Pink little ribbons dangled from her braid, the laced pink
frock danced around her hips, the bright yellow shoes sparkled in the night
light, and I couldn't resist a smile when I saw that baby girl. Childhood is a
celebration of life for most of us. It is always filled with rosy memories of
fun and laughter. It is not surprising when most of us long for those care-free
days, those days of endless playtime and delight, those days of abundance and
happiness. You never had to worry about anything, there was always someone to
take care of you, feed you when you were hungry, buy you new and exciting
things to play with and you always had someone to hear you out and help you. But when you look far and beyond, you realize
that the rosy tales of childhood memories are not for everyone. For many
children their childhood has been a daunting experience.
Many young girls grew up with no toys to play with, no new
clothes to wear, no proper food and medicine, and with no proper access to
education. They grew up learning and doing the little household chores,
fetching buckets of water from the nearby pond or well. Eventually these girls
grew up and lived their life even without realizing the abundant possibilities
outside their little world. And some of them probably grew up and led silent
abusive lives within their establishment unaware of the opportunities that lay
outside. All of this would have never happened only if the family or the
society around was educated enough to understand the power women symbolize
today. A girl child is often taken for granted and is deprived from many of the
little pleasures. The negligence of a girl child in the early days slowly
transforms in the later stages as abuse on women. Abuse on women is lurking
around every corner, at home, at work, in the bus, in the train, and
frighteningly it has crept into every aspect of daily life, making each day a
herculean challenge to sail through.
It frightens me sometimes to watch the news channels or read
the newspaper columns, there is not a single day without a mention of some form
of abuse on women and children. The exploitation of women has sadly been on the
rise of late. With gruesome stories making its way into the public every day,
it makes me wonder if we are anyway close to becoming a super power by 2020.
The laurels, the achievements, the technological
advancements, the breakthrough discoveries seem meaningless when the women of
the land are not treated with dignity.
The need of the hour is stringent law against the people who
assault women. Only when we have a strong judicial system in place, the crime
doers will think twice before indulging in any mistreatment. The accessibility
to justice should be made easier, the burden or the trauma of a civil procedure
should not haunt a victim from seeking justice.
Creating a strong legal, fool proof platform will probably
take its due course, but that cannot stop us from addressing this issue now.
Let the law take it own course, but, as responsible citizens of this country
there are many other things which we can exercise from our end.
In today’s world of technology and information education
still seems a distant dream to many children, and specifically to the girl
child. Education is not about stacking degrees and certificates; it is a
process of learning and understanding the world around us. Education is a way
of channelising your mind to understand the world around you better and to be a
more active contributor to it. When you are educated, you know when injustice
is meted out to you and you know the platforms and the means to seek justice.
Whereas an uneducated women on the other hand is taken for granted and she will
never probably realize that she could have undone the injustice shown to her. Every
girl child must be educated, she must be taught about a world outside, about
the numerous possibilities, she must be educated and well informed about what
the society holds for her and how she can be an active part of it. NGO’s and
government organisations and several private contributors have made tremendous
contribution to the empowerment of women. But today it is not enough if only
these people do their part, it is the moral duty of every citizen to ensure
that he or she in some way will help or contribute.
Educating women and enlightening them about their civil and
legal rights alone does not win the game, it is also an equal responsibility of
everybody else to understand their role in women empowerment. The environment,
the people around, everything has to be conducive enough for women to stand
tall and proud and above all feel safe in our society.
So let us promise, that from this day on we still strive
towards a better tomorrow, a better platform for the future women of our family
and our society.
Women are the delicate part of the society, they are the
gentle and the lovely part of mankind, they bring in different abilities and
skills with them, and it is time we took care of them, nurtured them and
promised them a safe, happy and prosperous future.
