THINK ABOUT IT

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY SPECIAL

International Women's Day falls on March 8 every year - that means that it falls on Thursday, a day after tomorrow. The event which is being observed since 1913, marks the day which gives an opportunity to bring together global governments, women's organizations, businesses and charities together under the banner of International Women's Day. The day itself is marked with talks, performances, rallies, networking events and marches.

The theme of this year's International Women's Day is #PressForProgress which stresses on strong call-to-action to press forward and progress gender parity; a strong call to motivate and unite friends, colleagues and whole communities to think, act and be gender inclusive.

The original aim of International Women's Day was to achieve gender equality for women; which have not been realized yet. We are still stuck with the basic issues; female prenatal sex determination tests and feticide, rape, attempt to commit rape, kidnapping and abduction of women, dowry and dowry deaths, assault with intent to outrage modesty, insult to modesty, cruelty by husband or his relatives, abetment of suicide and importation of girls from foreign countries, indecent representation of women, immoral trafficking and domestic violence are the issues to name a few.

Then there are some lesser cruel but more prevalent struggles that we are dealing with till date- declining sex ratio, especially child sex ratio, decline in net attendance ratio, child marriage and so on. Also something which cannot be ignored is struggle of women who are aware of their rights and empowered, like work place harassment and pay-grade discrimination. It seems like a laundry list of women’s issues, but it is gestalt of struggle of ‘half of the mankind’. Saga of struggle; from female infanticide and ‘Sati Pratha’ centuries ago to female feticide and dowry killing today.

There is still a lot to tackle and a lot to eradicate, a lot to deal and a lot to accomplish, a lot to exercise and a lot to be entitled to. Although in such scenario, issues like Equal Pay still seems distant, that should in no way mean that we should not talk about equality when it comes to get paid. In fact we need to take couple of steps in one go and buck up. After all, the theme stresses on fastening the progress. But how can we?

World has been witnessing various ‘feminist movements’ (also known as the women's movement, and the concept simply feminism)which refers to a series of political campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence, all of which fall under the label of feminism and the feminist movement. The movement's priorities vary among nations and communities, and range from opposition to female genital mutilation in one country, to opposition to the glass ceiling in another. The bourgeois women's liberation movement and the proletarian women's liberation movement- both are feminist terms, and there is no difference between the two.

2017 has been quite a year and that’s where we can draw inspiration from. It was a year of resisting, of reckoning. It was a year of rollbacks and new challenges for women and girls in countless countries, from Egypt to the United States and Brazil. And it was a year of resilience and resistance on full display. As we look back on the past year, we are reminded of the undeniable power of women’s movements—because when women and girls come together, they are stronger, more effective in driving sustainable change, and better able to resist injustice, fear, and hate.

Last year also saw the rise of the #MeToo movement where women from all over the world came forward to share their story of sexually harassment. Then there was "Day Without a Woman" at the International Women's Day 2017 too.

Now look around, try to hear. What do you see? What do you hear? Not much. Right? Women Activism is still patchy in India. The Feminist movement here is still drawing its light from other movements of the world instead of beaming up itself. This is where we lack and that’s where we need to work upon.

How about pledging to be more conscious, more vigorous, more loud, clear and audible this INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY. Let’s understand the meaning of the movement and not weigh it down with our ignorance and misunderstanding. Let’s unite and support each other.