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Monday, May 2, 2011

Are we Liberated?????

We have always heard about sati, female infanticide, child marriage, female deaths due to dowry and lots of such old customs that just move around the dilemmas in the life of women. 
But we say the Modern India has changed giving equal rights to women n men, making reservations for women in different fields, education for a girl child etc etc.
Still there is a question did we really have???
I myself come from a middle class society. As a girl child me and my sister were raised with same standards as our brother, went to same schools or colleges, given equal opportunity to prove ourselves and make our mark in this world.
But today where I stand looking around me I still feel there is a gap, a gap in our society considering the girl and the boy child or a man and a woman..
I belong to a family who are basically attached to their roots, though we been born and brought up in Delhi/NCR are given equal rights and education as my brother, I can see lots of my cousin sisters who are not.
It feels so awkward when I hear people around me talking about the primary work in girl's life is to be perfect in household work. There is no relevance to a girl's education, its just about getting her married by the age of 20 or even less. Its treated as a curse to a family if a girl is not married by the age of 25, with no respect to her achievements. Many of them might even be Mothers before 18.
Are we really giving equals rights to the Girl Child??????

This was still about the families which are based in rural areas, but even the cities which are considered to be the hub of Education in India. City in Uttar Pradesh which is a home of seven out of 14 Prime Ministers of India, or the cities that have the world's renowned education bodies.Its just in the blood.
The girls are brought up with the thought that their real house will be the one they will be married to. Govt. has passed a law that girls hold equal right to parents property as a boy child, but how many families really follow it, not even in the case when its the need of the hour. The ladies can't take a step beyond their husband's or should I say their MALIK's permission even if it just means meeting their near and dear ones.
Why are we giving such a bad name to the holy word "MARRIAGE"?

Even the 90% of the families in Metro have the same stories. We were sent to be the best schools, the so called convent education. But when it comes to marriage we will look for people in our own community or our own village. 
Once we were talking about a school friend, a professional, an independent lady married to a XXX. We brothers n sisters were discussing her and her marriage and had a common view that she should quit such a relationship when we heard the most weirdest of the thought from our dad. It just gave a impression what would have happen if I was in her place? The education, the rights does they all fail after marriage.
My parents take it as a pain if we get a gift for them as a girl child while anything from my brother is considered as their own. Will this mentality ever change?
Why even today parents seems more happy on the birth of a boy instead of a girl??
On one hand the girls are considered Durga n Laxmi but in the same land they are treated nothing more that servants with no right to speak.
Even the working women who work equally as a men, at the end of the day, they are expected to be perfect in their household core. Why is their a ego clash if a girl earns or she is more deserving than the guy?
Lastly a incident that brings my notice to this comaprision: There is a joke in our house that my parents made 3 floors in the house for each of their 3 children. Once someone from our family revised it once more and my Dad promptly said 'No all belongs to our son :)' Not sure if he means that as he has always showered all his wealth on each of us. Never ever said a 'NO' to anything weather its any of us.
But this small statement of his really fainted all the rights that we were given as a girl or a boy. We are all doing well in our lives, and don't think there will ever be a situation when we have to ask anything from him. courtesy the education he has given us, that made us grow as a independent women.

Things may have improved, but there still is a big RACE TO BE WON.
We say "Its a women who makes a house a home" Please respect that.
Can we as the maker of our new generation make it a promise to ourselves that a child is a child irrespective of their GENDER. PLEASE MAKE THEM FEEL SPECIAL AT EACH N EVERY STAGE OF LIFE.