Thursday 9 March 2017

My thoughts on Women's day

So yesterday we celebrated women’s day. Well it is nice you know to have a day dedicated for yourself. Last year when I was working we celebrated women’s day at our office too. We got to wear casual dress and all our PCs had a happy women’s day screensaver. Well what more could we have asked! I mean a screen saver! And to top it off we get to wear something other than uniform! I mean what more could a woman possibly want with her life. Am I right?

Now I just saw a video about how this women’s day we women should get to flaunt it if we have it. By “it” I mean our cleavage. Somehow it made me feel a little confused. When did women’s day become about the freedom to flaunt our assets? I always thought that it was a day to celebrate women and the fact that we too are people who are allowed to have dreams, aspirations, to have the right to be born! I understand what the video wanted to convey, don’t take it the wrong way. I totally agree that it is OUR body and it is OUR choice to do whatever we want to do with it and when we do so we should not have to worry about prying eyes or predators lurking around in the corner. I totally get it. My concern is that this isn’t what it’s only about!  It is a celebration for equality. We have come a long way from the first women’s day celebration but there are still issues that we women face every single day which are far more important than the freedom to flaunt our breasts. And this day is supposed to be about that. One thing that I did like about the celebration in my office was that they themed it around pledge for parity. Now that makes sense because even today there are opportunities we women don’t get just because we are considered the “weaker” gender.


Now you would have my support if you start a campaign for equal job opportunities, or education because believe me there still are households where a boy is given preference over the girls for a good education. But if you make it about how I should be able to wear revealing clothes then I guess you missed the whole point of celebrating women’s day. Like if given a choice what would you want the right to walk around with a deep cut blouse without anyone batting an eye or the right to have education or may be the right to vote, or no gender discrimination, the right to decide whom you wanna marry, the right to be recognized for the efforts we put in every single day at our work place, in our house. This list can go on. I think it’s more about letting women know that we as individuals have a say in our lives that we can be whatever we want to be. Let’s not make it as trivial as the freedom to wear a plunging neckline.