Indian society is a patriarchal society. There is no doubt in it. Women are still not safe in this country. We hear this every now and then. If you are a girl, you cannot roam around in the streets at night. Chances of getting molested and raped are maximum at night. If something happens, all the blame is put on the women. In some parts of the country, women are not even safe inside the house. They are bound to so many restrictions. In some families, the birth of a girl child is not even celebrated. And, in some places, they are killed before they get to see the world. Is it not ironic that we have got independence 70 years back, but are in the same place still ? Why is the condition of women same yet? Why are we so conservative even today?
In today's India, when we think of women, we cannot use cliche in describing her conditions. There are two clear-cut identities of women. One is enjoying all the rights as much as a man gets to enjoy.On the contrary, the other one is deprived of even the smallest of resources and is a major victim in the society. Many a times, these women who enjoy the rights are themselves the reason why the other category of women are not getting equal status in the society. Traditions and customs are imposed on a woman by another woman in most of the cases. It is a tradition for bride to leave her family after the marriage. Nobody questions this. From the very beginning, a girl is made well aware of the fact that one day she will have to leave her family. She cannot go against it and escape. If she tries to, society starts raising questions on her character . Everytime, it is the girl who is portrayed as a villain. Even if she is sexually harassed, society raises questions on her clothes, habits, friendship circle, etc. But believe me, I have heard of cases where a woman wearing 'burkha' or a child as small as 2 months, got raped. The problem exists is in our mentality and not in the women.
'All men are the same. ' We keep on hearing this statement very often. But what does the word 'same' signify here? For me, it is ambiguous. So, I do not believe in this philosophy at all. To understand the situation of women in India todat, we first need to understand the fact that not all men are the same. Also, not all women are the same. Here, I am in no way favouring men. I am well aware of the fact that more than half of the wrongdoings are done by men. The argument I am trying to out forward is- can a man speak for women?
Men can never understand what a women goes through in her life. Only the person who gets burned knows the pain of getting burned. The other person can only sympathise. In the same way, men can sympathise as well. In my view, they can speak for women, if they wish to. If we look back into history, many men have raised their voices against the evils done to the women. Raja Ram Mohan Roy is one of the prominent figures through which I can explain my point clearly. 'Sati' pratha was widely practiced in our country. Widow was burnt alive along with the dead body of her husband. What could be more cruel than this to a female body? Raja Ram Mohan Roy was the one who showed his concern for the need to abolish 'Sati'. Similarly, there are examples of many other men who fought for women's safety and rights.
As a women, all I want is equality in society. I do not crave for special rights. I crave for equality between men and women. And, if in this process men are also contributing, I do not find anything wrong in it. Obviously, everyone has his/her own share of opinions. People are free to disagree with me. Women have already been speaking and raising their voice against the social evils done to another woman. If the other half of the society, that is, the men, start speaking fir men, then India's dream of having an egalitarian society would be achieved at a much faster rate. The current need of the hour is that the citizens realize- all that
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