In an increasingly globalized and intricate world, societies have submerged themselves in a contentious battle for gaining ascendancy over the provision of women’s rights. Many modern indicators of social development essentially boil down to the treatment of the female gender as perhaps the single most indispensable yardstick for what is to be benchmarked as ‘egalitarian’. This issue isn’t exactly novel – women’s rights have been on the national agenda for quite so many years now, nevertheless to little avail. As a matter of fact, it’s actually quite startling for such an issue to be even on the nationalistic agenda in the 21st century. Haven’t centuries of experience and education taught has anything? We seldom hear of any discourses incorporating men’s rights on the agenda do we? So why is it that this ‘woman’ has to speak interminably for her rights in society, a society that blatantly commends itself for being the champion of gender equality? Why is it then that despite anti-sexist regulation enshrined in the constitution and the recurrent debates in the parliament, discrimination thrives rampantly in the wider society? Is this intrinsically the fault of this human being born as a ‘woman’ or merely the fact that a deplorable mindset exists amid both men and women? A mindset that plagues the very nature of human rationality and progresses near to impossible to change unless treated radically.
So what type of a mindset am I talking about? And why is it so vital that it be changed radically? Let’s take the example of a Public Park. Before we contemplate any further, just focus on the words ‘Public Park’ and more specifically the word ‘Public’. Theoretically, we might take it to be an area open to the general population at large to spend their leisure time with a tranquil peace of mind. Unfortunately, that is not the case, at least not for the women. Whether present individually or in groups, a sense of insecurity and fear thrives amid them as they continue to be subjugated in a male-dominated society. Under the fading whispers in the background one could often witness comments deriding them of their sexuality, their supposed liberal-westernized attitude by allowing themselves to be roaming out on the streets without having a mehram to accompany them and what not. What makes it even worse that this societal trajectory leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy where the woman comes to acquiesce the fact that she is somehow responsible for the derogatory accusations levied against her. Next, it slowly diffuses from generation to generation where both genders become so desensitized of this social stigma that any form of change is seen as detrimental to social cohesion and progress.
We live in a society that breeds a mindset of blaming the victim for inciting rape, scrutinizes women shoppers for being too liberal and having no haya, police them to follow a particular set of regulations and abuse them if they fail to fulfill them. No wonder that a radical form of this mindset still results in honour-killings in this very age, a stain that will long plague us as a nation for many years to come. The most important step we can take to fix this is to realize why this is wrong. It is important that we begin by ceasing to look at them from the perspective of a female and alternatively view them primarily as a ‘human’ sharing the same feelings, emotions and perspectives as anyone else. Is this too hard? Empathy plays a prodigious role here. But that doesn’t mean that women have to wait for men to develop this feeling of empathy for them. Why should anyone compromise over their rights just because of this time factor?
Change might take many years to come, but it doesn’t have to be that long. Individual actions might have minimal effects on the general society, but collective actions can be quite fruitful if handled in the right manner. If one feels that one cannot handle this injustice any longer, then one has to simply stand up regardless of the short-term consequences. Crime is born out of injustice and breeds more injustice – this spiral will continue interminably as long as women avoid the public domain in fear. So I’m asking every one of those females who believe that they cannot handle this injustice any longer to go out and loiter the streets and take back what is yours. There is no indignity or shame in standing up for your rights, and if all these centuries of human progress cannot help to solve such a reprehensible issue that still plagues us as a society, then we cannot expect any form of change to come knocking at the door – at least not in the next century or so.
