A Day for Women

I daresay we women, are among the most astonishing creations of nature: most adorable, and yet the strongest!

We carry the load of running the whole house and yet are tagged as the "physically weaker sex". We endure mental and emotional cruelties, torment, and still, when the time comes, we don't shy from service to the ones who were unfair to us; yet we're called "moody". We fall in love, stand by the one who gives us love, stay strong to our commitment against all odds; but still, we're slut-shamed. We take care of our parents, our spouse's parents, our siblings, our spouse's siblings; still our birth is considered a burden. We are inspiring leaders and efficient co-workers, yet the glass above our heads is not shattering. We love to chat, and gossip, and to sing, and dance, and we love to be pampered like a princess. But when it comes to ruling a kingdom we are majestic and just, like a queen.

The 8th of March is celebrated as International Women's Day. I love Women's Day because everywhere I look, I see that we are pampered, appreciated for all our efforts, our little things are magnified to look like important, big things. Some companies even give the day off to their women employees, and arrange a day full of entertainment and amusement, to celebrate womanhood. Ah, womanhood! Suddenly the mothers, the wives, the sisters, the co-workers, the friends, become an indispensable part of the world. The fervour and hoopla associated with Women's Day feel like having a child-servant at home while celebrating charity events that work for that very cause. Yes, we want a Women's Day, but we don't want it to be just a day. Why can't every day be a reflection of what you reflect and realize today about the women in your lives .?

We go out to work as well as manage the household, we are the deemed-to-be caretakers of our children, we are the amateur cooks expected to pass a 'Masterchef' test on a daily basis, we are expected to create 'work-life balance'. We are the parents whose daughters are expected to be an epitome of tolerance, we are the dauntless ones who endure domestic violence in the hope that one day the alcohol will stop and so will the beating, we are the young widows whose lives are thought to be over with the end of the spouse's life, we are the young lovers whose choice-marriage is a question of societal honour, we are the divas whose broken hearts too are a public gossip! We are the mother, we are the sister, we are the wife, we are the daughter. We are the CEOs, we are the teachers, we are the artists, we are the army officers. We are the friend, we are the girlfriend, we are the lover, we are your fantasy. We are survivors of a rape, we are the subsister of an acid attack, we are the victims of domestic violence, we are the unmarried girl who fought against giving dowry.

No, we don't want a medal for what we do; nor we want our job to be considered a feat. We are not above the rest of the human race, nor we are above the law. We don't want reservations, nor we ask for concessions. All we ask is our place in society to be respected and appreciated. All we ask is to stop rapes, stop molesting, stop grabbing us in public. All we ask is to raise better men instead of asking us to cover our bodies. All we ask is to give us our rightful respect: at the workplace with a harassment-free environment and as an equal, and at home acknowledging our contribution as a 'home-maker'. All we ask is to respect our choices, without judgments, and accept our differences with dignity and not discrimination.

Let Women's Day not be a day to reflect on women, celebrate women, and pledging to shield them from atrocities and discrimination. Let this Women's Day be the beginning of treating a woman as simply a human: an equally placed, co-human.