It’s Women’s day, yay! But I feel like shit today. What am I
celebrating?
There is so much consumerism, that I have only started
associating it as a day of discounts (and so reminded by the multiple messages
being forwarded). Stores have begun celebrating the entire week starting 1st
March as Women’s week, with the hope of getting in people to buy out their
older stocks in order to get the new stock in. What a scam!
So what really is Women’s Day, and what is it that I am
celebrating? Wikipedia to the rescue! Women’s day was first observed on
February 28th 1909 in New York by the Socialist Party of America,
but the date was then changed to March 8th in 1910 by the
International Socialists Woman’s Conference. However, this day only got popular
when in 1917, women in Soviet Russia gained suffrage. Women textile workers had
a demonstration across the city, and this marked the beginning of the French
Revolution. It was a strike for ‘Bread and Peace’, demanding the end of World
War I, food shortage and czarism. Since then, there had been several protests
on this day for ‘right to vote’, hold public office and against sexual
discrimination. Hence, this day has come to celebrate womanhood.
But how much womanhood are we really celebrating now? Women
fought for their rights decades ago, and now, in the complacency of things, we
have forgotten what this day really means.
Has sexual discrimination at work really gone? All the
executive assistants in my office are all ladies. Why can’t a man fulfill this
role? I work as a Senior Manager, and yet I am the one expected to do the room
bookings, make sure everything is set for a meeting, and do work for others. I
don’t see the men in my team being asked to do that, or for that matter, even
offering to help. Is this because I am a woman?
There are things a man is good at, and things that a woman
is good at. And making a home is something that a woman is good at (not generalizing though). Being a homemaker myself, I can safely say that most of
us even enjoy it. I know I do, and no shame in that. But as today’s modern
woman we are expected to done on capes and put on the role of a multi-tasker of
being both a home-maker and a career woman. Those of us who want to make a
career, don’t really have an organizational support of balancing the thin line.
If we want to grow up the career ladder, more focus has to be on work, and less
on our homes. But wait, aren’t we having a career so that we can have money to
have a fruitful personal and healthy life?
Yes, we fought for equality, but this equality doesn’t mean
that we need to keep proving a point. Before I got married, it was a general
mindset that house wives were looked down upon because they were not doing
anything with their lives. My parents kept pushing me to be ‘something’,
because if I weren’t ‘something’, I would be a nothing. I could only be defined
by what I do. But today, after being married, I have a huge respect for the
women who have chosen to take the backseat and take care of their homes. It’s
not about just running a house, but also sustaining the family. With every food
item made, there is love and a prayer to nourish your loved ones. A clean house
leads to a clean mind. And to just being there, having the time, to listen and
support your loved ones. This is the power of a home-maker.
So on this occasion of Women’s Day, I salute the many women
who silently stay in the background, providing love and sustenance to their
families.
After all, don’t they say, Love makes this a better place to
live in.
