“I AM GENERATION EQUALITY : REALIZING WOMEN RIGHTS”

Women are an integral part of our society. Women are the source of life. They are mothers, sisters, wives, friends, professionals and leaders. You might have seen constant debates on social media these days about Equality and Feminism. Everyone has an opinion on the matter. But how many people do you think actually understand it?

Gender Equality isn’t about physical equality or emotional equality, gender equality means equality of opportunities. A world that treats me equally in the eyes of the law and that gives me as much importance politically as it gives to the individuals of the other genders.

“I AM GENERATION EQUALITY : REALIZING WOMEN RIGHTS”

Women’s equality day is celebrated to commemorate the 19th Amendment in the United States constitution, when the United States of America gave its women the right to vote on 26th August 1920. The movement for women’s suffrage had started years before this, in 1830s after the Civil War in United States of America. Every white man in the United States got the right to vote. Women from around the country stood up, but it got diluted by the Anti-slavery movements. But during 1890s, the National American Woman Suffrage Association emerged and it was headed by Elizabeth Cady Stanton. These women weren’t going to be just additions to their fathers or husbands; they needed their own voice, vote and position in the government of their countries.

These movements were so impactful that soon the British government and other western states started doing the same thing and gave voting rights to women in the British provinces and most of the princely states (which included India) from 1919 to 1929. The voice that started in one corner of the world echoed globally, women stood up for themselves and changed the course of history.

Every year around the world people celebrate this day, women’s organizations and schools plan workshops and preach the struggles of the men and women that made it all possible. The people that gave us women the voice we have today.

In the year 2020, when we mark 100 years of this right that we have, women around the world have grown immensely. In this day and age women are in every professional sphere, even in the professions that used to be male dominant and still are male dominant in some places. Women strive and work hard every single day to make up for all the years lost in the kitchen serving patriarchy.

With that said, there are parts of the world where women are still treated like objects, are treated worse than animals, are blamed for things that aren’t their fault, are raped, murdered, tortured and what not. Every single woman in India (ask your mothers and sisters) has faced harassment at least once in their lives and continue to face it throughout their lives. There is no denying the fact going by every day incidents , India is one of the most ‘unsafe countries for women’. There are new gruesome reports every single day and things aren’t getting better. If you think by giving your daughters the opportunity to proper education and giving your wives the “permission” to work is all there is to attaining equality, there isn’t !

So, this Women’s Equality day, while celebrating question yourself, “Is this the world where I want my daughters to grow up in?” A world where they can’t walk the street without being stared at in a way that makes them gravely uncomfortable? A world where each time she steps out of the house you’ll have anxiety? A world where even if your daughter has merit she has to work harder to live her dreams because of the society (a frustrated group of people that were themselves pressured into living a life they didn’t want to live)?

We set out on an immeasurable journey and in the past 100 years we’ve come a long way, but the destination is still very far.

Think about it and share your views.

Written by Shiffa Dutt