Another International Women's day

Hi women, men,
                             Ladies first!!! At least when one addresses as 'Ladies and gentlemen', and when a disaster strikes anywhere anytime, 'ladies and children' to be rescued first! Yep, ladies belong to weaker section and are still so today! It is so entrenched deep in our minds that we ladies ourselves feel there is nothing wrong in thinking like that! When the world celebrated International Women's Day on March 8th, was the day any different from rest of the days? Because it was a working day, for many women it was just another day of finishing the stressed up morning chores and rushing to the workplaces. How many men would have prepared to take over the never-ending chores just for that day? Even the womenfolk would not have let the men in  as the daily chores will not get over or come to a stand-still!
                                             How did you and me 'celebrate' women's day? It was just another day of forwarding wishes trying to feel more important and powerful. Are we weak on other days? No!! It is just that we are psychologically weakened for centuries by both men and women! So much so that we have taken so many things and thoughts for granted and we don't even know that! Slowly, but not surely, the days are a passe when a girl is asked whether she knows to cook when a matrimonial alliance is fixed. These days, every other family is happy if the girl is career oriented and well-placed. What has not still changed is the thought that girls when they are married , they automatically need to be good in multitasking, like managing household jobs which are never-ending, cooking, looking after kids, and of course , these are in addition to pursuing their careers. This does put a lot of pressure and stress on women when trying to fit into all the roles and never feeling a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day which leads to various health problems later on. In India, a negligible percentage of boys or men are trained to do household jobs and they remain unfit to share the burden of the demands of running a family. It still remains the prerogative of women and that is why a very less percentage of women occupy the top managerial levels. They are forced to quit their jobs somewhere in between to meet the demands of the household. Managing a household and a family is a thankless and unpaid job and that is the reason a woman who is a home maker (not a housewife) is still asked, what is she doing sitting at home all the day! Just to avoid this kind of questioning, many women get into the jobs they do not like.



                                                    Just a small example to show how women are tied up with the house. I have been going for running for the past one year in a group in a particular location in Bangalore. Majority of runners are men (no prizes for guessing), as women need to finish the morning chores to get their kids ready and then leave for workplaces. There is no alternative. To run that extra mile to inspire other women, they need to be superwomen! Recently, I slammed a pharmaceutical website 'Medicento' for wishing Happy women's day. This site portrayed woman as a 'mother, daughter, sister, friend- within her is power to create, nurture and transform!' I felt this sounded absurd and wrote in the comment part that 'one needs to respect a woman as an individual and not pressurize into these roles that she need to play!
                                                     There is a cooking page known as 'Tamil Brahmin's samayal' (cooking by Tamil Brahmins), where members click and post food pictures everyday. Of course, it is vegetarian cooking and majority of the photos are posted by women. I made a suggestion to the admin that on March 8th, let men cook and honestly post the pictures giving womenfolk a break on that day. The admin seemed to have noticed my suggestion, but before March 8, I was rudely thrown out of that group by one of the group admin members 'Smt Usha Kumar' over a small political difference, and when I tried to correct her that it should be 'wives of DECEASED soldiers (Pulwama) and not 'DISEASED soldiers as she had put! The website address is   https://www.facebook.com/groups/1739610039684016/ . This is just a small example of how intolerant and egoistic we women are and men are still uncomplicated compared to women! Please visit the page of Tamil Brahmin Samayal. Their address is:
                                                 https://www.facebook.com/groups/1739610039684016/


We have still a long way to go before we truly celebrate everyday as 'women's day'.

Thanks,

Just another woman- Deepa.