Women of our great country has always been visionaries, patriots and leaders
Date : 04/05/2024
In India, 24th January is observed as National Girl Child Day. The very theme of this day implies a celebration of womanhood and makes a call for the empowerment of women, that is, to rescue women from the precincts of household work to the exclusion of everything else into the active and dynamic arena of nation building, business and enterprise.
But a question comes to me is that, when we believe that men and women are equal, why this day is dedicated to women? We have never celebrated the presence of men in art, science, business or politics? Is this kind of special status to women, then is it not a contradictory and a self-defeating proposition? One might say that we celebrate women in nation building as political leaders, entrepreneurs, scientists, because it symbolizes the liberation of women from centuries of oppression and submission. But women of this country have always been liberated because they have always taken control of their own destinies, with or without the support of men. Rani Laxmibai had rebelled against the British way back in 1857 when Mahatma Gandhi – the father of the Indian Freedom struggle was not even born. She was the original torch bearer, the first warrior, the foremost freedom fighter of India who challenged the mighty British Raj. She was the first visionary leader who made the fire of nationalism, the blaze of honour for the motherland rage in the hearts of thousands of men and women of this country.
Before her was Mother Jijabai, the first citizen of India who dreamt of an incredible, independent India and made Shivaji who he was.
Women of our great country have always been visionaries, patriots and leaders who have elevated its collective social and spiritual consciousness.
Sita, Kunti, Draupadi – when we read the grand epics, we see that, inspite of the virtually horrifying trials and tribulations, these great women were made to go through, there is not a hint of weakness or submissiveness in their characters. They have become the eternal icons of independent, empowered thinking in personal and social life. Even in those ancient times, they had the liberated conviction to stand up not only for themselves, but also for all women of their society that too against the men of their own families.
The great women of this country have always been challenging and fighting Adharma while there is not a single example in our great epics of any woman having perpetrated Adharma or crimes against mankind herself. There is no female equivalent in any of our scriptures for Ravana, Duryodhana, Shakuni or Dritarashtra. In fact, nobody can dismiss the virtuousness, good sense and the desire to uphold what is right, even in the women closely associated with these villains like Mandodari, the wife of Ravan who constantly chided him, appealed to him to correct his ways; Gandhari, the sister of Shakuni; wife of Dritarashtra and Mother of the Kauravas, who gave the blessing of victory to the Pandavas and not to her own sons the Kauravas in the great Mahabharata War knowing that the war will kill all of them.
Even in most contemporary times right from the mid-1800s, Indian women have fought various dogmas and made invaluable contributions to science, technology and business. Whether it was through Aanadibai Joshee- the first Indian practitioner of western medicine or botanists, physicists, chemists and engineers like Asima Chatterjee, Janaki Amman, Darshan Ranganathan and a host of others. It’s just recently that we heard of the Rocket Women of India – women scientists responsible for launching 104 satellites in space in a single day. In the field of business, women now head fortune 500 companies all over the world and in India, women Managing Directors, COOs and CEOs head financial giants like the State Bank of India, Morgan Stanley India, ICICI Bank, National Stock Exchange of India, LIC and dozens of multinational institutions. All these women would have built their careers day by day, year by year through decades of passionate commitment to their chosen field of work. It is indeed a proud moment for all of us that India had her first independent woman defence minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitaraman in 2015, who is now the Finance Minister of Bharat in the most trying times of Indian Economy and had Late Smt. Sushma Swaraj, as the External Affairs Minister, the absolute doyen of diplomatic affairs. Both these women have changed the way the world looks at India and have set the agenda for global policy on the issues of security, terrorism and trade.
Hence, this brings me back to the point that the Women of Bharath do not need to have their empowerment celebrated because even in the face of unthinkable odds they have always been able to empower themselves.
So then, why must we have days like these? The answer is simple. We must have conferences like these to remind ourselves of not merely the success of women, but the success that is coming and will continue to come to the society as a whole because more and more women are joining the mainstream. There is a specific technology to the way women are naturally built and oriented.
Nature has endowed women with fearlessness – She pines to be a mother inspite of the pain and difficulty she knows she will have to go through; she can singlehandedly protect and nurture her children regardless of her economic and marital status. Imagine this fearlessness being magnified onto a larger stage of social consciousness;A fearless pursuit of goals regardless of the pain and problems brought about by obstacles and adversity. By inducting women into the workforce, we will naturally create leaders who know how to build success in the face of obstacles.
A woman is instinctively endowed with the ability to balance – Moving to a new home and verily to a completely different life after marriage, she learns to understand and balance the habits and behaviours, characteristics and personalities, do’s and don’ts of her new family and home to create a harmonious nourishing family life. A woman is born with the ability to bring equilibrium in extremes, a sense of stability in chaos and maintain poise in the face of overwhelming change. Bring this inherent talent of a woman out of the four walls of the house into the mainstream of society and we have leaders who can bring about unification where there is separation, harmony where there is discord.
A woman is endowed, naturally with the qualities of selflessness and sacrifice – We sing the glories of men who face death at our borders but we forget the sacrifice of the woman who chooses to foster her husband’s, her son’s patriotism and lets him fight in peace. A woman can do the same thing day in and day out for years and decades of her life, confined to the four walls of the house, nurturing her husband and her children, giving them the environment, learning and education – to create success for themselves. While her family is rewarded with success, money, power and glory very often the woman herself receives not even a simple thank you. Yet she continues serving and nurturing her family with unflinching love, dedication and devotion. When this selflessness comes into society, can you imagine the kind of fair-to-all team – building, work co-ordination and work culture, a woman then brings to the field of industry and business or any other social endeavour she chooses?
When a woman steps out of her house as a business leader, a social reformer with her influence extending not just to the three or four people in her family but rather to hundreds of individuals in society, society benefits from nurturing bosses who can recognize and foster talent, visionary business leaders who have the foresight to create value for the company, the country and the world at large.
Ancient Indian Wisdom never thought of men and women as equal, for it upheld as given that women are superior to men. They are the Shakti of Shiva, the Prakriti of Purusha, the Adi Shakti of Brahman itself who builds, organizes, sustains and destroys the Universe. When a woman steps out into the world, we create a world which is moralistic and fair because the very nature of womanhood spells morality, right action, vision, and success for all. Yes, it is incredibly important for society to stand up, take notice and give women their due. And it is on days like these that remind us all of this responsibility. It is even a greater duty for us the educated, empowered women of the Great Land of Bharath to induct more and more women into the mainstream of society. Being women, we must aim not just to create an incredible Bharath but rather an incredible world.
Amishi Seth has authored four books published by Penguin, Landmark and Orange Art Media. She has written and directed over 50 successful plays, mega stage shows, conducted trainings and workshops with reputed Educational Institutions like Birla, Somaiya, SIES, Vibgyor International and others as also with Production Houses including Raell Padamsee’s Ace Productions and Harish Bhimani. She also runs her own YouTube channel called PEP THOUGHTS...that talks about do-it-here-and-now practical ways to apply concepts of Spirituality and Human Values to change one’s attitude and solve everyday problems and issues of life.
Image Credits: Ekta Parishad
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Beautifully written , one feels so empowered, specially when we say men and women are equal , are we really equal? Today's generation needs to be taught to respect women .