A Women's Day Remembrance

This post would have been better posted on a 9th March. But as a non-profit oriented writer and the everyday relevance of the topic, does it really matter?

In what seemed to be a just another normal day, as I walked into my office, a few fair-skinned, cute-faced fresh graduated colleagues stood at the entrance of my office armed with flowers handing them over to every female they met. A little further, a flex with pictures of famous women personalities (Aishwarya Rai-Bachhan on the top) reminded me that it was March 8th. Like many organisations around the world, the company I work with too celebrated Women's Day on March 8th. I walked further with my female colleagues, feeling jealous of why isn’t there a 'Men's Day'.

As I routinely checked my emails, there was a circular from a shopping portal (with which my company has a tie-up) offering special discounts for women's products on Women's Day. It included cosmetic items and kitchen accessories. A little later another email circular appeared inviting the residents of our township to appreciate the winners of best recipe competition held as a part of the Women's Day.

I could only pity the ignorance of these celebrators. How many of them (including women) really understands what exactly Women's Day is celebrated for? There was a play by V. T. Bhattathirippad, Adukkalayil Ninnum Arangathekku (From the Kitchen to the Forefront) that had played a pivotal role in the awakening of the Malayali population from Swami Vivekananda's 'lunatic asylum'. After I read those emails, I felt like rephrasing the title of the play to Arangathu Ninnum Adukkalayilekku (From the Forefront, Back to the Kitchen). Never did I imagine that after the 100th year of Women's Day celebrations, we would have to start again from one.

I forwarded the township's recipe mail to a few selected colleagues with the above observations. One of them replied with a statement: "Whatever it is, they [women] should never forget their traditional trade." I was flabbergasted! Since when is kitchen work the trade of women? Women were confined to the kitchen only since humans started agriculture and settled down from a hunter-gatherer. The stove was invented only in 200 B.C., for crying out loud. That is, out of the million years of human existence, kitchens existed only for a few thousand years. But that was the convention then. When men worked out in fields, women managed the kitchen. Why should the same convention be applied in a world where agriculture is not the sole occupation?

Women's Day celebrations historically originated from a series of demonstrations in continental Europe by women demanding right to vote and hold a public office. Russian women's celebrations of women's day in 1917 initiated the February revolution which shaped the history of the twentieth century.

My first encounter with the denial of equal rights for women was in my childhood, when our house went for a renovation, building an extra floor. I don't remember the exact incident, but I do remember my dad mentioning that the women workers were paid a little less than their male counterparts. He merely pointed out the inequality in wages but it took me years to really understand the underlying concept of oppression and inequality.

Sadly, the Women’s Day has lost its political flavour and is been viewed more as an greeting card marketing and shopping festival. There is nothing wrong in celebrating womanhood but it shouldn’t be at the cost of forgetting their roles in nation building. In a country that is still clinging on to its feudal roots, gender equality has to be addressed first before celebrating womanhood.