“A woman is human.
She is not better, wiser, stronger, more intelligent, more creative, or more responsible than a man.
Likewise, she is never less.
Equality is a given.
A woman is human.”
― Vera Nazarian, The Perpetual Calendar of Inspiration
On the occasion of International Women's Day, we had a celebration held in our college today where we all joined in to glorify women. There were a lot of competitions for the students and all the events contained something that was an eye-opener for me. Some students chose to highlight the fact that a lot of women are still subjected to violence of some kind. Others opted to showcase women achievers from various fields. The rest pointed out the resilience of women over the ages.
Listening into everyone's opinions got me thinking on the subject. Yes, as women we do have certain issues that needs solving. But in my opinion, to truly celebrate Women's Day, we must revel in those facts that strengthen us and make us women. In this, I am also firm on the fact that we MUST NOT do this by belittling men and comparing ourselves with them. In this, I totally agree with the quote mentioned above as well as the one that follows-
“Men are from Earth, women are from Earth. Deal with it.”
― George Carlin
Famous writers like Mary Wollstonecraft and Elaine Showalter have highlighted this very point in their writings. As the former puts it- “I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.”
I agree wholeheartedly with this quote to the extent that as women, we must be able to create an identity for ourselves without stepping on anyone's toes. The world is big enough to accommodate both genders and is able to host both identities separately. To even compare each others’ strengths and weaknesses is as absurd as comparing apples and oranges in my opinion.
Being a woman, I am acutely aware of all the issues that we currently face. But isn’t it also a fact that men are suffering, perhaps in different ways- even those perpetrated by women? I am not trying to belittle anyone’s problems here. But when we can take off our rose-tinted glasses and view the world in a more rational and non-stereotypical and non-biased way, perhaps women banded together can achieve a lot more things than we already have and not at the expense of putting down anyone. The crucial thing to remember here is that we are aiming towards equality and by using someone else as a step-hold on our way to success immediately means that there is a lack of balance already. As we all know, for the scales to balance, there must be equal weightage on both sides.
Therefore, let us, for a time forget all the suffering we have undergone over the ages. Let us bypass the sensitive issues that are threatening to pull us under. Let us see them as what they actually are- bullies. And as all of us know, the best way to deal with bullies is by displaying our own strengths. We must learn to identify our strengths and how to accurately put it to use. There is an old story in Hindu Mythology where the guru teaches his students that a collection of sticks tied together display such unbreakable strength which a single stick cannot show. Thus, all of us must learn to stick together no matter the issue and learn to defend ourselves in a united way.
In the end, the message I feel that we must all follow is- ‘We must identify ourselves as human first. We must understand we are all nothing more than reflections of each other- as though manifested through hundreds of thousands of billions of mirrors. To harm one is to harm others. Recognize the strengths within you and acknowledge the same exists within everyone around us. Gender is just something that keeps us apart. Much like the concept of Yin-Yang, we need both masculine and feminine characters within ourselves to bring about a balance within the body. The same must be true of the universe around us I feel.’
Happy International Women’s Day! Celebrate the female within you!!!
A nice write-up Ma'am, I liked it. Indeed, the woman of today has stopped comparing herself with the man, she has kept her own achievements as records to be broken. Basically, the competition now has come down to the individual level - where the battle to win is within. Your write-up reminds me of a few lines from Sojourner Truth's poem, "Ain't I a Woman?" - "If the first woman God ever made was strong enough to turn the world upside down all alone, these women together ought to be able to turn it back, and get it right side up again."
ReplyDeleteCheers to the celebration of womanhood and the rising spirit in all women.
Happy International Women's Day to you to Ma'am!