Women’s demand — licence not liberty
EVERY March the world observes “International Women’s Day”. It was March 8, 1857 when women working in New York City factories staged a protest over working conditions. During women’s history the world celebrates the courage, foresight and resolve of women. There are many examples of women who have contributed to changing women’s history.Dr Shally Shaywitz, a behavioural scientist at Yale University School of Medicine says, “As far as I know this is the first time that anyone has been able to demonstrate anything functionally difference between men and women.” There has been substantial research of gender differences in the brain but these studies could not explain the difference. Men use a small area in the left side of the brain while women use area in both sides. Psychologists have found that women do better on certain tests like those measuring verbal speed and that men do better on other tasks like imagining what an object would be like if it were rotated. Neurologists have also found that women seem to recover better from strokes in the left hemisphere of the brain where language abilities are thought to be situated.
Women’s Day is celebrated to increase awareness and knowledge of the historical contribution of notable and ordinary women in hopes that the day will soon come when it will be impossible to teach or learn history without recognizing their contributions. The population of women is 52% which can play a vital role in the economic, social and democratic development of a country. Now the men-oriented society has come to know that if half of the world’s population remains vulnerable to economic, political, legal and social marginalization our hope of advancing democracy and prosperity will remain in serious jeopardy. The US has launched a program named “Vital Voice” for global women’s issues which invests in emerging women’s leaders and their works to expand women’s role in generating opportunities, promoting political participation and safeguarding women’s rights.
Unfortunately, since the very beginning even in the most ancient history the position of women of pre-Islamic era is evident to all when the daughters were buried alive even in early Christianity the women were regarded as evil temptations, responsible for all of the men. In France, in early Anno Domni a meeting was held as to whether a woman should be treated as a human being or not? Henry VII forbade women from touching the Holy Bible and catholic churches treated women as second class citizens. This is an undying fact that the women, the poor nobody being a naive creature, have always been at the receiving end. The man, who by virtue of being physically stronger, wants to dominate her on all sides. Unluckily parents also play a prejudiced role by expressing good feelings for their male children, they prevent the female children from coming out at any aspects of progress. Since the majority of the Muslims are ignorant of the Islamic teachings and traditions in which Islam encompasses all the affairs related to females, men have not fixed the true status of the women.
American women joined the diplomatic services in 1920. More than 14000 women are serving in the highest posts in foreign and interior services. Now 50% of NASA employees are women and 33% of the agency’s scientists and employees are also women. In 1998, in the history of space flights the flight director and the launch commentator between the mission control and the crew known as CAPCOM were all females. An American Astronaut Shannon Lucid says I was only 20 years of age when I received my pilot license and I became an astronaut in Mir when I was mother of three children. The above narration of Lucid contradicts the claim of men that working women have deprived their families from conjugal bliss. Similarly in Asia there are a lot of women who retained the top most leading positions in their own countries and conveniently coincided with both the duties in house and offices and did not bring any cause of domestic wrangling.There was a time when women were not allowed to participate in any type of sports events but now our young women have entered into the mainstream line of sports activities and achieved very high rankings. Now they have found the fact that training of the mind through physical fitness has an important part of being a well minded individual and often become a source of self security and self confidence.
Giving horrible accounts against women victimization a newspaper “The Time” from Hong Kong reads, a bizarre adventure of criminal practices against females, especially in Pakistan, is in progress, physical hitting, acid throwing, massive rapes and many types of deprivation have become the order of the day. A large number of women victims are hospitalized and die every day but most of the cases are not registered. Reluctance shown by the victims to report the victimization is due to fear of retaliation in the form of further abuse and disgrace in family set-up. These reports are sometimes dismissed as symptoms of vendetta but now breaking down the barriers in their way to progress women have confiscated their true status of inequality, dignity and freedom in their way to progress in many parts of the world if it is America, Europe or Asia.It is a sense of fulfilment that women in my country (Pakistan) have been able to achieve liberty and have succeeded to hold their status in certain aspects of social setup, but sad enough that they have exceeded the limits of ethics. Putting very dirty slogans related to liberty on their banners during the celebration of Women’s Day in the processions last year, the women earned abhorrence not sympathies from men. It will all negate their goal.
—The writer is senior journalist, based in Germany.
Email: nighatleghari@yahoo.com
