Women's Liberation

If you ask me if women’s liberation has been achieved in India, I would say, "there is a long way to go". It might seem that I am exaggerating things. But, it is not so. People have a wrong notion about "women’s liberation". Many think that it is just about girls getting educated and going out to work. Isn’t liberation a thing related to the "mindset" rather than "external" things? Surely, you would immediately expect me to elaborate on what I mean by "mindset" and "external". Hope what follows – starting from the next paragraph will make it clear. Before you further proceed, you have to understand that whatever I write here is having the "majority" of the Indian [or Tamilnadu - in particular] women/girls in mind. There are always exceptions and I have met them myself. But they are one in a million or so.

Education is one of the first steps towards liberation. Yet girls do not take that seriously. If it is not so, why is it that just three girls were there in the top 100 in Engineering rank list in my batch? Is it that girls were not given good education or is it that they did not have talent? It is merely because girls still think that there is no actual need for them to get educated. There are very few girls who think beyond getting graduated.

"...still girls give dowry on marriage, don’t ask their husband to help them in the kitchen, resign their job after marriage, rarely go abroad for higher studies..."

In India, women (and men too) still believe that it is a man’s job to run a family. When it comes to marriage, people look at the "salary" of the boy [and if he works in the US, preference is given] and "beauty" of the girl. Rarely does a girl marry a boy who gets a pay less than her (The reason is obvious: A boy wants his wife to be less brilliant than him… and they obviously think that salary is a measure of brilliance though it is not so!). As my classmate Venkataprasad pointed out in one of his posts, most of the Indian marriages leave one of the couples to remain unsatisfied with their marriage. I believe it is just because Indians still see "salary" and "beauty" as the main factors for marriage. Further, still girls give dowry on marriage, don’t ask their husband to help them in the kitchen, resign their job after marriage, rarely go abroad for higher studies and so on. I have observed that except for those who work in software companies, mostly girls limit their communication to a very few outside their family circle. Now, after all this, how could I say that women are "liberated"?

Further, girls want to prove that they are equal to boys in all aspects and they think that that is what is meant by "liberation". I have many a time wondered if girls wear jeans, t-shirts and pants just to have a satisfaction that they are equal to men in all aspects. Though they claim that they wear it just for comfort, I suspect if it is true. The reason is that a jean is a dress that is uncomfortable for anyone in Indian environment. It will suit only people in cold countries. Often people when speaking on women’s liberation compare men and women. They show Mother Teresa, Marie Curie, Indira Gandhi, Arundhathi Roy, Kiran Bedi and several other women as examples. Firstly, I don’t see any point in comparing men and women. That has nothing to do with women’s liberation. Men and women have different capabilities. By comparing themselves with men, women are achieving things lesser than what they actually can! Secondly, till the time one can list the number of women who have been "liberated" it just means that there are a lot more who are not liberated.

Many a time, men hinder the progress of women. There was a group of girls – seniors – in my college. They used to do some programme every year at the cultural show. The first programme of theirs that I saw was creative and good. It was like a dance-drama [with no dialogues] and the theme was about women’s liberation. But, the boys of our so-called one of the top institutes of Tamilnadu did all that they could do to disturb the show. The reason – the programme was by girls and it was about "women’s liberation".

They want to have all the advantages of being a woman and yet they want to be liberated also.

Though men are in many cases responsible for women not getting liberated, women too are responsible for it. They want to have all the advantages of being a woman and yet they want to be liberated also. I was shocked when I came to know that there is 33% reservation for girls in engineering colleges in Andhra. Reservations in any form do not help in progress.Why did not the women’s organizations fight against that? Where were those organizations when 33% reservation was suggested for Parliament? Why did not they oppose the concession given for girls in paying tax? I have seen elderly people wait in a long queue at a railway reservation counter just because many college girls were using the queue meant for "women and senior citizens". They could have very well used the common queue. But they wanted to take advantage of being a "woman". Then how could they dream of "liberation"?

Finally, as I end this blog, here is what I want to tell to women and men. To women I tell, "If at all you want to have liberation, change yourselves – at heart. Realize that men are not your competition. The talents and capabilities bestowed upon you are different. Utilize your potential to the maximum and you will be liberated". To men I tell, "If at all you want to see more development in the world in all fields, women are to be liberated. If still you insist on not doing that, world will always remain 50 years behind what could have been achieved".