I never celebrate any of these designated
days, like World refugee day, Valentines’s day, mother’s day, etc. I did not
believe that we need a specific day to talk about any issue or express
ourselves.
The same holds for international women’s
day. Don’t get me wrong, it is not that I do not understand the need to talk
about women’s rights and empowerment, I just do not believe in doing it on one day.
However this year is different.
I have spent most of the previous year
collecting data and analyzing data from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. And now I have a completely different notion
of empowerment. I have spoken to and surveyed women who cannot fathom a world
where they will take a simply decision, talk directly to their male family
members or leave the house without permission and without being accompanied.
My survey asked them if they took decisions
on small purchases for the house, schooling for the children, asset and wealth
decisions. They would stare at us in
disbelief, not because they where offended but simply because they did not
understand why I needed to ask these questions. In Bihar their answer was
“guardian lete hain, aur kaun lega” (translates literally to guardian takes
them, who else will). But who is this mystical person, the guardian? As I find
out, it’s the husband or the father-in-law depending on the household. I am
amazed why most of them are referring to their husbands like this. But this is the context-- they are their
guardians!
I can ramble on about such things forever,
but I want to talk about something else. A shift that I see in the same
society. In 2005 Nitish Kumar came to power in Bihar and started what is called
the cycle program, to get girls to high school. It was not meant to do
more. I went and spoke to people in the
same state 10 years later. I spoke to younger and older girls and spoke to the
boys.
In Bihar, a common site now is groups of
girls riding cycles. In any other context it’s a good thing but no big
deal. But lets put it in context. Girls
who are 30 years and over in Bihar do not know how to ride cycle, they have not
left their houses with being accompanied.
Then you have the younger ones, they studied more, are vocal about what they
want and are more mobile. A lot of this is due to the cycle-- it broke the
stigma attached to girls being seen outside the house.
For me my day today is for these girls,
they are very brave because they did what they had never seen anyone around them
do before them. They picked up the cycle at the ages on 13-14 years and rode
out into the public spaces. They rode in a new social movement. A silent one at
that! They have gradually got the men and boys to accept that they will share
the space with them.
What’s next? The cycle goes this far and no
further. We need to create job opportunities for our next generation of girls.
Empowerment will not stand ground till they see the next steps materialize.
So policy has to step up in Bihar and Uttar
Pradesh to create job opportunities not just in urban areas but also in rural
areas. So in my mind today is the day to
talk about the achievements of the girl’s like the cycle girls and to remember
we are not done yet.
