Today, International Women's Day is celebrated with much fanfare. It is heartening to see that the voice for equality between the sexes has gathered momentum like never before and the achievements of womenfolk lauded and feted world wide.
At my workplace today, women were decked up in all glory celebrating feminism....glasses were raised, self congratulatory notes exchanged and the mood was upbeat. The world looked beautiful!
Looking at the world from a pair of pink (pun intended) tinted glasses is good indeed. But reality is a very obnoxious fun spoiler.
Among many others, I met the parents of 2 year old twins who had come to seek admission in to playschool. The lady was very docile and extremely gentle while the man of the house or so he liked to believe was the exact opposite. He threw his weight around his spouse and was rude to the extreme. Cutting her short when she spoke, chiding her openly and rather rudely for overwriting on a piece of information in the form and belittling her with his looks, I could sense the apologetic tone of the mother. It is when she filled the form with the annual income of their respective selves, I sensed the disdain the man could have for her. The lady was earning almost double than the man and I wondered if that could be his ego dampener. Or could it be that having grown in a patriarchal set up he couldn't come to terms with seeing his life partner as an equal and give her the credit for asserting herself.
After they left, I wondered about the quality of life the lady would be living. Supremely independent in all sense of the term but still aching for actual independence, her inner struggles and turmoils made me question the relevance of March 8...
Had I met the couple outside the professional front, I would have surely asked him to come off his pedastal a few notches...but, I just reassured the lady and held her dignified stand.
We the womenfolk have come a long way and while the positive glow of our triumphs far outwit any negativity, our contentment with the importance of the day should go beyond...we should deliberately seek to make each day, woman's day
At my workplace today, women were decked up in all glory celebrating feminism....glasses were raised, self congratulatory notes exchanged and the mood was upbeat. The world looked beautiful!
Looking at the world from a pair of pink (pun intended) tinted glasses is good indeed. But reality is a very obnoxious fun spoiler.
Among many others, I met the parents of 2 year old twins who had come to seek admission in to playschool. The lady was very docile and extremely gentle while the man of the house or so he liked to believe was the exact opposite. He threw his weight around his spouse and was rude to the extreme. Cutting her short when she spoke, chiding her openly and rather rudely for overwriting on a piece of information in the form and belittling her with his looks, I could sense the apologetic tone of the mother. It is when she filled the form with the annual income of their respective selves, I sensed the disdain the man could have for her. The lady was earning almost double than the man and I wondered if that could be his ego dampener. Or could it be that having grown in a patriarchal set up he couldn't come to terms with seeing his life partner as an equal and give her the credit for asserting herself.
After they left, I wondered about the quality of life the lady would be living. Supremely independent in all sense of the term but still aching for actual independence, her inner struggles and turmoils made me question the relevance of March 8...
Had I met the couple outside the professional front, I would have surely asked him to come off his pedastal a few notches...but, I just reassured the lady and held her dignified stand.
We the womenfolk have come a long way and while the positive glow of our triumphs far outwit any negativity, our contentment with the importance of the day should go beyond...we should deliberately seek to make each day, woman's day
