I can’t agree completely with the argument that sparked off among group of people at work and their claim that women gain nothing out of this Day dedicated for them. There are visible benefits that Women’s day bring to certain category of people and economy (which by misfortune doesn’t include millions of underprivileged women living in rural India deprived of education and financial independence).
a. After a slow down in US economy was reported, Indian middle class consumers have been adopting a conservative approach to spending. This day dedicated for the cause of women lured middle class women with special discount offers, which they often fall prey to, thus giving a push to consumption contributing to the health of our economy.
b. Urban women felt empowered when their husbands and brothers took them out for shopping (of things they never had an opinion) to get the best of deals available in town.
c. Feminist activists got an opportunity to enlighten women of different class and stature about the war they wage with the opposite sex by means of debates and discussion forums organized to mark the day.
Here is an account my experience on Women’s day;
The Company I work for has a customary practice of welcoming women employees with a personalized card signed by the Head of the Organisation, a packet of sweets and a rose flower on Women’s day. This time, the HR Dept went a step further to organize a chat show with a State Women’s Commission office bearer.
In a meeting hall which can seat 500 people, the audience of 12 women in a Company employing 150 raised many eyebrows. The Organisers seemed unshackled with a thin audience as they didn't expect a woman activist to be a crowd puller among a group of professionals . Murmurs were heard that attendance would have been far better, had it been a ‘beautician’ as Guest Speaker.
The distinguished Speaker with her unfaltering flair for speech talked about women’s strengths in spite of their inability to measure up to the muscular power of men. She left the captive audience of IT professionals in a state of confusion when she proclaimed that lesser heart attack cases among women is a testimony of women’s high endurance levels. I do not know if she was ignorant of the fact that women are protected against cardiac problems to a greater extend by nature and after the age of 45, both genders are equally susceptible to this threat. I reassured myself thinking she wanted to give a quantifiable or tangible proof of her views on women’s endurance levels.
The Speaker went on to address the main topic for discussion- challenges faced by working women and the safeguards. Her narration goes like this, ‘ With boom in IT industry, the time spent by women in workplace has increased considerably. This leads to more interaction with male colleagues. This can grow into sharing personal problems and develop into intimacy. Intimacy creates romantic instincts…’
She cautioned the audience consisting of mothers and married women not to get into this trap. The speech was no different from a sensational story appeared in Times of India on work conditions in BPO sector. I was happy that the Speaker didn’t take help of a legislation (which she was doing liberally throughout the speech) to safeguard women against this threat at workplace, in her terms, the biggest challenge for the working women of today.
Her advice to the unmarried girls in the audience was to prepare themselves to ‘cope with’ their future husbands and in-laws.
No woman India, contributing in her own ways to their family units and society at large will be interested in waging a war against men. What they need is the space to blossom into a complete individual while fulfilling her traditional roles of a mother and wife.
A woman’s focus is on her family, which she puts above any other need of hers. Along with the well being of her family members is her craving for material. Man’s need to please his woman weighs higher than any of his other needs and he sets out to fulfill her material needs. Family organisation revolves around this dynamics.
Next time, when you find a man in most expensive of cars, give it a thought. He may be trying to please his woman than enjoying a ride!
