I am scared to be a girl in the Indian society. Wherever I go, people are after my flesh, after my smile, my freedom, my existence itself. My question is what is my crime? Because I am born a female, why am I always on the paying and receiving side?

A panchayat in the Uttar Pradesh district bans women from carrying cell phones, going to the market place and commands the women folk to wear a pallu, to keep their heads and face always covered. And the reason for this is to save the village from becoming ‘immoral’. However, my question at this junction is why is it that the burden of carrying and safeguarding the izzat of a family or a village falls upon women shoulders. Aren’t men too a part of a family? Or is it that it can be taken for granted that menfolk are already shameless, thus their honour makes no difference at all.

Every day, one will read atleast one piece of story in a newspaper wherein some injustice has taken place against a woman–  in the form of rape, physical and emotional trauma, dowry deaths and threats.. hell, some of them are not even given a chance to breathe fresh air. Their fate is sealed in a coffin as soon as they are born or conceived.

One might say that we are exaggerating, we are hyping the issue.. but to them I would like to say, it’s a reality face it. Take a look within your own household—when you decide that your family will go on a picnic for fun and games, it is a time for more work for your mother/wife. She has to cook food and keep it ready for the trip; she would have to organize small tit-bits to eat for travelling, pack a blanket incase it gets cold and do many other small preparations. Women are important, they are the wheels, the engine, the car itself.. without who the journey itself won’t be possible. Yet, ironically, it is this same engine which is rotting today, exposed to face the brunt of the society. She is forced to pay a hefty price for someone else’s pleasure.

Everyone questions about what a woman should wear, with whom she should be friends, what she should eat.. infact, every detail of her life is always in the hands of the other and she is expected to accept every decision and succumb to her fate. My point here is who gave you the right to decide for her? She too is flesh and blood like you, who deserves to live and enjoy the freedom as granted by our constitution.

I am scared.. like so many other girls..And I will continue to be afraid until stringent laws are made against the accused and I am assured about my safety by the government, the law making body.  I am afraid of my fate in a society which watches like a mute donkey when a girl is getting molested in public. I am afraid of working overtime and earning the much needed money for my family as the society would look down upon me and might accuse me of having an affair or being over ambitious. I am afraid to walk on the streets alone.. least I get eve-teased or molested. I am afraid to be a girl in an Indian society.

I speak for women.. one voice.. yet I hope it contains the silence of many.

Related Posts :