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HIMALAYAN MIRROR
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
GANGTOK, SUNDAY 08 MARCH 2015
Woman is Human
Bhawana Thakuri Merai
Advisor,
Human
Association
Darjeeling
Sachetana
Rights
Woman is the intimate
of man, gifted with equal
mental abilities and also
the right to live her life
with dignity as a human
being. The life of a man is
incomplete
without
woman. The life of a
woman is the life of all
beings and man cannot
disregard woman and her
utility in his life as a
mother, sister, wife and a
daughter. The importance
of woman in a society is
like that of water in this
universe. The contribution
of a woman in today's
world right from rural
level till city is not only
beneficial to her family
but also towards the society and the country as a
whole.
To call woman as a
weaker sex is injustice by
the man dominated society. She has an equal right
of freedom and liberty
with him. The women are
entitled to right to education, right to equality etc.
The women are entitled to
be treated with humanity.
International Women's
Day (8 March) is a global
day celebrating the economic, political and social
achievements of women
past, present and future.
Each year International
Women's Day (IWD) is
celebrated on March 8
throughout
the
world.International
Women's Day (IWD) also
called
International
Working
Women's
Day.The German Socialist
Klara Zetkin organized
international Women's
Day in 1911. Thousands
of events occur to mark
the economic, political
and social achievements
of
women.In
1914
International Women's
Day was held on March 8,
nowadays it is always
held on March 8 in all
countries.
The year 1975, was designated as International
Women's Year, the United
Nations gave official
sanction to, and began
sponsoring, International
Women's Day. In 1975 the
United Nations also started to recognize this holiday.
The UN chooses a political or social theme for the
holiday each year. In the
year 2011 theme was
"Equal access to education, training and science
and technology: Pathway
to decent work for
women." In this way, the
holiday is a time to look at
the social and economic
problems women have
around the world. In the
year 2012 the United
Nation
theme
was
onEmpower
Rural
Women, End Poverty and
Hunger. In the year 2013
it was Time for Action to
End Violence against
Women and last year i.e.
2014 the UN theme was
Equality for Women is
Progress for All.
However the UN theme
for International Women's
Women Quotes and
Sayings
Women are made
to be loved, not
understood."-Oscar Wilde
Women have
always been the
strong ones of the
world. The men
are always seeking from women
a little pillow to
put their heads
down on. They
are always longing for the mother
who held them as
infants." --Coco Chanel
Women will never be as successful as men because they
have no wives to advise them."--Dick Van Dyke
The strength of a woman is not measured by the impact
that all her hardships in life have had on her; but the strength
of a woman is measured by the extent of her refusal to allow
those hardships to dictate her and who she becomes." ? C.
JoyBell C.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but
by the moments that take our breath away."- Maya Angelou
A woman is the full circle. Within her is the power to create, nurture and transform."- Diane Mariechild Love is anterior to Life, Posterior to Death, Initial of Creation, and The
Exponent of Earth."- Emily Dickinson
I measure the progress of a community by the degree of
progress which women have achieved. --B. R. Ambedkar
You can tell the strength of a nation by the women behind
its men."--Benjamin Disraeli.
Day
2015
is
"Empowering Women,
Empowering Humanity".
Women in India now participate fully in areas such
as education, sports, politics, media, art and culture, service sectors, science and technology,
etc.The Constitution of
India guarantees to all
Indian women equality
(Article 14), no discrimination by the State
(Article 15(1)), equality
of opportunity (Article
16), and equal pay for
equal work (Article
39(d)). In addition, it
allows special provisions
to be made by the State in
favour of women and children (Article 15(3)),
renounces
practices
derogatory to the dignity
of women (Article
51(A) (e)), and also
allows for provisions to
be made by the State for
securing just and humane
conditions of work and for
maternity relief. (Article
42).The achievement of
woman in various field in
todays's time is up to the
mark where in woman are
also standing up and
walking in equal status
with man in every field in
society.
However, even though
woman are coming up in
different fields in society
yet the journey towards
empowering woman has
not yet finished, it is only
the end of reading one
chapter but not of the
whole book.
With UN theme of 2015
"
Empowering Women,
Empowering Humanity".
the government and all
other women organization
and NGOs are to move
ahead with empowering
woman with her right
guaranteeing protection of
her dignity. As per the UN
theme by empowering the
woman with her dignity
and her rights all we people residing in this society
should also empower the
feeling of humanity
towards the woman. We
are not just to mark 8th
March as Women's Day
once a year but every day
should be marked as a
women's day by expressing the feeling of respect
towards the woman and
her contribution to the
society.
Not just Nirbhaya, pernicious
rapes unabated in region
Nisha Chettri
It's the third year since
Nirbhaya was raped and brutally murdered in Delhi and
here I stand, still scribbling
about rapes and women. How
unfortunate is that? I guess I
will find hundreds of heads
nodding in agreement or least
have the similar opinion while
I say that thousands of rapes
have been committed after the
heart wrenching 2012 incident
when a young and innocent
Nirbhaya became a victim of
what can be said to be the
apotheosis of several years of
a male-mindset that the perpetrators of such heinous crime
had nurtured with all the lowest degree of misplaced
notions about girls. The documentary on the same titled
‘India’s daughter’ aired on
channel BBC 4 has sadly been
branded as controversial one
for Indian viewers back home,
when on the contrary many of
those who have seen the documentary have vouched for it
to be declared a must watch
documentary. I have less comment to the authority’s decision, but somewhere down in
my heart I do now feel the
dreaded opinion sinking in
that helplessly tries to convince me that rapes are perpetual and can’t be stopped. But
how do we preserve the
birthrights of the coming generation?
(I would still say that I’m
dumbfounded with the news
of banning India’s daughter
but prohibiting the documentary won’t stop the audiences
from viewing it.) I really wonder what type of mindsets
would a rapist' have, or what
do they generally perceive
when they see a women. And
it’s to the rapists whom I
would like to ask "What provokes rape?" it’s their version
of narration I'd want to hear.
After redundant locutions (I
say redundant locutions as the
educated lawyers even now
have stuck to the same mindset that blames the rape victim
for inviting the crime due to
their dressing style etc) I still
get stuck in the same genre of
article which I wrote exactly a
year ago. Nothing much have
changed in the last twelve
months or I would say a little
of something has changedand that's the list of rapists
who have been arrested under
kalimpong police station since
then. While I was still deciding whether to stay back looking after the suburbs of
kalimpong or to fly to the cosmopolitan city to enrich my
profession, I remember
reporting a case where a girl
was molested and raped by
her step father for more than a
year. Sunnainya’s (name
changed) mother eloped with
another man when she was
three months old with a man
who assured her of ample of
happiness along with a name
to her daughter. Few years
later, Sunnainya's mother
passed away and her step
father married another
woman. You can possibly
anticipate what happened
after that, yes! She was reportedly molested and raped
where the incident was later
disclosed to the media. While
jotting words in shorthand I
was exposed to confusions
and that's when the present
wife of the man spoke to the
reporters and said, 'he was
raping and molesting her for
the last one year 'without my
consent', while I always suspected him but never caught
him flagrante.’
This time Sunnainya
missed her menstrual cycle,
she was probably threatened
and asked to stay mum so that
he could satisfy his sexual
urge and gratification. She
was afraid of being recog-
nized as the
"characterless" girl had
she revealed
the recurring
incident, fearing, for the
society often
act as a watchdog and with
such qualms
she lost hope
till she got
pregnant. A
minor
was
raped everyday and thus she
was pregnant. Now I want the
readers to decide who should
be blamed? Or I won’t be surprised if anyone prompts ‘the
victim’ for tightening her lips
for we sarcastically belong to
such society. We read about
minor rapes and molestation
in the newspapers and internet
everyday and instead of
decreasing, the crimes have
been increasing in a rapid
pace. When will people start
respecting women in flesh and
spirit? And if the condition of
the hills is worst, what might
be the condition of the state,
country or the world as a
whole ? Women have always
been a victim of violence;
they have always been a victim of crime and they have
always been a victim within or
outside the family, all in different forms. Let's tell the
world that a lady is dynamic
in the role she plays; she is the
epitome of tenderness, care
and wisdom. Respect every
woman for what she is and
while you are at it, excuse a
thought for an unfortunate
woman who has lived in
tyrannical societies.
5
Kolkata: Women participate in a rally organised on the eve of International Women's
Day in Kolkata, on March 7, 2015. (Photo: Kuntal Chakrabarty/IANS)
How safe are women…and
why the discrimination
M
other, daughter,
sister, wife, daughter-in-law, aunt,
mother-in-law, niece, sisterin-law,
granddaughter,
grandmother all these are
what a woman are entitled
to have from birth till death
passing through all phase in
the journey of life.
God created the heaven
and earth and along with it
his one of the most beautiful
creation was Life in form of
man and woman. He had
created with a very noble
cause invoking all ability in
his creation with a belief
that both life would settle
working hand in hand, all
rights and duties, responsibilities shared equally without any discrimination and
make this earth a beautiful
place to live in as per his
will and desire. But the scenario is different in lieu to
humans nature and all the
time it's against the norms
of God's creation and it still
is moving on. Although
time has changed a lot in
humans life and activities,
yet thoughts about difference of men and women
has never change, still the
same rigidness, curelish,
evilish, jealously, egoistic,
stubborn etc prevails which
always scales bar between
men and women, boy and
girl and sons and daughters.
Everywhere it is spoken
and heard that all has equal
rights to life, work, education and living of one's own
will be it a male or female,
yet how far and how true to
it? It's just in black and
white only, in practical term
Shamita Chettri
the same old stories keeps
repeating which shows
male dominating world
where women are just puppet and are handled in any
ways as they are always
considered the weak ones.
Even being in the 21st
century with so many
changes in every field of
life, yet the thoughts in the
difference among male and
female is never hidden. Till
today girls and women are
not safe be at home, at public or private places, in one
way or the other domination, mental and physical
torture, molestation, rapes,
honor and dowry killings,
domestic violence and
many harassments are seen
happening everywhere as
such many girls and women
are victimized, although its
seen or heard yet no one
dare to raise voice on it, if at
all voice is raised also its
suppressed down.
Its very easy to say that
all are equal and have all
rights to life and living be
male or female, whereas
right from womb of mother
females are rooted out,
so..How can it be said that
girls and women are really
safe and have right to living
of own without discrimination???
Many are still under the
darkness of man doom
world only with no proper
facilities, no education, no
respect, its just increasing
number of death most commonly through rapes, honor
and dowry killings.
Despite many Laws are
set up in regard to safeguard
of girls and women, yet
nothing can be seen about it,
where does all this set up
laws goes away then? When
voice is raised against it,
why only silence is maintained then? Why pains and
tears are ignored then?
Isn't it a general and serious issue and problem
which has its roots in many
parts of the country from
decades ago? Is not life precious being it is of man or
woman? After knowing all
also why is there only
silence and ignorance. Now
the need of hour is only a
strong blaze of awareness at
all levels on this issue with a
pure, true and honest acceptance in counseling all that
both life as created by God
is equally important, has
equal right to live and work
is neither high nor low, neither strong nor weak but are
all equal and need to live as
per gods will in making this
earth beautiful place to live
in!
The writer is counselor
based in Siliguri.
President greets nation on eve of International Women's Day
New Delhi : President Pranab Mukherjee extended his greetings to
women on Saturday on the eve of International Women`s Day.
"The celebration is an opportunity for us to renew our commitment
to the security and welfare of women," Mukherjee said in a statement.
He said that despite numerous legislation enacted to safeguard
women, there is much to be done.
"Legislation alone cannot emancipate our women. There is a need
for a fundamental re-setting of our mental and moral make-up as well
as social conduct," he said. "Let us ensure that honour and respect is
accorded to women at all times," the president added. IANS
The modern Indian girl: Battling the stereotyping
Nivedita
She is multitasking but
doesn't know how to cook,
she doesn't have the
patience to deal with nagging in-laws, doesn't want
children within a year of
marriage and her focus is
on building a successful
career. Meet the new age
20-something Indian girl
who's fighting the 'matrimonial ad' battle with her
parents every day and
shattering the stereotype
of what is expected of a
conventional Indian wife.
It took one brave
'tomboy' Indhuja Pillai, a
Bangalore-based 24-yearold, who calls herself 'not
marriage material', to
awaken the underlying
frustration in many girls
across the country on the
issue of being pressurised
by parents to find a groom
via matrimonial websites,
ahead of International
Women's Day.
Sumesh Menon, cofounder and CEO of Woo,
a women-centric matchmaking app that highlights
women's expectations and
concerns about marriage,
says that Indhuja's plight
echoes the sentiment of
millions of Indian women,
who don't subscribe to the
idea of the 'ideal bahu'.
"They long to be accepted for who they are and
not forced into any boring,
uncomfortable moulds.
Women now want marriages of equality, where
whatever applies to the
man is equally applicable
to the woman - be it independence, social life or
work," Menon told IANS.
A string of regular surveys by popular matrimonial website Shaadi.com
has indicated that marriage queries annoy single
Indian women the most;
that Indian girls are more
forthright about their preference to meet a prospective groom before his family; and that meeting
match-seekers due to family pressure tops the complaints of eligible women.
That notwithstanding,
their parents, in the
endeavour to settle them
down at a 'right age', resort
to finding arranged matches, via relatives, friends,
and now often through
matrimonial sites.
According to a news
report, the very fact that
Pillai's parents made her
sound desperate to get
married to a "good
groom" in the "groom
wanted" ad, drove her to
create her rebellious "matrimonial CV" on a website
- marry.indhuja.com -- to
ensure that the right message reaches the 'right'
candidate.
The profile created by
her parents highlighted her
education and occupation,
while her self-created profile shared more insights
about her personality,
interests and expectations.
This included her revealing: "I'm not a drinker and
I hate smoking. An eggitarian, not a foodie. I play
badminton, sing and
dance. "I wear glasses and
look dorky in them...NOT
a womanly woman.
Definitely not marriage
material. Won't grow long
hair, ever. I come with a
life-long guarantee and I
commit for life."
Her partner preference
is also as clear as it gets.
Kudos to Pillai, says 28year-old Trisha Naik,
whose family sits with
profiles of shortlisted candidates on a matrimonial
site every weekend.
"I thought of doing the
same as Indhuja the
moment I got to know my
family has started searching for a groom for me.
Indian families are patriarchal, and they believe in
showing an unreal version
of their daughters," Naik,
who felt proud upon seeing a younger girl take a
bold step and break the
stereotype, told IANS.
"Ultimately, it is us who
face the complications
later in our married life. So
why not clear things now
rather than regretting it for
the whole life," Naik
added. Sujata Shekhawat,
a 34-year-old single working woman, has been
going through the 'matrimonial process' for a long
time. "I was depressed and
irritated after a few
encounters with prospective grooms and their families. Questions like living
with the family, cooking,
as if it is women's only
job, made me so furious
that I decided not to settle
down till the time I get
someone who wants a
soulmate, not a maid,"
Shekhawat told IANS.
Relationship counsellor
Jai Madaan says being
your real self and honest is
the key of any good relationship, and that's what
Indhuja aimed at.
"Honesty reflects from
her talks. Nobody is 'perfect marriage material',
else there had been no
fights and divorces. So to
be honest and vocal about
yourself is very important
so that nothing raises false
expectations," Madaan
told IANS. Alas, that for
many Indian families, a
"subdued", not a "rebellious", bride fits the bill of
a 'bahu'. Still, Madaan
feels that "sensible men
get attracted to a woman's
honesty and boldness."
(IANS)