Women's Day

(Photo Credit: Istela Imam)

It maddens me when I meet some people in my country who by default undermines a woman's ability to do a certain job. It is unwarranted. So, when my father and I were waiting for my mother and sister to get registered as voters, we met someone like that. As it happened, male operators were taking care of the male voter wannabes (unsuitable? probably), and female operators were taking care of the female wannabe voters. As it also happened, my father and I were done in a jiffy, and had to wait quite a long time for my mom and sister to come out. I asked a male guard there why it was taking so long, and it was then when he made his remark about women. I told him he was wrong, and that there was no reason that it should take so long, just because the operators there were women. I thought I had made my point. Then again, I didn't know that our wait was to be a lot longer still.

I asked them when they were finally done "what took so long?". So, as it happened the operators were slower and did take longer! That made me realize, that a woman's ability is still not a question here. I think society's treatment of women also play a large role here. If girls grow up in an environment where nothing is expected of them, they will not grow to explore their potential, or be aware of it. The 'default undermining' is our society's view of women, and that largely affects the outcome of the women workforce. Its not uncommon to find women with engineering or medicine or other educational qualifications just doing nothing afterwards. The expectations sometimes are that they will be educated but not needed to work. The demand/supply of arranged marriages play a strong role in this situation, or simply rather loose hypocritical viewpoint of the educated parents.

Whatever, it may be, I know there are women out there who are offering so much to this society and the world at large, and I hope the future 'woman' chooses the right role model and gets to see that there is much they can do.

Lastly, a few links:
http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
Is Islam Really Stuck in the 12th Century on Women's Rights?