Wednesday, 09 March 2022 | Dr BKS Sanjay | Dehradun
International Women’s Day was celebrated as every year on March 8. It offered an opportunity to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of their countries and communities. The theme for International Women’s Day 2022 (IWD 2022) was “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, recognising the contribution of women and girls around the world, who are leading the charge on climate change adaptation, mitigation and response to build a more sustainable future for all.
The article 15 of the Indian constitution gives the guarantee of equality to every citizen irrespective of gender. I do not state that the conditions have not improved for the female gender but overall, the gender has not been able to catch up with the pace as the opposite gender. The concept of equality cannot be brought only with legislation. It requires transformation of thinking in the male dominated society. We are proud that our nation even had a woman Prime Minister in the past, but in spite of that the changes or the impact has not been reproduced in all the other spheres of life, in all religions and communities as it should ideally have been. In my opinion, whatever change appears in today’s era which has been achieved in the condition of females is mainly confined to the affluent and highly educated society.
There was always a hue and cry whenever the issue of women reservation was raised. It seems to be correct to some people that a particular section of the society equates their women as the true representatives of all women. Rather, if that section of the society really wants to improve the status of female gender as a whole then they should in a real sense, consider the concept of equality to all women irrespective of caste, creed, region and religion. If it is diligently considered, then the status of all women will change.
It is pertinent to mention that even after seven decades of independence majority of the sexual abuse, molestation and rape incidents are still happening with the downtrodden, underprivileged girls and women. I would like to mention that most of the time even women of the affluent society do not give due importance to raise their voice against the perpetrators especially if the accused or perpetrator belongs to the affluent section or their community. There have been incidents and reports in the mass media that the women of the affluent and influential society are becoming a party with the perpetrators, to commit the crime with women of poor and downtrodden society.The incidents in the recent past like incident of Unnao, Kathua and Hathras are the glaring examples of the discrimination among the same gender. It is suggested that when whole society practices the motto of Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam then things will change otherwise it will remain the same or could even worsen in the coming time.
I would like to raise the issue of domestic violence which is prevalent even today not only in uneducated and poor families but also in well-educated and rich families. But contrary to that, there are many instances of harassment by the female gender of the opposite gender as well as that against the whole family. Whosoever is at fault, it is not only destroying the life of husbands or wives but also of their extended families.
If we really want to improve the status of women, we need to change the mind-set of the whole society. All-out effort should be made against the female infanticide, to give quality health, education and nutrition to the female gender as provided to the males. Prime importance should be given to education. I believe if equal opportunities are given to the females then the situation will be different and very soon they will have the same life as other females are having in the developed society. Equality of opportunity in the matter of public employment is guaranteed in article 15 and freedom of speech and expression is guaranteed in article 19. In fact equality is the fundamental right of every citizen- for example not to be discriminated on the grounds of religion, caste, sex or place of birth which is granted by article 15 to all citizens.
Education is the prime factor to give employment and employment is based on the quality of education. I believe that only if education is given to all girls either free or at subsidised rates then the ability of these girls will be changed and they will be able to deal with any problem faced in the life whether physical, social, economic, political or emotional.Our current government has taken many steps to give opportunity to girls to lead in many fields which were unheard earlier.
Though article 15 states there should not be any discrimination on grounds of religion, caste, sex, place of birth, clause 3 and 4 of article 15 embody exceptions to the general principle of non-discrimination. They respectively empower the State to make special provision for women and children and for the advancement of any socially and educationally backward classes of citizens for scheduled caste and scheduled tribes.
In my opinion, if the nation wants to improve the status of the female gender then the nation should prioritise giving employment and a law should be made to give job preferably to the women of the families particularly if such families have never got the opportunity to get a government job in past.
Another suggestion is that considering the scarcity of job particularly in the government sector, only one person per couple should be given the government job with preference to the women. I am sure such arrangement will not only increase the chances of employment for other people as well as but also give an opportunity to empower the women too.
(A Padma Shri recipient, the author is a senior orthopaedic surgeon. Views expressed are personal)
