Women are often torn between the Cinderella-esque aspiration Jane Austen portrayed in novels such as Mansfield Park and Persuasion – of seeking the protection of an economically sound man - and being exploited by a domineering bully. In both these types lies a girl who grows up thinking the world is not for her.
by Dr. Ruwantissa Abeyratne in Montreal
Best of mothers, the best of rivers, best of goddesses, Sarasvatī. ~ Rigveda 2.41.16
Every year, on March the 8th we acclaim International Women’s Day. The United Nations has adopted the theme “ “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow” for this special day in 2022, which fully comports with Plato’s point made during the Classical period in Ancient Greece nearly 2500 years ago.
Plato said: “Nothing can be more absurd than the practice that prevails in our country of men and women not following the same pursuits with all their strengths and with one mind, for thus, the state instead of being whole is reduced to half” This only goes to demonstrate that the so called “male dominated” world has denied the equality of women for two and a half millennia. Seemingly, to make amends, The United Nations has made women’s equality and empowerment one of its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, calling it integral to all dimensions of inclusive and sustainable development, meaning that the contribution of women is absolutely necessary for the world to achieve sustainable development. True. But is that all? Well, no, says the United Nations and goes further: “Gender equality is a right. Fulfilling this right is the best chance we have in meeting some of the most pressing. challenges of our time—from economic crisis and lack of health care to climate change, violence against women and escalating conflicts”.
All this is incontrovertibly true, and thankfully we have at least a handful of world leaders, CEOs, and Hollywood movies like the Hunger Games and Wonder Woman to give us a glimpse of reality – that women can be as good as and even better in performance than men. But this misses an important point.
How is a woman perceived as a human being? No one knows for sure although literature gives us a glimpse. – that it is not only the achievement of sustainable development through women’s contributions that matter in gender equality, but also the empowerment of women to shake off the walls and boundaries which they have inherited that inhibit them. Leila Slimani cites Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi’s remarks about Scheherazade and speaks about “ the concept of hshouma, which translates as “shame” or “embarrassment,” and which is inculcated in every one of us from birth. To be well brought up, an obedient child, a good citizen, also means being alive to shame and regularly to demonstrate modesty and restraint…The price of transgression is very high and anyone guilty of crossing the hudud—the “sacred boundaries”—is punished accordingly and summarily rejected. The women who spoke to me have experienced only what befalls most Moroccans: an appalling, devastating inner conflict between the urge to shake off the tyranny of the community and the fear that freedom would bring all the traditional architecture of their world crashing down. All of them, as you will see, reveal ambivalence from time to time; they contradict themselves, claim their freedom then lower their eyes. They are trying to survive”.
Dr. Sandeep Kumar Sharma, in his review of Arundhati Roy’s acclaimed novel God of Small Things says of Ammu: “like Shakespeare's Cordelia in King Lear, she is punished for being a divorced woman separated from her husband. It is an irony that a divorced daughter is oppressed upon by her own parents, who welcome and bestow their love and affection on their estranged son. It is a matter of social injustice and discrimination that the estranged son Chacko is kindly treated by his parents but on the other hand the same parents turn biased against their daughter on account of her helplessness and homelessness”.
RAINN – an Organization to counter violence to women - in a survey and study reports that women are more afraid to live than die and fear is foremost in their minds. Amnesty International says: “ women are constantly worried about their safety when jogging or walking at night, walking to their car at night, using an elevator or stairwell in public spaces, taking public transportation, traveling, or allowing a maintenance person into their home. Women felt most unsafe when alone, yet most of the time men felt 50% safer in the same situations. No one should fear being alone. Nor should we jump to the conclusion that women need men to feel safe”
Leila Slimani in her devastatingly sensitive short story The Confession recounts the exploitation of a vagabond girl ostracized by an unforgiving and unrelenting society that made her wander around, homeless: “Achour started running toward the girl. She watched him without reacting, weighed down by fatigue, resigned to her fate. She did not try to run away. And, now that I think about it, where could she have gone? How could she have escaped from Achour… Achour reached the girl and beckoned me over. When I came within a few feet of them, I could hear him threatening to hit her if she screamed or if she didn’t do what I wanted. He made her sit down amid the wheat stalks, which hid her face, and brutally tore off the harem pants she was wearing under her djellabah. Then he gestured with his hand. The same gesture you make to your guests when you want them to taste a dish that you have prepared. A gesture of invitation, with his huge, red, calloused hand. Without a word, I accepted”.
Women are often torn between the Cinderella-esque aspiration Jane Austen portrayed in novels such as Mansfield Park and Persuasion – of seeking the protection of an economically sound man - and being exploited by a domineering bully. In both these types lies a girl who grows up thinking the world is not for her. She remains silent when she is hurt - the best version of herself - and consistent across time and circumstances. As Colm Toibin says in The Testament of Mary “She sees herself as a victim, trapped by men determined to make a story of what she knows is not a story but her life”. The Hindu Goddess Saraswathi - Goddess of knowledge, music, art, speech, wisdom, and learning.- embodies the best of women, a river of love rushing towards an ocean of eternity, gushing with boundless care for her young.
Khalil Gibran portrayed woman thus: “And a woman spoke, saying, "Tell us of Pain."
And he said: Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.
Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;
And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.
And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.
Much of your pain is self-chosen.
It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.
Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:
For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,
And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the
Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears”.
This is what international Women’s Day should be all about – a testament to man and his culture.
Post a Comment