International Women’s Day comes and goes every year and how much attention do we pay to it! The first ever IWD was celebrated in 1911 with the support of a million voices and today of course we know women have come a long way in the fight for a gender equal world…or have they? The fight continues through ups and downs and on IWD generally speaking many women who’re conscious of the day do get together to celebrate their day! Sometimes men join in too. Women toast each other and ask themselves if they’re happy or could they be happier…what would it take for a woman to be happy? Goan Observer decided to find out by asking a few women and men what they wish for women today and we got some interesting observations, comments, advice, to think it for whatever good it may do!
International Women’s Day contribution by Saloni & Suri!
Gender Sensitisation
Behavioral psycology
Describes
Three major types
Of learning,
Classical conditioning,
Operant conditioning ^
Observational learning.
The process of learning
Never stops, but rather is always ongoing,
As stimulus conditions
Change, so too will behavior
And understanding
A girl or woman is not a
Lesser mortal,
Society can’t treat her as
silent chattel
Ignore the woman of
Substance at your own peril,
But dare not try to mess with
her against her will
Girls and women were not born
To just present bouquets or
Look decorative,
Both men and women must
Understand that choice is
Every human’s prerogative
Just Chool & Mool’ cannot
Reinforce a woman’s destiny,
Women have miles to travel
Forglass ceiling’ mutiny
Women must move beyond
Just filing in everyone else’s
Blanks,
About time they enjoy
Multiple choice questions
With thanks
Men and women must both
Learn, unlearn and relearn the
Joys of `gender sensitization’,
For there can be no real
Progress without a balanced gender equation
Media must portray and
Empower more positive role
Models of women,
Regressive dialogues in films
Reflect patronizing psyche and
Acumen
Both genders must bat, bowl
and field fairly,
None must misuse their
Unique powers unfairly
Vital both men and women
Become torch-bearers of
Gender parity,
And light the
Inter-generational gender
Lamp of equal opportunity.
WOMAN STORY (for Neelafoi)
Never ask a woman where her
life has gone,
Between reluctant parents,
suspicious in-laws
With their broken glass words
Forever in search of obedient bahu.
Why do women obey so easily
In mind and body, heart and soul?
Numbness sets in pretending
Better days will come.
They never come, between coping
And hoping in a time-machine
Of the years,
As they go back and forth…
There is so much timelessness
In a woman’s life!
Her life is gone
Even before she can lift her eyes
In the clear sunshine of the truth
between truths —
yours, mine and ours.
It’s all over as she retires
In silences.
From year to year, month to month,
Day to day.
It’s hard to tell if the days are longer
Or the nights…
Forever taking refuge in memories
Of yesteryear,
As they turn more frail and gossamer thin,
The dreams which never were!
So never ask a woman where her
life has gone,
Here again, gone the next.
The children grow up offering
Little flower or fruit
For the soul.
Various family members take a toll
As she slips away into a dark hole
Of paralysis…
Hello, where are you?
Are you still all there?
Who are you?
The years, months, days all knot up,
And become impossible to unravel.
The tangled dreams one lived
Behind doors, curtains, walls…
Waiting endlessly for nightfall,
And a cold water bath —
To sleep in the womb of darkness
Or a marbled tomb,
if you like!
Forever in search of a sunrise
Or sunset,
Maybe a rainbow —
To sail away on a wafer thin
Hope, almost
Like a sacrament.
Lulling away to sleep forever,
When all the colors have fled.
So never ask a woman where her
Life has gone!
— Tara Patel
I wish for women of India and the world….
Vishal P G, Self-Employed: Woman – this beautiful creation of God, the angel on Earth who makes our life a wonderful experience altogether. All of are born from the womb of a woman and it is a woman from whom great people have taken their life’s initial teachings. She is the creative force of the world in almost all expressions and it is her guiding hands, tender love and care that it finds expression. And to emphasise these qualities of women, we honour them by celebrating International Women’s Day: commemorating social, political and economic achievements of women over the years.
The life of a woman is full of hardships and dependency. A woman is the most multitasking human being on this planet. A woman works relentlessly: putting more hours than there are in a single day: both at homemaking and in the professional world, still managing to look fresh all the time. She is mother, wife, daughter, sister, friend, counsellor, juggling all roles to perfection. Hence, the theme for this International Women’s Day 2020 is ‘Each for Equal’. Empowering women is very necessary to bring gender equality, or let’s say gender equality is necessary to empower women. Mahatma Gandhi once said, “A woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacity.” Men should understand that women are not around only to handle household chores or take responsibility of home and family. Instead, both men and women are responsible for their daily routine. And it is observed today that women are capable of doing more complex tasks than a man’s capability. The world needs to salute women for their contributions to society. International Women’s Day is all about making women realise their worth and motivating them to achieve as per their true potential and not restrain themselves into captivity. Women are meant to achieve greater goals at different stages of life. So let us all respect, honour, uplift, worship and make her feel that she is worthy of being treated like a goddess, no less.
Naari Shakti Zindabaad !!!
Karen Dias, legal adviser: I wish women support other women more. Be quicker to accept and slower to judge. Too many times I’ve heard women say they don’t like women and that men are easier to get along with, etc. Men and women are different and each gender has its own quirks, challenges and oddities. Having men as friends is fine. But you need women too. Being a woman is complex. We face challenges both internally (hormones, etc) and externally (societal expectations, physical and mental assaults, etc). Wouldn’t it be nice if we could automatically stand together and support each other even if we don’t always understand where the other is coming from? Acceptance and support is more important than understanding. Next time you’re angry with a woman give her the benefit of the doubt. You may be doing yourself a favor.
Ruksana bhandari, teacher: What else will a women wish other than feeling SAFE in her own state.
Rape cases are just increasing everyday. And trust me they are not going to stop unless there are strict laws and punishment. Wishing those southern movie heroes who just smashe criminals. Wishing for a rape free country!
RHEA JUDITH, architect: “What do I wish for womens day?” I wish that we don’t have to wish for these wishes anymore – I wish we were safer in our country – public spaces & in our own homes, to be due credit in our fields of expertise and to raise children to respect all genders, classes and sects of society .
Saumya Naik, artist: I wish for all women lots of rest and respect! Because women work 24×7 at home without salary and they don’t get at the end of the day any rest or respect. Another wish is that all mothers teach their sons to do household chores or house work in the same way how they teach all their daughters when they are young. A major cause of most household troubles is when men don’t contribute to equal share of housework… because now women do have to work in office and house for economic reasons.
Gloria Steinam, world renowned feminist, journalist, activist: The story of women’s struggle for equality belongs to no single feminist nor to any organization but to the collective effort of all who care about human rights.
Narayan Mashelkar, chemist: Woman should come out of shell, and as we say in Konkani she should rana, vaada, ushtikaada …meaning cook, serve and clean up. Though she is equal to man she should be perfect in taking care of responsibilities of family. Her job is not only in office but to be on par with man don’t neglect home duties or feel they are imposed on her.
Saish Shirodkar, marketing respresentative: I wish women to be more secure than men, they should be well treated by men and granted respect. That respect is more important because a woman’s work never ends as the role they play are of mother, daughter, sister…man works ten or 12 hours a day but the woman’s work never ends, getting up in the morning till she sleeps her work goes on. She takes care of everyone at home. No man can take a woman’s place! So may women have a happy women’s day and enjoy themselves.
Kenneth Vijay Goes, hospitality entrepreneur: It’s International Women’s Day 2020, is it? Happy women’s day to all! Why should we celebrate or what is there to celebrate women’s day? But here’s to all the women around the world…as a woman you are all and everything. Act like it! You as mother teach us to be strong when we are weak. Get up and go again when we fall. And even in the womb we are fed, protected. That’s a mother and that’s a woman! This I celebrate not only today but every day. The mother of all creation is a woman. Do I respect the mother, sister, wife and daughter in my life? Give equal respect and honor to the women in my life? Can I do better? Yes, of course. Can I teach my brothers and sons to respect women no matter what the issues? If yes, then I celebrate women’s day 2020! Do we still kill the girl child in India? Do we still arrange marriages of our daughters as cattle? Does every child boy or girl have equal right to food, clothing, shelter, education? Then I celebrate women’s day 2020! Are women students being stripped naked for a period test and are asked to live separately in 2020 in India? Then yes, it is happy women’s day to all! Our women, mothers, sisters, wives and daughters can’t live free in our own backyards…forget the struggles of life. So happy women’s day to all!
Queen Daniel, accountant: I wish for more women to help, assist, support other women in their endeavors. There are successful women who want to uplift other women but there are very few of them. There are already successful women in offices large and small but either they can compete with one another or they can help one another. The successful woman’s voice carries and is heard but very often at smaller levels when women and politics exist, women who don’t speak up get marginalized by their own sex!
Shobha Patel, senior marketing director: I wish I had more time on hand to really do the things I want to do like travelling and give more attention to my health from a single woman’s point of view! And I wish this for all other working women too. Working women never seem to have any time for themselves.
Heena Nawar, secretary: Women are the nourishing power of the universe and I wish women to be strong, confident, happy, the world should give respect and honor to them, motivate them in whatever they wish to do in their career…even if it is in business!