws amended
1984 Dowry prohibitions law amended and
stringent sections imposed
1986 indecent Representation of Women
bill passed
1987 Sati Prevention Bill passed
1990 National Commission for Women setup
1992 Reservation created for women in
local self government .
2005 Hindu Succesion (amendment) act
2005, gives women equal coparcenary rights
2006 Prevention of domectic Violence act.
The most recent changes in law have been
in the wake of Delhi Gangrape , The Criminal
Law (Amendment) Act, 2013 passed by the Lok sabha on 19
March 2013, and by the Rajya Sabha on 21 March 2013, which provides for
amendment of Indian Penal Code, Indian
Evidence Act, and Code
of criminal Procedure ,1973 on laws related to
offences of sexual nature.
This new Act has expressly
recognised certain acts as offences which were dealt under related laws. These
new offences like, acid attack, sexual harassment, voyeurism, stalking have
been incorporated into the Indian Penal Code.
Yes ,we accept problems exist,
accepting and solving them is always a better option than denying and allowing
them to thrive, what better day than the International women’s day to discuss
these problems and mobilize awareness among masses, as India is home to one
sixth of the human population, it also means the same quantity of women live
here, a society that does not allow its women an equal right is bound to live
in destitute .
Some solutions as suggested by
the writer are
·
Giving reservation to women (legitimate and real opportunities)
·
Giving more property rights to women
·
Changing the mindset and attitude towards them
·
Reforming laws with respect to violence and ill treatment of
women
The reforms such as the above
ones and also those suggested by experts can go a long way in improving the
situation of the Women in our country and consequently serve as a benchmark for
other nations where they face similar problems .
To conclude I will quote
Mahatma Gandhi and his thoughts on Women -
"To call woman the
weaker sex is a libel; it is man's injustice to woman. If by strength is meant
brute strength, then, indeed, is woman less brute than man. If by strength is
meant moral power, then woman is immeasurably man's superior. Has she not
greater intuition, is she not more self-sacrificing, has she not greater powers
of endurance, has she not greater courage? Without her, man could not be. If
nonviolence is the law of our being, the future is with woman. Who can make a
more effective appeal to the heart than woman?"
RANJAN TOMAR
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