Problems they suffer are not just theirs, but of society as a whole.
Women’s Rights are human rights!
Problems they experience are real.
Women’s Liberation is not an empty slogan!
Issues that women face are many.
Each one requires a serious, meaningful discussion.
The following is a conscious effort to highlight two of them —
One may seem a non-issue but no one could easily shrug it off.
The other is a thorny one, perhaps the thorniest of all.
1)
People often unknowingly use words, phrases, or expressions that seem to reflect gender bias.
‘Mr’ is the sole title that comes before a man’s name, regardless of whether he is married or not.
Women, on the other hand, are classified into ‘Miss’ / ‘Mrs’, titles that reveal their marital status.
All men are categorized under one title.
Then why categorize women under several tags, when ‘Ms’ could be used as the sole marriage-neutral title like ‘Mr’ ?
Say a woman doesn’t work in office, she doesn’t work from home either,
she doesn’t go out to work, she stays at home, she is not a ‘working woman’ …
She cooks, she cleans, she raises kids, she takes care of man, she works all the time, but she is not a ‘working woman’.
And we call her a ‘housewife’, don’t we ?
Now, do you see the point ?
Don’t you see a degree of ambiguity in the term ‘working woman’ ?
Don’t you find the term ‘housewife’ embarrassing ?
Calling a married woman a ‘housewife’ because she stays at home and doesn’t go out to work is totally unacceptable as the term is outdated and sexist.
Similarly, calling a woman a ‘working woman’ because she goes to an office is quite unnecessary as the woman staying exclusively at home works too.
Why the word is ‘mankind’, not ‘humankind’, given that there is no such word as ‘womankind’ ?
That is again a question worth asking.
2)
This socially deprived area, often marked by narrow, winding lanes, is like a maze of filthy streets that run between rows of dingy houses.
Inside these cramped houses live outcasts from our so called civilized society.
Dark stairways lead to these dilapidated houses where women are no more than a ‘useful object’ for men.
Such houses are the places where women are just a means to satisfy physical needs, no more than a means to have the pleasures of the flesh.
Such an area is known as the most infamous part of the city—the red-light district !
What the life of a sex worker in a brothel is like ?
Is she doomed to such a life of suffering forever ? And what about her children ?
We, the nice people from a ‘civilized’ world, hardly ever give some thought to these inconvenient questions.
They are heartless monsters living among us disguised as humans.
Who they look for are socially and economically marginalized girls and women.
They lure them with the promise of marriage or job.
They lure them away from their families, and sell them into sex work.
Girls seek love or a secure future and end up being trafficked.
We can’t even begin to imagine the horrors that the girls, many in their early teens, suffer when they are tricked, trafficked and forced into prostitution by friends and acquaintances.
We can’t imagine the extreme agony they go through, can we ?
Now the bigger question …
Are they really allowed to return from the hell they were once lured into ?
Well, the answer is not a simple yes or no.
Even when a girl is somehow rescued from this horrific trade, her rehabilitation can take a lifetime.
Because of a stigma attached to being an ex-sex worker, even parents don’t want their rescued daughter back.
That is the cruel truth of her miserable life.
So long as the evil of Sex Trafficking remains, Freedom of Women will be just talk !
Shubhra Atreya
Content Writer
IT Department
Swami Vivekanand Subharti University
