Jyoti Sidana
The report of UN agency ‘UN Women’ says that the family is a place of diversity where if the members want, the seeds of equality between boys and girls can be easily sown. For this it is necessary that the members of the families should be included in every policy and decision by making them aware about the rights of women. If people include this thing in their behavior, then the picture of every society and nation will be different.
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru had also said that the condition of a country can be understood by the condition of its women. There is no doubt that even today the condition of women is not very satisfactory. This is the reason that the society and the nation are going through many discrepancies and crises today.
The UN report says that there is a need to implement laws, policies and programs that meet the needs of family members and create an environment conducive to their progress and well-being.
Especially it is necessary to do this for girls and women. Till now we have seen that the trend of denying the existence, rights and decision making ability of women all over the world continues unabated today. Women’s decisions and their rights are sacrificed in the name of calling for the culture and values of the families.
Statements like ‘log kya kahenge’ are only for women. That is why the question is equally relevant as to why men are not shown the fear of neglecting family values, culture, morals and rules of society. Possibly because the society is made up of only men or men have been providing continuity to such inequality based society only to maintain their supremacy. This is the reason that despite many changes and laws, domestic violence or any type of violence against women is considered as a right in the society, not a crime.
It has been revealed in many surveys that most of the women also accepted being harassed by the husband/man as their fate. If women themselves think so, then it is a challenge to think of a change in the thinking of the male population.
Even today there are many such countries and societies where girls have no right to get a share in the property and inheritance of their family. There is no doubt that in the present times, daughters have got the same rights as sons in the property of parents by law. But even then, daughters are expected to happily give up their share or give it to their brother.
The storm of materialism has tarnished relationships, the effect of which can be seen on people of every section and age of society. In the rapidly expanding technology age, emotions are dying out in every relationship.
Everyone is busy in their virtual world. In this situation the condition of women is even worse. During socialization in families, many types of hesitations and fears are filled in the personality of women in such a way that they start considering values like freedom, democracy, liberalism, openness, equality, justice as anti-values of themselves and their family. This aspect never allows a woman to become a completely self-sufficient unit.
Taking an important decision in Maharashtra some time ago, a decision has been taken to end the widow practice in the state. Some time ago this decision was first implemented by a village panchayat of Kolhapur. After this, all the gram panchayats of the state were asked to implement it.
If a woman’s husband dies, then after her last rites, such acts like breaking the bangles of the woman and wiping vermilion from the forehead, removing the mangalsutra will not be done. After a long time, one must have wondered why the wife should be forced to live like a living corpse after the death of a husband?
It is an anomaly that when a man is a widower, no change is made in his way of life, no restrictions of any kind are imposed on him, but when a woman is widowed, she wears colorful clothes, adorns her. is banned. It is surprising that in the modern era, change has been accepted in everything. Just the attitude towards women has not changed.
But this important decision of the Maharashtra government can be considered a strong step towards improving the condition of women. Similar initiatives should be taken in other parts of the country also. With such small steps, the idea of an equal society for women can be realized.
Even today, in most of the households, women do not even have the right to make their own decisions about their health. Women have been listening day and night to take care of family members and keep busy in domestic work, what do you do all day. This thinking can be said to be one of the main reasons for the disparity between men and women.
This thinking keeps on being transferred from one generation to the next without any change. It is also true that only those people who have the courage to flow against the current in spite of many oppositions can bring change in the society.
There are many examples in which girls and their families have done this. Nikhat Zareen, who won the only gold medal for the country in the recent Women’s World Boxing Championship, had cared about people’s taunts and thinking that a girl should not play such sports in which she has to wear short clothes, today she would not have become a world champion. Get it
There are currently five women among Indian women who have won gold at the World Championships. Someone has rightly written – ‘Where do women lose, they are defeated… What people will say, they are scared by saying this.’
It is not that this is a first step towards improving the condition of women. The efforts of Mirabai, Bhanwari Devi, Amrita Devi etc. can be included in these examples. Movement like MeToo is also an example of voice against exploitation and oppression by women against them.
But it cannot be neglected that protests by women alone do not produce as successful results as changes made by the joint efforts of men and women. Because unless the dominant section of the society i.e. the male section is not ready to change its thinking, then the hope of positive change in the condition of women is futile. The question arises whether the step taken in the state of Maharashtra will be able to take shape in other states as well?