SHE

She fights to be born. At every step even before she takes birth, she has to evade the obstacle course of sex- determination tests and the horrifying abortions and a termination which can even result in the death of a mother (oh, forgot, she is a she; expendable you see). This society will worship the woman in the Devi form (Goddess) but will kill, debase, rape, plunder sexually exploit sell woman in human form.

What makes a woman so vulnerable? Is it the fact, that she is an easy target in every form? Be it the draconian laws that exist where even divorce is not possible now or the fact that we have invisible laws that govern every moment of our lives. Do this, don’t do this, this is not done you are a girl. How many of you have grown up hearing this? Behave, girls are not supposed to do this, what will people say? Girls are a victim created by us.

We make them a victim of our minds as they are growing up so that they fit into our preconceived notions how they should behave. Why cannot we stop the men from behaving wrongly, obscenely? Why cannot an example be set where men should be eve-teased, pinched, whistled at? Why cannot men get their own medicine back, with acid thrown back on them?

Why do we as a collective nation extoll the virtues of every saint but forget that they were born from the womb of a woman? Why is she killed at the altar of science, in this way it was better to be in the dark ages; then we did not have ultra-sound machines to kill us?

She, a giver of life, nurturer of life, provider is killed, made an object of baser desires just because you can. This mindset, mentality of being bully because you can speak louder, have more muscles and you have been getting away has seeped into the prevailing subconscious of our society and men continue oppression.

When a boy and a girl are growing, chances are that a girl will be asked to curb herself more than a boy. Last week, on a social networking site, when the Anand marriage act said that divorce is not possible for a Sikh woman, a person’s comment that women have to surrender no matter what the situation or advancement in society or world affairs is.

All over the world, women are targeted for being too flashy, too daring with their clothes, too provocative, they are the ones who incite, instigate. Well, hello why can’t men control themselves? Do we ever comment on how they dress or why they are wearing the certain type of clothes?

Women are targeted for showing their ankles, too much skin , how bizarre is this? Has there been regression since the world started? Where is the freedom, or is it just an utopian word so coined to fool us women into believing that yes it exists.

The worst case scenario which exists . In India is the disparity when one wishes to adopt a baby boy is adopted @ Rs2,50,000 and a baby girl at Rs 50,000.

Why? Is our psyche so damaged? Is the society beyond help? Is the mindset so lithographed that we have become so closed?

Ravneet Sangha