One word for women. One voice for India.

 The Indian woman has been in the news a lot over the past 6 months or so. Unfortunately, it hasn't been for good reasons. Those news reports have only further reiterated the fact that the Indian woman will never be treated anything but inferior to men. No matter what she achieves, or what she has in her to achieve, she will never be considered equal to men. Yes this post has been triggered by the gender-based attacks against women in India and the insensitive stuff people post on social media in response to those attacks, but the thoughts I am going to put in here have originated much, much before these attacks ever came into limelight. I am just bringing together thoughts gathered since childhood.

I've never experienced any sort of discrimination at my home. I've been given all that freedom and privileges that were given to my brother. Yet, I've experienced and seen this kind of a discrimination at many a places. In our country, any wrong that happens with a woman is her fault. They say, "It happens because of the clothes she wears, the cellphone she carries, her dancing at weddings, her going out to school/work, her breathing, her existing. Women are harrassed because of their inappropriate clothing." Really? And a woman's clothing is the license for a man to do anything he wishes? "A man never goes wrong. We will blame our daughters but never our sons. We will constrict our daughters every way possible but never say no to our sons." What is even more disheartening to see is that not only men but women also have similar ideologies. They say that it is a dangerous world for women out there. Yes it is. But why is it so? Have we ever asked ourselves that question? We teach our daughters to be alert and guarded, but never teach our sons to respect women.

Most people still consider a girl child to be a burden and their son's bride as their money tree. We take pride in being a fast developing country. We take pride in our culture and how we are able to balance between our values and western influence. Yet, our newspapers are filled with these stories. I recently watched an episode of a television show that talks about social issues about a man who abandoned his wife and three daughters only because they were women and he considered them to be a burden on him. Opening the news app on my phone has become a painful thing. You never know what you might see there that might make you lose your peace of mind. You never know what city in India has now been deemed unsafe for women. I was so disturbed at these stories and annoyed at those comments that only talked about staying away from trouble that I started thinking about how to put a complete stop to all these crimes. It took a lot of thinking but I could finally see what we must do. 

Parents are capable of way more than what they realize. It is those little things that our parents teach us at young ages that stay with us and guide us lifelong. We are of course exposed to influences outside home. But at the end of the day when you come back home, it is in your parents' hands to get rid of all those unwanted influences. I have heard really young boys say that girls should stay home and play with their dolls and that is all they must do. What is it that contaminates these young minds at such a tender age? Shouldn't we set examples at home for the child to follow? If a young boy never saw his father mistreating his mother, where will he learn to do that from? If a boy never got any more love, respect, freedom or privileges than his sister did, from where will he learn that women are inferior to men? If his parents never considered his sister to be a burden on them, why would he ever think that about his daughter? I am not saying that if we implement the above, everything will be perfect. All I am saying is that doing these will take us a step closer to ensuring that our women have a better, safer life. But, these are some questions to ponder upon. It is about time that parents realize their mistake and correct themselves even if they don't want to. They wouldn't be doing it for their sons but for the entire country.