Women Empowerment! We say. Feminism! We shout. Equal Rights!! We demand. And – we celebrate International Women’s Day. But… are we really prepared for it?
“Boys don’t cry” is what every mother teaches her young ones. In fact I even remember a movie by the same name. What we ought to be teaching, however is, “Boys do not make girls cry”. Boys should be taught that a woman, who is first a daughter, then a sister, a friend, a lover, a wife and finally a mother, is in fact God’s helping hand on earth! She is someone who helps God create another human being. She nurtures and builds a person; she cares for like no one else could. Thus, she is to be treated with utmost respect and care.
People say, a woman should demand and must have equal rights! I say: she is far superior to be called an equal and if we turn to mythology, she is the creator’s creator in Devki and his protector and guide in Yashodha.
Despite all this, we take her for granted. We forget to respect her. We take away the roof from above her head in old age – we forget that that she gave us the best place to stay when no one knew we existed: her womb. Very shamelessly, we call her names, insult her and challenge her intelligence: we forget that she was our first teacher, our first Guru.
Therefore I believe, in order to truly celebrate International Women’s Day, we must celebrate it within ourselves: by understanding the importance of women in our lives. By respecting them and honoring them – by not treating them as an object of desire and lust but as someone who is intelligent, loving, caring, compassionate and in fact more than our equal.
The day the world achieves this, that day, my friends, would be truly an international women’s day.
When boys are taught to respect and honor girls; when people start to value their opinions and when she is revered and loved like a mother is and should be-that would be a true International Women’s Day!
Till then, let us all pledge to love and respect the women in our lives and try to make each day of their life count as “Women’s day”.