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The most important creature God has created is a woman. The only living being who produces the continuity of living beings….. But are we allowing these same women to follow their passion, dreams? Or when they turn 18 years old, marry them to someone and let go of the burden?
Women have been looked down on in every aspect of the field, they have been criticized and have been repeatedly told that they only fit in the kitchen and they can only rule the kitchen.
Almost 132 million girls are out of school worldwide including 34.3 million of primary school age, 30 million of lower-secondary school age, and 67.4 million of upper-secondary school age and have been thrown to do household chores.
There are different barriers when women are trying to step out and make a change in the society-the obstacles that women mainly faces are discontinuation of education, child marriage, and mainly male-female gender bias and gender violence, the most kind of cultural norms and stereotypes, making it even worse for the women’s to succeed in their respective fields.
The cultural norms make everything worse and also fuel misconceptions and the concepts of masculinity. Gender norms and discrimination increases the risk of unwanted pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, and malnutrition.
Gender inequalities and infanticide
Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 – around 13 million globally – have experienced forced sex in their lifetimes. Millions of girls globally are still becoming victims of child marriage and gender injustice-though it has been internationally regarded as human rights violations.
Many newborn girls are becoming victims of female infanticide, as people believe females are useless and are not worth doing something capable.
A study in 2016 reported India in the fourth position in the rate of female infanticide and Liechtenstein ranks in the first position.
117 million girls become victims of female infanticide as claimed by the United Nations Population Fund.
The major reason for female infanticide stated in a study is that the preference of a son over a daughter is one of the most important reasons for female infanticide, even dowry systems which make daughters an unaffordable economic burden is also one of the most important reasons.
People always term a girl useless if she fails to reproduce a boy, terming her incapable and woman has to suffer a lot of violence and harassment. The cultural norms think in a perspective that if a boy is born to the family then he is a shining star and if a woman is born then she is a burden.
Dowry harassment
The most important yet difficult struggle a woman faces is dowry harassment, something that is very common in developing countries. Most women commit suicide in such kinds of dowry cases because of continuous torture and harassment. Dowry is one of the main reasons for the violence against women. India has the highest number of dowry cases, in 2012 8,233 dowry deaths were reported across India, which means every 90 minutes a bride in India is burned to death.
These are facts reported by the government of India, yet there have been millions of cases under-reported, and such kinds of dowry cases taking place every single day across the country. Dowry death cases are not limited to any caste, creed or geographical barriers. This kind of dowry affects all the socio-economic menace.
In various countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, dowry cases take place and almost any of them are under-reported.
Acid attacks
Acid attackers is one of the common forms of attacks with the intention of disfiguring, torture or to kill a woman. It can affect women mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. Acid attacks occur all over the world, it is most common in South Asia.
According to the Acid Survivors Trust International (ASTI) 80 % of acid victims worldwide are women. Acid attacks take place in various parts of the world and most cases are registered in places of Uk, South Asia, India, Bangladesh, and the cases continue. In many cases, victims had an adverse mental effect. But some women fought against the laws regarding acid attacks and made the government take strict laws against the people responsible for this. They fought hard and said this is the beginning of their lives.
Many activists such as Laxmi Aggarwal, a victim of acid attack demanded immediate justice and rehabilitation for acid victims. Not only she has, many women like Natalia Ponce de Leon, Kateryna Handziuk who fought hard until she died from her injuries on 4th November 2018.
Women Empowerment
The only way women can succeed in any field is by Women's Empowerment. Women empowerment addresses the quality and quantity of human resource development. Women empowerment and gender equality are very important for the sustainable development of a country.
Empowerment can be done only through the role of education. Education harbors self-confidence in women and works hand in hand with men. It helps women to learn about their fundamental rights, boost their self-esteem and make them an important decision taker.
Education should be given to each and every woman in society and they should take the right decision to continue their studies. Malala Yousafzai, a human rights activist especially known for advocating the education of women, said the most powerful tool in this world is education. Education gives us the identity to strive and move forward.
Women can bring changes in society but the only way women can go forward is the way we change our perspective and just think women are equally strong like us then see, the world itself will see a beautiful change. If we have a logic that when women turn 18 years old, marry her to someone and let go of the burden….that can have a negative effect on the women, just cooking is the only talent that women can possess is itself a wrong attitude, give her a sense of freedom she can bring a change in the society.
Her wings will fly away, she will give magic and will change this world…give her a chance. The change we will see. When the whole world is silent even one voice becomes powerful.
Her voice shows strength and courage, that courage that shows the dreams of each and every woman.
Toms Alex, The New Era
