Education and Liberty: The Predicament of Indian Women

A Story for the World to Acknowledge

Today, thousands are asking for a voice. Let me be their calls!

MeToo was a powerful movement, the world reciprocated with bouldering cries. Indian women came out and shared their stories. But all these stories were the tip of the iceberg that we as a country have tried to hide for ages. If you follow Indian media, you know that my country is bleeding. It is bleeding the tears of countless women who were made helpless. We are a heterogeneous country, a beautiful paradise, but we have an evil lurking around almost every house.

Let’s start at the very beginning. Birth! India is a powerful country and yet we stay the numero uno with the highest number of female infanticide in the world. We had a growth in power, knowledge, technology from 2001 to 2011. But shockingly, we shrunk down to 75.84 million from 78.83 million in the female child (0–6 years) population. Gender revelation is illegal in India. Because if found that the fetus is a girl, they can kill her. The reason remains that she will forever be a burden to her family. She will not earn, she has to be given away with dowry and she cannot be an heir. A lot of this might sound stupid to you, but this is an inevitable truth in India. A male child is treated like a Nirvana pass for his parents. Female infanticide is the first evil we are still trying to abolish. My country is fighting to offer the right to be born.

After an infant crosses the threshold of birth, we throw her into the shame and bigotry of being a female child. She grows up following her society, worshipping various goddesses and under the same roof, denying her some highly basic human rights. This is not the case for every female, but somewhere or the other every female in my country is wronged by our society. I will not talk about the statistics, they are harrowing and easily available on the internet. What is not available is how we feel about those statistics, and that people only recognize the pity but never act out?

The education we receive does not fall under discrimination, but the treatment we receive does. I know the condition is far better than in the 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, or 1990s; the education of women was not seen as a necessity in those decades. Now, we term it as a necessity, not because it is a basic human right, but because it is our path to freedom.

The plight was so agonizing that women had to stand up for their breed. Savitribai Phule with Fathima Sheikh had to blow the shackles of misogynistic atrocities. They had to deal with upper-caste Hindu ideologists and orthodox Muslim supremacists. The first school for females in India saw a brick in 1849. The best part about the initiative was that they opened their home for every trampled soul; be it, women from rich families, or Dalit kids. The men greeted this beautiful gesture with lewd comments and stone-pelting. This is how shallow our support was. The women in my country vied for education in the hope of liberty. A rough calculation shows that India has acknowledged the hour of female education for only the past 100 years. Antithetical to boasting the glory of countless contributions by Indian male scholars for the world.

Education was a luxury, a fight, a trophy, and nothing more for females. We know the first female physician of India, but we have no records about the first male physician. So we have rewarded the warriors with the undying honor of being the first. Whereas for males studying what they wished for was just an outcome and not war!

Yes, all this story of oppression is from the past. We have left those horrendous days far behind. Now the tale is chaotic, there are options, there is freedom, there is recognition. But is it that simple for everyone? Remembering the days when all I wanted to do was petro-chemical engineering and my dad said,

That is a male-dominated area, consider software or the generic chemical engineering.

Summoning every circumstance where a female was once told that it is a male-dominated area! I will talk about my country and a country where every classroom has teachers asking the females to work harder so she can be the topper.

My daughter has competed with boys and came first.

Is a proud thing to say right? Why are we still thinking boys can do it better? Will we still feel this proud if our daughters surpassed other daughters? So subconsciously, we are still wrapping women with deadlocks. Education is the key to everything we hope for, every drop of choice that is rightfully ours. A lot of our problems would cease to exist with the power of knowledge.

Rural India is still using clothes instead of pads during their periods. Mothers do not know of the menstruation cycle; they are unaware of the medical problems that knock because of improper hygiene. Mothers still are uninformed of healthy sexual routines and pregnancy. All these take away so many lives each year. Without a doubt, the lack of education holds the devil's trident here!

I am blessed; I linger in a bubble of an exemplary household. A household where even my grandmother completed her schooling. This was not the case with a lot of female friends I have known. I keep talking about being blessed as my family never wronged me, but as soon I stepped out of my bubble, things tumbled even for me! Catcalling, verbal harassment, eve-teasing, and sexist remarks are regular customs for me. A lot of us have gulped this feeling so deep that it seems normal. Then there is the rape culture. A norm for which we stake women as culprits. Even typing about it chills me to the veins!

I do not say that my country has made lives insufferable, that would be wrong. It is a collective responsibility of sick mindsets from every quarter of life. Some did it in the name of caste, sect, race, God; some in the name of tolerance, some power, and some nature!

While writing this article my mind kept buzzing. These things happen around the globe, some a little less, some a little more. Am I defaming my country? I mean, there is so much I can brag about. Completely not denying the fact that there is male abuse, there is injustice, but charity starts from home. A female writer wanted to point out deeds her country is taking responsibility for.

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