Women’s Day - A Sham

Vivek Bala

Its that time of the year, Women’s day or is it Woman’s Day? Seems like there is a coterie of women who flaunt themselves before the media every year for ‘the cause of women’. Funny thing is that, invariably it is the same coterie again and again every year. Any social event for Women’s day is marked by appearances by ‘Women who achieved great things in Society’ like Preity Zinta, Nita Ambani, Smita Thackerey, Sharmila Tagore, Sweta Nanda Bachchan, Ekta Kapoor and so on. Now these faces will be the ones repeatedly shown with gleaming smiles, showering praises on the ‘Woman of Today’. Aah…one must really applaud them for their efforts. You know why?

Nita Ambani - Wife of India’s richest man, Mukesh Ambani. Was gifted a 240 crore Jet by her husband! They have so much wealth that they need to buy just to avoid taxes! Now, with so much of money at your disposal, you wouldn’t expect the lady to be at home making roti and dal. After all, you can’t be always called the Wife of Mukesh Ambani with no identity of yourself. So what do you do? You indulge in media watched charity. Now charity is good no doubts but does it involve any sort of labour or effort on this lady’s side? She has money that she doesn’t know what to do with. She just has to dispose them and hell! she gets awarded for that!

Priety Zinta - She made only one movie last year and that too flopped badly at the box office. An affair with Ness Wadia, the heir of the Wadia group would only mean social status and money. More glamour, more media outings, more media glare. Crores being spent on their IPL team, Chandigarh and all whose money? Well, investors, Wadia group etc…What did she have to do? Wear big sunglasses and power suits and talk to the media as if they have just conquered Mars.

Ekta Kapoor - Daughter of Jitendra ‘Jumping Jack’ - lots of family money. I don’t say she has not become the boss of Indian Television out of nothing. She has done her bit of hard work. But then, give me all the backing her father gave in terms of finance and contacts and i would have achieved the same.

The other women you guys should know. Sweta Nanda Bachchan, the daughter of the biggest superstar of Indian Cinema, Amitabh Bachchan and wife of Nikhil Nanda (grandson of Raj Kapoor). Do I even need to comment? Smita Thackerey, the Daughter-in-law of Shiv Sena supremo, Bal Thackerey has so much power at her disposal that big cinema stars stoop to being servile before her. See filmfare award functions and every single award recipient would thank her for achieving the award! Beats me! How is Smita Thackerey involved in their achieving an award?? Sharmila Tagore, needless to say was and has always been in an environment of prosperity. One should see the horse races she and her husband, the Nawab of Pataudi indulge in.

So, looking at all these, one wonders….”where is the real woman of India”? One who languishes behind veils, one who works day in and day out in households as a maid earning as little as youngsters like me spend on coke a month. Where is the woman struggling in construction sites carrying heavy loads, facing abuses of fellow men and making sure her kids have a meal to eat everyday? Where is the woman who is struggling to create an identity for herself when she tries to get a job as conductor or a driver of a bus in a highly male domain. Where is that woman who sells Idlys to make her son study at IIM?

More and more women opt for divorce and many indulge in extra marital affairs says the newspaper. The changing face of the modern woman it says. Boldness they say. Is boldness all about snapping relations and being infidel? Is that all that is there to a woman? Does breaking the bastions of a male dominated society mean infidelity and intolerance to relations? Is the partying, boozing woman of today the new face of women?

There are women out there who break all odds to bring their family out of poverty by making remarkable achievements like the World Carrom Champion Ilavazhagi for whom everyday survival is a battle. They have to literally plead for attention whereas the rest, affluent go away with all laurels and applauds. Who is the real achiever? The lady who despite her husband’s demise, makes a good citizen of her son; the lady who sustains various complexities of her in laws and still manages to keep the family in one piece. Let us salute that woman and value her and not make a mockery of ‘Women’s Day’.

Every day is to be a woman’s day. They, as humans have equal right as all men. They have equal share in enjoying life as much as men do. The whole concept of a Women’s day is a sham when political parties come out asking for a reservation for women in the parliament for reasons only they know. Why should transport authorities have women drivers only on Women’s day? Why should Kingfisher Airlines and Air India have an all women crew only on this day? It is like saying, “Ok thank you for giving this day exclusively for us. The rest of the year is for you men”. Let us stop demeaning women with such a ‘Day’.