Thursday, March 11, 2010

Dont' just wish it..feel it!

Buzz Buzz Buzz.. There has been so much talk about Women's Day, about Women's rights and Women's liberation and achievements and so on.
It’s in print, in paper, in news, in media everywhere. But the minute the day is gone. It’s done with right? Women's Day is turning out to be like a Hallmark Day now on. You probably know, I am sucker for all " Hallmark Days " I see no harm! I think it’s fun and cute.
But what turned me off was, the sheer "marketing" of this unique day. International Women's Day (8 March) is a global day celebrating the economic, political and social achievements of women past, present and future.
It’s not about wishing women you see around: “Oh, by the way, Happy Women’s Day” I retorted “What’s that”. Response: “Oh, just a day where the Women feel good about being themselves and all the feministic beliefs you gals keep talking about”. Needless to say, the person got a mindful and has been avoiding me in hallways now!
On a lighter note, I was be surprised at how many emails, FB messages and personal notes I saw around on Women's Day. Some were fabulous, some were witty and some were just simply put. All drove the same point: "Happy Women's Day". Urgh!
Did I do anything different? Did you do anything different for yourself or for the women around you? Probably not. Right?
Sadly, none of the media reports I read and saw highlighted what this day meant! Am I being rude, possibly?
Now, being a woman myself, I strongly believe in our equality and our individuality. My friend Priyanka words it best ! I have to completely agree with her that the minute we talk about Women's Empowerment, we are calling them the weaker sex.
Having said all that, if there is Women's day to commemorate us... is there a Man's day? Apparently there, is November 19th: international's man's day. Hmm. It’s already marked on my calendar. I will surely look for my hallway chap, and wish him “Happy Men’s Day. Oh, it’s a day where you continue to be a #@#$!@#%!%#$” Ok, excuse my tone! A “Good Woman” will be polite and forgive and forget! ;-)

For me, I consider men and women to be equal. In all forays in all spaces and in all fields. There is no " Man thing, Woman thing ". That’s how I was brought up, that’s how my family is and that’s just the way it is. Why- Because it’s natural!

6 comments:

Piper .. said...

excellent post! Of course, you already know that this is precisely how I feel about the whole thing. I`m amazed at the lousy FB/Orkut msgs too :(

Piper .. said...

and what?? Men`s day?? This is the first I`m hearing of this :) For sure I`m going to mark this date on my calendar too!! :):)

Garima said...

@ Piper... For Men's Day, Google came to my rescue, Apparantly there is.. since Google and Wiki can never be wrong ;-)

Lakshmi said...

I totally agree that having Woman's day does make it more discriminative. However if that is a reason to make a woman who does not feel proud of herself, aware of her strength and help her stand up, then I am for it. Because there are lots of them.

That is great to hear about Men's day!

Priyanka Rajkhowa said...

Nice post Garima...completely agree when you say there is no such thing like a "man thing, a woman thing"...never realized there was a men's day as well...that's really good to know :-)

Shilpa said...

Nice one.... And to actually say I too despise the way these days are projected all over the place.... I also put up some similar thoughts in my blog below... http://shonawrites.blogspot.com/2010/03/hina-matsuri-exclusively-for-girls.html