March 8th is celebrated as International Women’s Day. A day, when we send Forwarded Woman’s day messages to our Sister’s, Mother’s, Wives, Friends and Collegues. A day when everyone attempts to make the women in their life happy, A day when the companies make their female employees feel good.
We are almost 3 months down in 2017, but still everyday when we switch on the news channel or read the newspaper, we come across atleast one article, which talks about a woman being either murdered, raped, harassed for dowry, female feoticide, victim of acid attack. Basically anything that harms or kills a woman. Really in 2017, are we moving towards development or moving backward towards barbarism.
Feminism has been always misinterpreted by the media so therefore, I would not like to talk about it. Let us talk about Gender Neutrality here. Our students and youngsters, hear the concept of Gender Neutrality, not in their classrooms but outside on social media. If only parents and classrooms openly spoke about and practisied Gender Neutrality, the crime against women in our society would have not been at this rate.
Right now, what is more important is that people have to be sensitized with respect to Gender Neutrality. Even today in urban Metropolitan Cities like Mumbai, I have seen it is difficult for people to accept that Women can be equal to men professionally. Even Corporates and the most educated lot of our society still some how look for a methodology to suppress women.
What is the urgent need of time is educating our younger generation right from their childhood acceptance of the fact that both genders are equal. Here are a few ways in which we can do it:
- Include Gender Sensitization as a part of school curriculum, discuss the same in PTA meetings and ask parents to follow the same at home;
- Strict policies with respect to Sexual Harassment Laws for both men and women to be drafted and complied by educational Institutions and Work Places;
- Hold Community Meetings on Gender Sensitization;
- Conduct Community Activities like Half and Half Marathon or Relay, wherein you participate with your spouse or sister or mother, so that each gender appreciates the effort and strength of others;
- Increase the paternity leave of men, so that they learn to appreciate the efforts that a woman goes through in bringing up a child.
- If not anything, the difference of this is a Man’s Job and this is a Woman’s job will come to an end.
