Ayesha Taasin Khan
We owe a debt to the many brave women throughout history who paved the way towards equality
Women deserve the same rights so many men take for granted
Photo- BIGSTOCK
The struggles, the silence, the helplessness, and the defeat faced by women throughout the centuries speak to all women through time. Women’s Day every March is celebrated for all those women who were unable to overcome the socio-religious authority of men and culture.
It was so hard, indeed, for a mother-in-law not to behave badly with the daughter-in-law, because that was the only place she could show some liberation and power.
The day is for all those women who took abuse from fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, and had to conform and behave according to social norms. The day is for all who did not get an opportunity to study, follow their dreams, or raise their voices against oppression.
To enable Women’s Day to happen, many sacrifices by both women and men were made. Change-making starts from an absence of something from one’s life. The women’s suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote and run for office, and this was a part of the overall women’s rights movement. In the mid-19th century, women in several countries formed organisations to start this movement.
In all cultures, barring matriarchal societies, women have culturally played a subservient role, and had resigned to this “role playing.” In the context of the sub-continent, it became extremely complex with old established religions like Hinduism and Islam deeply entrenched, and yet influencing each other in rituals and behaviour.
The colonisation by the British, albeit with an imperialist attitude, had taken great steps in removing some age old practices like the “sati” and allowing the remarriage of widows. But we are speaking of a movement and we need to revisit history to understand what prompted change and at what point women felt we needed to gather and bring change.
It did not happen over one day, but was the culmination of centuries. Indicators are a great insight to change, but the suffragette movement and the industrial revolution were great contributors to this.
Both these events helped channel women to understand that they could step out of their centuries-old paradigm and tell society of their wishes and desires be attended to and addressed, that they too were worthy of respect, dignity, and freedom of choice.
But realisations, promises, and guarantees made during the pre-independence era and during the writing of the constitution remained unfulfilled. Policies made for women were formulated, but implementation remained ineffective and discrimination against women continued.
In 1917, women started to demand education, social benefits, health facilities, and equal franchise rights to vote. The British-Chelmsford proposal advised that, at this stage, it would not be advisable to widen the electorate, and informally said that if English women did not have votes, then there was no reason to give Indian women the franchise. Imagine that.
Several roundtable conferences were held to repeat demands for rights of all Indian women, regardless of caste and creed. Then, in 1946, two Muslim women were elected to the Central Constituent Assembly, Jahanara Shahnawaz and Shaista Ikramullah, daughter of Hassan Suhrawardy. In Bengal, the revolutionary movement started in the beginning of the 20th century. Bengal’s earliest revolutionary group, “Anushilan Samiti,” saw its birth in 1902.
Another revolutionary movement was the “Suhrid Samity,” which was based out of Mymensingh. Around this time, various secret societies started getting together for the freedom movement.
The Chittagong armoury raid, with its leader Surya Sen, better known as “Mastarda,” would always encourage young girls to join the movement and had as his lieutenant, Kalpana Datta and Pritilata Waddedar. Parul Mukherjee, a Comilla girl, was in charge of a house at Titagarh, where some revolutionary fugitives had taken shelter.
We too can be brave. The India Freedom movement did truly allow us women to prove ourselves as courageous, self-reliant individuals.
There are a few names without which our pride and our movement would fall short of its true recognition. Begum Rokeya -- she worked ceaselessly for the emancipation of women’s education. She was a leading feminist social worker of the early 20th century. She gave us courage, direction, and raised all kinds of social issues that eventually brought us here today.
Sufia Kamal, politically active as a woman, gave hope to women who wanted to be part of politics. During her childhood, women’s education was not conceived as an option open to girls.
She was greatly involved in the 1950s nationalist movement and a tower for dialogue of women in civil society activism. And Jahanara Imam, a mother, writer, and political activist, who acts as a beacon of light -- we salute all of you and those who have not been mentioned but we owe a debt to.
What was the agenda of these movements? Women wanted to have independent thinking, access to education, rights to inheritance, improved status when widowed, removal of caste prejudice, increased participation, freedom from British occupation, and participation in the “Swadesh” and “Satyagraha” movements. These all challenged the conventional values and the fight had just begun.
I write about the history because current statistics about the inequality and pay difference is a Google search away. I write to celebrate those brave women and men who in scary and isolated times helped us, through baby steps and great difficulty, paving the way for us to tap into our potential.
We still have a long fight, but we must fight with honour, dignity, and compassion. Understand that we are entitled to the same rights that men have taken for granted from time immemorial. But the burden on us is a great one, because we are in charge of creating a new species, of empowering them, and giving them voice. Let us please be careful of what we create amongst us. I say we can do what a man can do, and we deserve, therefore, to get the same recognition, the same protections, the same access to all society has to offer us.
We are a workforce, an intellectual force, a force that mends. So stand up and take us seriously … once unleashed we can only add value, not take it away.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/2016/mar/24/how-far-we-have-come
- Women deserve the same rights so many men take for granted
Photo- BIGSTOCK
The struggles, the silence, the helplessness, and the defeat faced by women throughout the centuries speak to all women through time. Women’s Day every March is celebrated for all those women who were unable to overcome the socio-religious authority of men and culture.
It was so hard, indeed, for a mother-in-law not to behave badly with the daughter-in-law, because that was the only place she could show some liberation and power.
The day is for all those women who took abuse from fathers, husbands, brothers, and sons, and had to conform and behave according to social norms. The day is for all who did not get an opportunity to study, follow their dreams, or raise their voices against oppression.
To enable Women’s Day to happen, many sacrifices by both women and men were made. Change-making starts from an absence of something from one’s life. The women’s suffrage movement was the struggle for the right of women to vote and run for office, and this was a part of the overall women’s rights movement. In the mid-19th century, women in several countries formed organisations to start this movement.
In all cultures, barring matriarchal societies, women have culturally played a subservient role, and had resigned to this “role playing.” In the context of the sub-continent, it became extremely complex with old established religions like Hinduism and Islam deeply entrenched, and yet influencing each other in rituals and behaviour.
The colonisation by the British, albeit with an imperialist attitude, had taken great steps in removing some age old practices like the “sati” and allowing the remarriage of widows. But we are speaking of a movement and we need to revisit history to understand what prompted change and at what point women felt we needed to gather and bring change.
It did not happen over one day, but was the culmination of centuries. Indicators are a great insight to change, but the suffragette movement and the industrial revolution were great contributors to this.
Both these events helped channel women to understand that they could step out of their centuries-old paradigm and tell society of their wishes and desires be attended to and addressed, that they too were worthy of respect, dignity, and freedom of choice.
But realisations, promises, and guarantees made during the pre-independence era and during the writing of the constitution remained unfulfilled. Policies made for women were formulated, but implementation remained ineffective and discrimination against women continued.
In 1917, women started to demand education, social benefits, health facilities, and equal franchise rights to vote. The British-Chelmsford proposal advised that, at this stage, it would not be advisable to widen the electorate, and informally said that if English women did not have votes, then there was no reason to give Indian women the franchise. Imagine that.
Several roundtable conferences were held to repeat demands for rights of all Indian women, regardless of caste and creed. Then, in 1946, two Muslim women were elected to the Central Constituent Assembly, Jahanara Shahnawaz and Shaista Ikramullah, daughter of Hassan Suhrawardy. In Bengal, the revolutionary movement started in the beginning of the 20th century. Bengal’s earliest revolutionary group, “Anushilan Samiti,” saw its birth in 1902.
Another revolutionary movement was the “Suhrid Samity,” which was based out of Mymensingh. Around this time, various secret societies started getting together for the freedom movement.
The Chittagong armoury raid, with its leader Surya Sen, better known as “Mastarda,” would always encourage young girls to join the movement and had as his lieutenant, Kalpana Datta and Pritilata Waddedar. Parul Mukherjee, a Comilla girl, was in charge of a house at Titagarh, where some revolutionary fugitives had taken shelter.
We too can be brave. The India Freedom movement did truly allow us women to prove ourselves as courageous, self-reliant individuals.
There are a few names without which our pride and our movement would fall short of its true recognition. Begum Rokeya -- she worked ceaselessly for the emancipation of women’s education. She was a leading feminist social worker of the early 20th century. She gave us courage, direction, and raised all kinds of social issues that eventually brought us here today.
Sufia Kamal, politically active as a woman, gave hope to women who wanted to be part of politics. During her childhood, women’s education was not conceived as an option open to girls.
She was greatly involved in the 1950s nationalist movement and a tower for dialogue of women in civil society activism. And Jahanara Imam, a mother, writer, and political activist, who acts as a beacon of light -- we salute all of you and those who have not been mentioned but we owe a debt to.
What was the agenda of these movements? Women wanted to have independent thinking, access to education, rights to inheritance, improved status when widowed, removal of caste prejudice, increased participation, freedom from British occupation, and participation in the “Swadesh” and “Satyagraha” movements. These all challenged the conventional values and the fight had just begun.
I write about the history because current statistics about the inequality and pay difference is a Google search away. I write to celebrate those brave women and men who in scary and isolated times helped us, through baby steps and great difficulty, paving the way for us to tap into our potential.
We still have a long fight, but we must fight with honour, dignity, and compassion. Understand that we are entitled to the same rights that men have taken for granted from time immemorial. But the burden on us is a great one, because we are in charge of creating a new species, of empowering them, and giving them voice. Let us please be careful of what we create amongst us. I say we can do what a man can do, and we deserve, therefore, to get the same recognition, the same protections, the same access to all society has to offer us.
We are a workforce, an intellectual force, a force that mends. So stand up and take us seriously … once unleashed we can only add value, not take it away.
http://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/2016/mar/24/how-far-we-have-come
http://www.dhakatribune.com/op-ed/2016/mar/24/how-far-we-have-come
