Chandigarh: The need for liberty, dignity and equality emerged as a unifying factor at the second Asia level regional meeting on promoting rights and dignity of girls and women.
Participants at the meet, which was organized by Yuvsatta, Manushi Sangathan, Garden of Hope Foundation and People’s Convention Centre, Chandigarh, spoke about how far women in their respective countries had come and how far they had to go. Even when the aspirations they voiced appeared simple, they were unmistakably cries for freedom and equality.
“I would love to ride a Scooty in my home country”, said Loraib Habib, a girl from Pakistan. She said the government of Pakistan recently mooted the idea of distributing Scooties to girls free of cost but failed to implement it due to restrictive cultural norms. “I see a large number of girls riding Scooties in Chandigarh and wish I could do the same back home,” she said.
Most of the participants came across as bonded in their sense of oppression under patriarchal systems. They agreed that such social mindsets prevented them from living life to the fullest. Young women from Afghanistan said they want the right to work. “I would like to see more women in higher education, in the political arena and in the workplace,” said Hadia Essazada from Afghanistan, while delivering a presentation on behalf of the country, The Times of India reported.
Even in relatively progressive countries, where many young women feel mindsets are changing, they agree that working women have to juggle home and family. This, they felt, left them with a lot more responsibilities than their male counterparts. “We have more fire fighters and fighter pilots in Pakistan now,” said Loraib.
A delegate from Nepal talked about entire villages in her country where women are actually running the business of tourism. In India and Bangladesh, women have broken the glass ceiling and are entering fields of sports, politics, journalism and other professions.
Pita from Indonesia said women need acknowledgement like anyone else. “We need to respect both women who are working and homemakers who work as unpaid labor,” she said.
Speakers like Madhu Kishwar of Manushi; Marga Buhrmann Singh from Germany; Ronki Ram from the department of political science, Punjab University and Dr Jyoti Seth, head of the department of sociology, Punjab University made an impassioned plea for empowerment.
Delegates also suggested measures the government could take for women’s welfare such as introduction of a new ministry for women in Afghanistan, reservation in educational institutions, in politics and transportation. They said even though countries like India and Bangladesh have tough anti-rape laws and domestic abuse, enforcement is often a problem.
BOX-State of Aspirations
> Need for awareness on how men and women can complement each other. It must be recognized that men can have gentleness and compassion and women can be aggressive and outspoken
> There is a need for women to appreciate themselves, their self-worth and be confident
> A girl should be able to do what she wants, like riding a Scooty in the case of Pakistan
> There is complete silence around sexuality and sex in schools which needs to be broken down
> Empowerment of women is not anti men. We need to work closely to achieve a more humane society
> The phenomenon of single women is new in many of these countries and women must be respected for making that choice
> There is a need to respect women doing household work