"नारी तुम केवल श्रद्धा हो"

[Dr. Anupma Singh]

नारी तुम केवल श्रद्धा हो!!!

In every era or historical period, in all languages, in all places women have always been tagged. Jaya Shankar Prasad, a famous hindi poet, describes women as "नारी तुम केवल श्रद्धा हो ” which means women are epitome of comapassion. The word ‘shraddha’ conveys several meanings compassion, grace, affection and humility. Shakespeare sees women frail {Frailty thy name is woman} and women are given the highest status by the Sanskrit writers,  यत्र नार्यस्तु पूज्यन्ते रमन्ते तत्र देवता: “ Gods reside there, where women are worshipped .Women have always been given different patterns by others as its rightly discussed by D.H Lawrence in his essay, “Give Her A Pattern” we always see in woman a perfect wife, a compassionate mother, giving sister, wild prostitute, a sophisticated secretarary but never  respected them as only woman. The condition is the same all over the world. In India specifically, Women have always been marginalized or in the word of Ania Loomba, “Doubly colonized”. In the Second Sex, Simon de Beauvoir writes that women are not born woman but they are made woman. The sentence is self explanatory. Women in India are raised in an environment where they are not made comfortable with their biological existence. There are several taboos related to different biological processes such as menstrual cycles. They feel ashamed of what is an indispensable and important part of their existence. As per a recent survey by world health organization, only 20% of women in India have access to clean sanitary napkins and 80% of women are using sand or ash in place. There is a taboo attached to the whole process, they live in isolation during this period. Girls don’t attend the schools because the administrators have never thought of providing closed toilets. The report is full of references of similar instances. What an irony! We bestow upon women the status of Goddess but subjugate them every now and then and ignore their presence. I would like to draw attention to all who are availing the luxuries of life, especially those who are placed in a position where they can influence the decision of policy makers to the plight of women in India. I consider any of the theories on women are unsubstantial before these core issues. Before placing women on high pedestal why can’t we simply accept and subsequently respect their existence.

On the contrary, I saw the representation of women as sex symbols or a commodity in the postmodern society. Movies are considered to be a lower form of literature when it comes to take references. But a movie like Social Network, which claims to be a real life story of Mike Zuckerberg can be taken as an example. This movie showcases women only as means to get earthly pleasures. The movie shows a detailed journey of a computer geek turning into a successful entrepreneur and several other young men like him getting engaged in meaningful endeavors, but never women. One of the scenes is good example of it, When Mike was hiring the interns for his ongoing project; the girl friends of Eduardo asked Mike, How can they be helpful in the process? Or can he hire them as intern? He with sarcasm says no, suggesting that they are not worth it. Also in the house of Shawn Parker, women are always shown either making sex or taking drugs. Males on the contrary busy in doing projects. All these male protagonists are real life characters and it’s a movie about their lives and if in a movie like this women are portrayed as pity brain less emotional fools what should we learn about the present situation. Is it a biased representation of women? Or that’s the reality.

There are women who are even not provided with basic necessities of life and there are women who are privileged but have been patronized as a commodity. The dichotomy of male and female still exists. Many among you would like to enumerate the names of women who have been successful in their lives but again the % is so low that it’s become negligible.

With Best

Anupma

[Shamshad Elahee Ansari "Shams"]

Dr Anupama Singh has dealt with the issue in detail. We look forwrad to a debate & discussion on the subject, right here on OBO.

Regards