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Tag: women empowerment

  • Unleashing the Phoenix: Maya’s Journey of Women’s Empowerment

    Unleashing the Phoenix: Maya’s Journey of Women’s Empowerment

    A young woman named Maya used to live in a little community nestled away among rolling hills. Maya was intelligent, observant, and dreamy. She was raised in a culture, nevertheless, where women’s voices were frequently suppressed and their objectives were viewed as inferior to those of men.

    Maya’s village had a long history of allocating gender roles. Women were supposed to stay at home and care for the family, while men were in control of decision-making and held positions of authority. Maya, on the other hand, believed that women were capable of so much more.

    A traveling theatre troupe arrived in the area one day. They told stories about strong women who turned social standards and made great contributions to their communities. Maya was inspired by these stories to question the current quo and kindle a spark of change.

    She began by gathering the women of the hamlet and organizing covert meetings. Maya urged them to discuss their hopes and dreams during these meetings. She listened closely to their experiences, realizing that each lady possessed distinct talents and interests that were just waiting to be discovered.

    Maya imagined a society in which women’s voices were heard and their full potential was realized. She began teaching the village’s females to read and write, allowing them to gain information and express themselves. Maya was convinced that education was the key to breaking the bindings that bound women.

    Maya’s efforts were recognized and soon women from neighboring villages joined her cause. They created a tight sisterhood, encouraging and supporting each other every step of the way. They organized courses on a variety of skills, such as weaving, farming, and entrepreneurship, to assist women to become financially independent and contribute to their families.

    Maya’s movement has far-reaching consequences. Men began to observe the changes occurring in their families and communities. They saw the women who had previously been subjugated exude newfound confidence. Slowly but steadily, the village’s perspective began to transform.

    Maya’s actions drew the attention of local officials. They were initially skeptical of this grassroots movement defying customary standards. When they saw the wonderful changes that were taking place, they realized the enormous potential of empowering women.

    Maya’s movement gained strength as a result of the government’s assistance. They constructed schools and training facilities for women, giving them the skills they needed to succeed. Maya’s ideal of gender equality was slowly coming true.

    Years passed, and the town became a symbol of women’s empowerment. Women assumed positions of leadership, pursued their passions, and contributed to the advancement of the entire community. Maya’s vision had spread throughout the countryside, prompting other towns to follow suit.

    Maya’s journey was not without difficulties, but her steadfast faith in women’s power kept her going. She had demonstrated to the globe that when women are empowered, societies thrive and everyone benefits.

    Maya’s legacy carries on, teaching future generations that their ideas and ambitions, regardless of gender, are valid. Her narrative continues to inspire women all around the world to break free from traditional restraints and work towards a future in which every woman can reach her full potential.

    As a result, Maya’s community became a symbol of the transforming force of women’s empowerment, demonstrating to the world that as women rise, they lift others with them, resulting in a more just, equal, and harmonious society for all.

  • Girl From The Dice

    Girl From The Dice

    The story tells the feelings of a father on seeing the thought process of his teen aged daughter; the pride of a father on his daughter’s confidence and motivation!!

     

    The girl in her teens, with dark brown eyes that are deep like ocean, with her elegance in walk as if caring for the dignity of mother earth in each step, sparkles of confidence in her face, went on to the dice to speak. Clad in a blue coloured dress she adjusted the mike, cleared her throat, getting the nod from the panel to start, she addressed the mass,

    “Respected Jury members and my dear friends, today I am pleased enough to have this opportunity to stand here and speak about the most important and at the same time obscured topic of women empowerment.

    I would like to cite the following points for my stand in favour of women empowerment. First of all, I would like to make it clear that women empowerment according to me means to bring women in equal terms as men, just like the other half. It doesn’t at all mean to give women a reservation, which in fact according to me means a silver spoon and demeans their potential, nor is it to make the domestic violence case only applicable to violence against females by males nor is it to give monopolistic power to women to exploit men in cases of molestation, because there are many cases fought in courts where the accused men are quite innocent yet fall prey to some tricks of some women.

    As per me, women should be given the same rights to freedom and to live their life their way.

    If the society can accept a man as a professional cook, then there should not be any problem if the same man cooks at his home or if a lady walks in the street being a business woman or an administrative officer.

    By women empowerment I mean if a lady needs to do all the job of household after returning from her work, because it’s her home, then the man residing there should also take half of the responsibility and help her cook. Everything should be divided as the home is of both the persons.

    Again at another stance women empowerment is not just to enhance diversity by expanding the mere presence in numbers but giving equal scope and opportunity. The way Kiran Mazoomdar Shaw, the CEO and founder of Biocon, was denied of a bank loan as a woman entrepreneur and asked to bring a male guarantor for the loan, same shouldn’t happen again on the name of empowerment. The way politics in the top hierarchy plays its role with a stereotyped belief as women being inefficient and incapable, that should be condemned for the responsibility of building of those businessmen and the founders once nested on the shoulders of women.

    Women don’t need to be worshipped as Goddesses but they need to be treated as human beings.

    We talk a lot about empowering them and enabling them to stand on their own, but they need to climb and walk and run, quite far way ahead is what we forget. Our society has come to such a point where half of our population, to be specific the women of our society feel far less confident in comparison to men and they feel humiliated when appreciated for their performance in the field of professional work. The effect of the legacy of our beliefs and dominance has become such that we make half of our population numb enough to stand to compete, there only we are defeated as a race of humans.

    Leaving apart the legacy from the past, we are yet far behind in equalizing the salaries. The same job if done by a woman will get less remuneration in comparison to men. There is absolutely no logic behind it except our thought process. If in today’s world Sheryl Sandberg writes that her employer said her that it is a profitable business on his part to get the same job done with a similar brain in half of the price; I guess we all understand the gravity of the issue, how deep rooted this problem is in our thought process.

    Women empowerment doesn’t mean to worship ladies or give them the silver spoon it means to give them a human like treatment before thinking about their gender, it means to not have the power to donate a girl to anybody else as the custom of ‘kanyadan’ goes, it means not to think or make them think that they are the responsibility of somebody else. It’s about making them powerful enough, both physically and mentally, if only one doubts their power; and giving them the choice to lead their life their way, be accountable for themselves and get the gentlemen under the same scrutiny as to be decent enough to behave and not eve-tease as well as to be respectful to human beings despite gender. At the end it’s about cultivating humanity in its true sense; treating everyone equally.

    Thank you for your patience.”

    She walked down the stairs and The audience was astounded at the clarity of her thoughts, the hall was silent and a man was wiping his tears, sitting there with contentment. He was looking at the girl more and more intensely as if trying to read her thoughts and relate her views to the life she has led. His daughter, the one who when born was despised so much by his community that he even had second thoughts for a moment regarding her birth, but today he realised how big a blunder it would have been if he had let her go and fight with her destiny just like many others!

    The girl, his daughter, who had always made him proud to be a father would have been abandoned and he would have never realized the thoughts of a lady so well.

    His one right decision had the potential to make wonders and those wonders were visible now to him, clear and distinct. He made a right decision by educating this person, who not only changed his view points of doubt and prejudice but also is in a mission to bring a new direction to the society. Her words might be sweet, her face might be tender with innocence, her gestures might be pure and naïve but her logic was enough to shake the belief system of the world. If girls will be empowered this way, our nation or world will never be any drearier.

    Just when he was too pensive in his world of thoughts that the girl called out, “Papa, you are here! You didn’t tell me you would come! You heard my speech? How was it??”

    He kept on looking at her and just said, “Yes, it was awesome!”

    He hugged her with pride and serenity.

  • Educated yet illiterate

    Educated yet illiterate

     

    She had a lot of guy friends and she was considered bad, she used to drink and she was considered uncultured, she was loyal to everyone and she was considered a stabber, she was honest and she was considered a ditcher, she was a girl and that’s why she was always blamed.

    What would you do if you were to be blamed for something you never did? Or if someone questioned your ethics and your culture without even knowing you?

    So what if you hang out with guys more than you hang out with girls? Does that reduces the value you attained all your life? Or does that reduces your character?

    Let me ask you one simple thing. Why is that if a guy is seen smoking nobody cares to utter a single word against him but if in the same situation a girl is found she is stared, people taunt her and even back bitch about her because she did something that only guys could do?

    If she has enough guts to do what she wants and live her life as per her own demand, who gave you the right to talk about her?

     

    It was raining and she was with her friend. Her hair were wet and she was shivering. The boy offered her to stay at his room for a while, make her hair dry and leave.

    Was is it a bad idea? According to me not at all. The boy was concerned about her and this was the best he could offer.

    She went with him but they forgot to tell the landlord that she was there because it was just a matter of five minutes.

    Were they wrong in doing this? After all they were good friends. Was it not enough to show a pure and a healthy form of relationship. Why is it that when a girl and a boy are together, they are always seen as if they have done a crime or something? Where is it written that there exists only one kind of thing with a girl and a boy? What would you call these educated yet illiterate rustics of the society?

    Are they not a reason for why we all are going backward day by day?

     

    She was inside the room and the landlord entered. Seeing her he asked furiously a very cheap question,

    What are you doing here? Why are you even here? Don’t you have any place to go? Why do have to come here so often? Why is the door locked? What were you guys doing? Just get out of my house right now. And don’t you dare give me excuses, you don’t know who I am.

     

    Here enters the thinking of the old, intelligent and educated elders of our society. This is how they think and portray their emotions on girls. Yeah and you know why because she is a girl whom he doesn’t know. She’s a girl of 19 years of age and so he thinks she won’t counter back on you? You think you have a birth right on her to say whatever your dirty mind thinks? Don’t you have any values or what?

     

    Another question of mine is that why are boys not taunted if they are found alone? What if there are two boys in a room with their door locked and windows shut, wouldn’t your mind think what their doing, what if they are gay? Mine will and I am honest in saying this.

    Nobody would say this word after all good girls who belong to a reputed family are not supposed to say this. Right?

    The thing is everybody knows this but they are coward to say it openly but when it comes to girls even the rat becomes the king of the world because they think girls are vulnerable, they are weak and they won’t say anything. Because basically whatever you do a girl is always to be blamed.

    What is it that makes boys superior to girls? Or in other words let me ask you that why do we still live in a male dominating society?

    Why a girl has to be blamed for every thing? Why is not the other way round?

    If a girl gets pregnant before marriage, it's her fault but nobody asks her who did that to her, was she forced or was she drugged? Was she promised for a marriage? Was she in need of something?

    If she gets a baby after marriage and it's not a boy then again she has to be blamed for it. Who will teach them biology then? No one. They have such a weak memory that they forgot to know about the x and the y chromosome. Do they want to be taught again the 10th class biology or what? Don’t they have brains?

    If a girl is beaten up by her laws after marriage and she stands for herself then also she is to be blamed because in this male dominating society she fought for the right thing. She showed everyone that she is strong enough to live her own life with no support. She doesn’t need a husband to run her own life and beats her or torture her. She can be a whole world all in herself.

    She was abused for doing nothing. She had to listen all those terrible words. She couldn’t resist and she responded back with all the power she had in her heart. And this is what exactly she said

    “ sir, I belong to a family where I am taught cultures and ethics and I remember them nicely. All these things that you are thinking are wrong and I wouldn’t hesitate saying this to you million of times because I know I am right. I am not saying anything wrong because I didn’t do anything wrong. I am not scared for neither I am a coward like you nor I think this cheap. I wish you had a daughter because if you are questioning me, you are questioning every daughter in this world. It’s not about me being here, it’s about every girl who feels embarrassed and broken from inside because of people like you who can only have dirt in their mind. You worship all the goddesses, goddess laxmi for money, goddess saraswati for intelligence and yet you are disobeying me, yet you are shouting on a part of the goddess you worship. If you are disrespecting me, you are disrespecting them”

     

    She cried and I know how much she would have felt this pain inside her because she stayed with a friend of his for just five minutes. Because she thought that this society is not like before. Because for once she thought that people around her are like the ones she grew up with. Where no girl is doubted or treated like this. And still she cried with millions of questions revolving in her mind. Thinking of changing that single moment when she entered that room but what’s done is done. Her soul is hurted and I know that man wouldn’t be able to sleep tonight for deep inside he must be knowing what he did.

    .

    And this is our society we live in, a society of doctors, engineers, pilots, army officers and police man who are educated yet they are ILLITERATE.

    And I am not at all proud of being here and I wish to change it for I know one man might not make a difference but one girl, one strong independent woman can.

    One more funny thing about our society is you need a bride who wears a salwar suits and sarees but you need a girlfriend who is cool, sexy and wears short clothes.

    According to me a son would leave his parents for once but a daughter would never. From a very long time girls have been sacrificing their choices, their freedom but I guess it’s more than enough now. I don’t know about you but I have already started breaking the rules that this society has made for the girls. So from now if I am looked as if I have done a crime or something, I would rather smile and tell those ass holes that I don’t give a shit about what their dirty mind thinks for I know what I am and I don’t need to prove it to anyone for I am one of the best god had ever created.

    So from now I’d request all the beautiful ladies to break the rules for a change, start living the way you want and all those guys who respect women to fight for them, support them to change the real illiteracy of the society. To be there because she has always been and will be there for you whenever you need.

  • EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL

    EVERYONE IS BEAUTIFUL

    This story is based on a true tale about a fashion designer who walked a different path in choosing models. Recently, she chose a domestic worker as a model for her collection of apparel. It was a way of empowering women for her compared to those fashion designers who opt for models who are fashionable and have the so-called oomph factor. 

     

    This is a true story about a leading designer who chose an unlikely model and left everyone astonished by her decision. Mandeep Negi, who is the director of Shades of India–one of India’s leading brands in soft furnishings and fashion picked a domestic worker for her set of new collection of apparel.

     

    The black hue of the dirty utensils and plates was too deep. Under the handpump they were lying since her busy morning. She had to wash them as soon as water came from the pump in the evening and cook food for her two children. A regular day was never long for her. She was so busy. The Kapoor's house was the first one on her list. Then was the Bengali Babu's house and then the Majumdar's villa. She was as busy as a celebrity. She was the Kantabai of her locality. Life was indeed a bed of roses for her. Roses less and thorns more. It had been three years since the Almighty God had snatched him away from her. He was her only means of support and love in her life. Her husband. But nothing stopped her from going a step further to live a life without him with all the valour and strength.

     

    She was Kamala. Kamala was a domestic worker. Gopi, her son, was a school going boy and Kamala often used to have a tough time managing the money for his school fees. Gauri was still a toddler. Kamala had tough days. She used to clean utensils, wash clothes, do gardening and cook food at different houses.

     

    Little did her masters at those houses know that she couldn't even feed her children properly with one time's meal. She was almost a slave. A minion. 

     

    All her days were like some rough bumpy road until she started working at the Negi's.Navdeep Negi was a different kind of woman. She was the working woman at her home. She was a fashion designer. Kamala observed her.There was something magnetic about her. She walked with the gait of a queen, full of fearlessness and was like the lioness of the forest. Kamala's initial days with the Negi's used to be hectic until she was called by Navdeep one day.

     

    "Kamala! Will you come for a photoshoot with me?"

     

    Kamala was stunned. She didn't speak a word. She felt that her job of domestic worker was in danger. She started sobbing and wailing. Her throat was feeling very dry but somehow she opened her mouth to speak.

     

    "Memsaaheb! I am too weak and I am only a maid! I don't even know how to look good. I am not beautiful. Please don't embarrass me."

     

    Kamala started looking down at her feet with all the dirt filled in her nails. She started sweeping the floor with the mop.Navdeep responded.

     

    " I am not joking Kamala! Firstly everyone is beautiful. Don't ever think like that. And I want you to come with me in half an hour to the studio. I will take care of everything else. Kakaram will find another maid for us."

     

    And from that moment onwards, Kamala's life was really a bed of roses. Her first days were difficult. She would sit in the corner of the studio and feel so low about her decision of going for modelling. But somehow she mustered up to finally work for Navdeep and was ready to clean her nails and wash her feet. Ready and all set for the procedures of manicure and pedicure. She got her hair done. She was a fan of the famous actress, Madhuri Dixit. She wanted to look like her. With beaming eyes she asked Navdeep one day.

     

    "Memsaaheb! Can I look like Madhuriji? I want to wear a skirt like the one she wore in the movie Dhadak."

     

    Mandeep smiled. She saw Kamala being confident now.Kamala had rigorous sessions of getting her make up done. Then there was the biggest trouble of walking in high heels. Day by day, she was getting better and got groomed so much that her final day had come for which she was eagerly waiting for.

     

    Kamala was no longer a weak and struggling with no self esteem. She was a model now. She felt so confident that she was not even afraid of talking to Navdeep. Coming from the villages of Rajasthan, where a typical woman would always be considered unclean for working as a model, she felt empowered that day. She felt like Navdeep. Like a lioness. That was what she had wanted for her whole life. And she got it. What else did she need?

     

    It was the final day when Kamala had to walk on the red carpet. It was one of the best days of her life. She was now a celebrity. Not a Kantabaai. The innumerate lights on the stage and the media persons who were interviewing Navdeep Negi and the attention she got from the crowd made her feel ecstatic. A skinny guy suddenly popped out from the mob and asked the designer.

     

    "Ms.Navdeep Negi! Why did you go for a sudden change in the choice for your models being the director of the 'Hues of India', one of India’s leading brands in soft furnishings and fashion ?"

     

    "The focus of our new collection, Vivacious, is on textures and I wanted someone extraordinary and I found it in her. I knew that I found what was looking for. She was Kamala. That is it."

     

    "Why did you go for a model like Kamala?"

     

    "I prefer shooting with those women who don’t expect to be models, and suddenly feel empowered and powerful before the camera, in their favourite attire.”

     

    The skinny guy was not convinced and he asked something that Navdeep was not ready to face.

     

    "Don't you think that Kamala doesn't deserve to be a model. I mean she is not that beautiful and doesn't have any oomph factor!"

     

    "Everyone is beautiful. Your eyes need the beauty to discover the oomph factor in anyone. And please stop judging about anybody's beauty. Happy woman's day, man! I am sure that you will soon get beaten up by the women surrounding you."

     

    And that is when the whole crowd and the models walking on the ramp stood at their places still and each and every person applauded for her. The sound of the clapping hands were so soothing to Kamala's ears, she felt strong. That day was a remarkable day when the real meaning of Women's day was crystal clear. Empowering women had started from the grass root level. It had to just grow generously into a tree.