PARVEZ MANDVIWALA argues why we should be ashamed of celebrating Women’s Day.
Our calendars are brimming over with ‘days’ these days. There are days and weeks meant to raise awareness about certain diseases (World Aids Day, TB Day, etc.), or to mark certain events in history (Independence Day, Republic Day), to thank certain professionals (Teachers’ Day, Doctors’ Day), to celebrate relationships (Mothers’ Day, Fathers’ Day)…. However, one Day that I sincerely believe we should be ashamed of celebrating is Women’s Day. Now before you raise your eyebrows and call me a male chauvinist and anti-feminist, allow me to clarify my point.
How many people do we have scattered on earth today? Six billion or so, right? And how many of these are women? All over the world (save some male-obsessed societies like ours) there are always and always have been more women than men. If that is so, how and why does secluding a ‘day’ to remember the overwhelming population of the world stand justified? Is it so because despite being a majority in the census, women all over the world (with no exceptions here) are always and always have been the lesser sex, the deprived sex and the oppressed sex? The loud and clear answer, my dear readers, is YES! And as long as this situation remains the way it is today, we definitely stand in need of a day to highlight the plight of our ladies.
Men, on account of their physical strength and mental makeup (low on emotions and high on rage) have always – across class, cultures and races – suppressed their womenfolk. Beaten, abused, burnt, buried! Domestic violence, marital rape, prostitution (forced or otherwise), sati, dowry deaths, female infanticide and foeticide – all in the name of culture and tradition – are conveniently taken in the stride. Helpless and without any way-out, our women have continued to accept this grim reality and have remained subdued.
Towards the turn of the last century, the Industrial Revolution saw the mushrooming of a number of factories and mills. To fuel these industries, the capitalists were in dire need of cheap and abundant labour. This was when women were deceived in the name of freedom, equality and emancipation and taken out of their homes and made to slog in quarries and workshops, on flights and offices, made to quench the lust of male workers in inns and brothels, disrobed as models and escorts. Women are now required to earn their living, to contribute to the household expenses and – I’m stupefied at the cunning ploy of our capitalist powers – our women do all this assuming they are actually being liberated! Far from it, the industrial revolution and all that it led to has enslaved women more than ever. The capitalists took from women what they wanted but never truly gave them the freedom and status they had bargained their lives for.
Laws and legislations framed in support of women notwithstanding, the overall condition of women still remains sad to say the least. And unless this condition ceases to exist, we would be compelled to mark a day to highlight the role of women in society, to tell the men all over this planet that these women are your very mothers about whom the Qur’ān says in the very first ayat of a surah named after women, “… and have reverence for the wombs that bore you….” These women are your wives, about whom Allah Himself intercedes thus, “… and live with them in kindness….” These women are your daughters about whom the Qur’ān moves the hardest of hearts to tears by saying, “And when one of them is informed of the birth of a female, his face becomes dark, and he suppresses his grief. He hides himself of the ill of which he has been informed. Should he keep it in humiliation or bury it in the ground? Verily, evil is what they decide.”
God has granted women all the rights they deserve. He says, “…Women have the same rights against their men as men have against them….” Islam accords utmost respect to women; be they mothers, daughters, sisters or wives; be it their right to inheritance, right to earn, right to have a say in their marriage and mehr, right to dissolution of marriage, right to proper food, clothing, shelter, education, healthcare, and most importantly – the right to life; the right to breathe in this world created by God. Even on his deathbed, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be to him) admonished us to be good to our women who have been placed under our care.
It is WE who have deprived her of her God-given rights; and let there be no doubt that on the Day of Judgment, we would be held accountable for this act of criminal omission, suppression and violation, for all the deeds committed against women. The very day all men realise the gravity of this offence, we would no longer have to devote a day to remember our women, their struggles, their sacrifices, just as we don’t need a ‘Men’s Day’ to commemorate ours. Till then, Happy Women’s Day!