Fifteenth of August (15th August), a date that signifies the Independence of India, a date that spells Freedom with a capital F for the entire nation: But are we really an independent nation?
The first Prime Minister of India, Pt. J. L. Nehru, had once in his speech quoted that the condition of a nation can be determined by the status of its women population. Accordingly, where does India stand at now is a very big question?
Lets here discuss just a few of the things an Indian woman needs freedom from:
1. Freedom From Hypocrisy
Till date, Indian women are treated as slaves and
dominated by men in the society in the name of Security & Protection for them. Their dreams are crushed to death mercilessly and their voice always unheard.
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The perfect word for describing our Indian society is very rightly “Hypocrite” as this society does not care about the welfare of women but tends to show off their so-called care on a very high level. This society has put so many restrictions and taboos on our women that we cannot even take a breath on our own.
2. Freedom From The Burden Of Honour
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The society considers dating as a mean of ruining a woman’s character. A woman who is dating a guy is always belittled and not only that, her whole family is insulted. Often, it has been found that such circumstances lead to serious crimes in which honour Killing tops the list. And what is more horrifying, the woman and the guy are brutally murdered by their trusted families and friends.
3. Freedom From Being Judged ALL The Time
Divorce has been another social stigma in India where it is always preconceived that a woman has to give up her feelings, emotions and most importantly, her self-respect and continue to save her “happy” marriage. The
dowry demands do not get over even after the implementation of laws to prohibit and remove the dowry system. And this is because the officers are bribed (that too with the dowry money) and they do not execute their duties honestly.
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Further, after divorce, if a woman starts
dating another guy or even befriends him, this pietist society is ever ready to label such a relation as unacceptable, but a man who is divorced/widowed does not suffer any such restrictions as our Independent India, often called Bharat Mata, is predominantly male-dominated where a man can never be wrong – whether he drinks and beats up his wife, burn her alive, torture her in numerous ways either physically or mentally – but he can never be wrong because he is a Man.
This is Independent India.
4. Freedom Of Choice To Be Single Or Be Married
In between dating women and divorced/widowed women lie the section and now increasing the number of women who opt for being single in order to keep the hardships, they would have to face, at bay. But our impostor society is not content here too. When a woman chooses to stay single, they have countless ways of harming her peace of mind.
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Sometimes, they come up with weird decisions, not suggestions, that the woman is
physically or mentally challenged, another time they have a different opinion that the woman must have some big problem and definitely there is no solution to it, hence she cannot get married and their opinions on her singularity will never end.
5. Freedom To Take Independent Decisions For Herself
Our society is a male-dominated society where it is a preconceived notion that a woman’s life’s decisions will always be taken by men after thorough consultation with this societal patriarchs. This society believes it has the authority to make decisions on behalf of every
single woman in the country.
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Even after 70 years of driving the British out of India, are we really Independent? The answer is NO.
6. Freedom To Wear Anything
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Women’s
clothing and fashion, her decisions with respect to her career, her travelling all are put under a societal microscope where it is very calmly declared indirectly and, often, directly, that all her decisions are to be taken by men.
7. Freedom From Taboos
On one hand, women are told that menstruation is a natural phenomenon, and on the other hand, when women discuss it, they are shooed away even by their mothers. They are instructed not to utter the word “Period”. But, if the period is a gift from God, then why shy away from discussing it in the open.
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A recent Bollywood movie, Padman, that starred Akshay Kumar, not only explored the disadvantages of not discussing menstruation and its repercussions. Talking about menstruation in open is always looked down upon. It is a big question why no one is ready to understand that a woman going through her periods / menstrual cycle is as normal as everyone else. Her periods do not label her as a criminal of some sort nor does it make her a person of an unsound mind.
8. Freedom From Sexual Harassment
Another area where women are never safe is her
Workplace. Sexual harassment in the workplace can be mental as well as physical. More often, it is the Physical form of harassment that takes place. Sexual harassment can be defined, or rather, understood as an unacceptable direct or indirect sexual contact, remark, or behaviour on part of a male colleague against their women counterparts.
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Due to the increasing number of sexual harassment in the workplace, all companies have been directed to set up a committee board which looks into such matters. But this has not been yielding the expected results.
9. Freedom From Abusive Trolls Online
With the development of technology, it has become easier for people to target women and pass lewd comments without their identity being revealed. Yes, you guessed it right. We are talking about the
Online Trolls.
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Narrow-minded people have found a new place to mistreat women – Online. These trollers are people who enjoy abusing women by the use of cuss words, disturbing their privacy mainly because their narrow opinions do not match with that of the women they troll. Mostly, celebrities suffer from these veiled people who just cannot get out of their shell and fail to accept themselves as losers.
Celebrities like
Mithali Raj (Captain of Indian Cricket Team of Women), actress
Swara Bhaskar, Sonam Kapoor and many others have been a victim of such masked losers. But, instead of giving up, their replies to their trollers are incredible.
10. Freedom To Go Anywhere, Anytime And Feel Safe
Men believe that women should be ashamed of themselves if she is dating, career-oriented, a decision maker and all that she is supposed to be. But these same men are not ashamed of themselves for having placed pepper sprays, knives, cutters and other such weapons in a woman’s handbag permanently.
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Women are instructed not to leave the house alone after sunset, without any male aide. We, the women of India ask either educate your son to respect women or lock them up in their houses after sunset so that the women can move
freely and safely.
It is time the men get back a taste of their own medicine that they have given to women for ages.
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Probably, the next Independence Day will denote Freedom for the entire nation.
Written by
Ruchika Mertia
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