On 8th March every year, we women have to remind obvious and thought-provoking reasons justifying the existence of International Women's Day. Ever-so male dominant society gatekeepers find it amusing that an entire gender is on board to have a celebratory victory lap for themselves. Setting stances of women leadership on professional fronts, citing examples of women being at the forefront as political leaders, the opposite gender raises flags of equality and questions the 'need' to celebrate this day. If keeping up with male-biased opinions was not annoying enough, explaining the commemoration of this day just might be it. The real 'need' is not just to celebrate this day by sharing the achievements of women but also to remind that how women are stuck in a loop of discrimination and have to prove themselves even in the 21st century.
An overarching holistic view about International Women's day does lead to a very common misunderstanding that sometimes fades the difference between feminism and a day for mere appreciation. Given that feminism can be an allocated stance for unhinged discriminatory behavior against women that we fail to see as a society. To back it all up let's have a look at the numbers and facts.
The recent findings of a study by Pew Research Center on how Indians view gender roles in families and societies state that two-thirds of Indians “completely agree” that a wife must “always obey” her husband. Roughly one-third of adults feel childcare should be “primarily handled” by women.
According to a recent survey about gender discrimination, only 23% of Indians said there is “a lot of discrimination against women in India". 16% of Indian women reported that they personally faced discrimination because of their gender in the year months before the 2019-2020 survey.
Maybe the majority of our society likes to keep their horse-blinkers on this very holistic view that everything is just 'fine' in our diverse world.
A bottomless shelf of pity and shame surrounds our so-called 21st century with the word “Dowry”. One would think that through education, there's greater sensitization regarding this age-old practice. However, studies have proved that educated grooms often demand greater dowries ---using their higher education as leverage. In fact, it’s unlikely that education alone can trump the decades of conditioning that has made dowry an almost inseparable part of India’s socio-economic fabric.
Also read: International Women's Day 2022: 3 Laws every working woman should know
Well! you ask what women need? A need for a developed social space for a gender that graces earth with life, strength, and crucial of them all motherhood. I still fail to see why there is a love-hate relationship between us and the world. Maybe it's how it was meant to be or how it is designed to be but definitely not what women deserve to deal with.
Anyhow a celebratory day doesn't seem that bad, now does it?
Also read: The not so subtle art of mansplaining: If someone tells you 'Bro trust me', call out the mansplainer
