“CHAINS VS. NONE”
Despite the fast- changing world and social orders, a fact remains as true as ever- our world is a male- dominated world.
No matter how many female traffic- controllers we might hire for the sake of pretence of gender equality, it cannot be denied that women are still horribly degraded in our country.
A 17th century term still applied in our society is home- correction whereby a man, being the head of the family, beats up the female members under his care under the excuse of morally correcting them.
What has never made any sense to me is why the moral standards that a woman is expected to uphold are way higher than those that a man is required to maintain? Why can a guy flirt with a girl and not be chided for it (and just get excused because after all, ‘Boys will be boys!’) but a girl talking to a guy gets killed in the name of ‘honor’? How come men get to stare but women are asked to preserve their sanctity by wearing long and thick veils?
Is it because it is a well- established fact that men have no control over their actions and are by nature merely brainless, staring baboons? Or is it because we have never managed to lose our centuries old concept of the subservient status of women? What is it- honor or ego that doesn’t let men rest unless they exert tyrannical influence over a woman?
As much as I would like to justify the above-mentioned behavior using the former reason (;-)), it cannot be denied that it really is the latter cause that this whole scenario stems from.
On the other extreme, there is the concept of a liberal lifestyle. Whether you check out the music videos on MTV, our very own stage dramas, the plots of various Bollywood and Lollywood flicks or the internet, the Las Vegas casinos and all the bars- the first thing you are likely to notice is the role women play. The concept of feminism is being highly over- played. Women are just used as pretty toys to be played with and they are all dolled- up to play that role. Even the executive types of our country think that being dressed modestly is a sign of backwardness. Flip through photos of high- end social gatherings. 98 percent of all female dresses are either sleeveless (n probably backless too, but that doesn’t show!) or nearly so (n yeah I am talking about those ½ inch long sleeves), 1.999 percent have those really short ones and there’s a 0.001 percent chance that you would see anyone wearing anything near a full sleeve that isn’t all slittted up to the shoulders. I wouldn’t hesitate to bet that not even a quarter of our literate population is aware of who Condolezza Rice is and out of those who do know who she is, 95 percent don’t even take a speck of interest in what she says and does, but more than 80 percent are probably huge fans of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton and the like. Why this disparity? It seems as if when we are setting a standard for the independence of women to be judged against, it all comes down to who wears the minimum possible clothes. The more revealing your clothes are- the higher you rank on a scale of 1 to 10 on independence. Male artists don’t need to strip down to be famous but all the success of the female artists depends on what their sex appeal ratings are.
Degradation of women not only occurs when they are confined within four walls against their will but even more so when they used as objects of pleasure for men and nothing more.
Therefore, on one hand, women need to stand up for their rights and enjoy life; on the other, they need to play down their physical appeal and concentrate more on the intellect. Where some of them need a more independent lifestyle, the others need to control themselves and take a look at what they are doing to their own dignity and how they are making it difficult for other women to preserve theirs.
After all it isn’t always choosing between a veil and near- nudity. It doesn’t even come down to whether men and women have been created equal because even if they haven’t, they have been given equal rights. There is a moderate way that all religions preach, one that is the safest and the most progressive. One where women don’t have to give everything up, be it their modesty or their independence, its the path where women succeed on the basis of their intellect and talent not their meekness or physical appeal. Now it is up to you to decide which one to follow.
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