INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY
Dr. K. V. Dominic
International
Women’s Day,
Celebrations
all over the world,
Meetings
held,
Programmes
chalked out,
Promises
showered,
Fund
allotted,
Celebrities
honoured,
All
echoes of previous years.
Problems
remain the same!
Birth
to death,
sexism
omnipresent.
Her
very birth ill omen:
only
an accident.
No
guilt in foeticide;
Foeticide
is matricide;
No
life without mother.
Sexism
in childhood;
Priority
to her brother,
Her
food, his leftover.
Chained
in kitchen,
she
rarely goes out.
No
toys, no plays,
always
envies him.
Mum
and dad love him;
She
gets only reproaches;
Beat
her very often.
Seldom
educated;
Hence
no employment
and
always dependant.
No
choice of her partner;
Her
individuality
never
honoured.
Born
to be dictated;
Tyranny
everywhere:
Slave
to her husband,
servant
to her in-laws.
Bears
the burden of birth;
Lives
for her children.
Dawn
to dusk,
blood
turns sweat.
Her
love never returned.
Has
no place in politics:
councils,
assemblies, parliaments,
she
has no voice.
Religions
also dishonour her:
she
has no right
to
enter her Father’s abode;
no
place in clergy.
She
is always the Other.
Patriarchy
is his product;
He
dictates the world,
dictates
even God
and
corrupts the religion.
He
writes the scriptures,
makes
sexism predestinate.
Venerable
is woman,
for
she is your mother,
she
is your sister,
she
is your wife,
she
is your guide,
she
is your teacher,
she
is your nurse,
and
above all,
she
is your angel.
