Team Ahimsa Blog Relay, Various Contests

WOE MAN - Rated 13+ - Week 4 Category 4 Words: 428

Words: 428 incl. note.

(Note - I, personally, am a privileged urban woman and I have it good, with the best educational and professional opportunities and a lot of personal freedom. I'm speaking of the majority of the women in my country, in the cities and the villages.)

The status of woman.

Wait.

The woman has no status.

And that is the problem.

It starts in the womb. Indian doctors are not allowed to reveal the gender of the expected baby because chances are the parents want to know if they're getting a female.

They probably don't want a female.

And they'll abort.

Before she is born, the Indian girl is at a disadvantage.

Throughout life, she is seen as a burden. Often she is given less food than her brother, whom she waits on day and night. If she is sent to school at all, it's to an inferior school.

The inferior schools don't have proper bathrooms. So when she starts getting her periods, she is taken out of school. Which means she has studied only up to Grade 5 or thereabouts.

There are laws about marriageable age, but these are often ignored. As soon as she comes of age, she is married off to the man who demands the least dowry. Sometimes, he's old enough to be her father. It follows that when he dies, she's still quite young, and as a widow, she has to shave her head and live in isolation.

Crimes against women happen often and are often covered up - not reported.

In India, the biggest social problem is how badly most women are treated.

The problem is deep rooted. Generations of brain washing mean that women themselves often perpetuate the notions of the inferiority of their gender. There's no easy solution.

It's got to start at the beginning. In the family. The way Dad treats Mom has got to change. Brother should not be entitled to sister's servitude.

Then, school. Text books should promote women's rights (human rights, but often denied to women). Gender equality should be the norm in the stories, songs and rhymes that children learn by heart.

The media. Movies, commercials. Portray women as important citizens, not slaves to men.

Lawmakers and law enforcers. Have more women among them and let them be truly just.

Men. Get out of your mental cages. Let yourself get liberated. Accept your Mom, sister, sister-in-law, grandma, wife, niece, daughter, daughter-in-law as an equal member of your family as their male counterparts. (Heck, they're probably way better, but I'll settle for equal to begin with.)

Society, wake up. Now.


PROMPT ▼

What is the most important social problem in society today and how would you recommend to improve or completely fix it?