‘Allow men to feel grief’

Theatre director Mahabanoo Mody Kotwal rues the state of affairs for women in India. And she doesn’t waver a bit in stating that the government isn’t doing enough. The DNA I Can Women’s Half Marathon initiative is one that she lends her full support to, primarily because it underlines three major issues — girl child education, cervical cancer and public safety for women.

“Education is the crux of the problem,” says the theatre enthusiast, adding that this cause is the closest to her heart. “If you make a woman monetarily independent, her whole attitude changes.

Ultimately a time will come when women will have to mobilise themselves. And most importantly, you have to educate men on gender equalisation.” And why does she think so? “When boys are growing up, we tell them not to cry or not to be a sissy. Why is that pent-up grief aimed at the wife, the girlfriend, or the daughter? Allow men to feel grief as well. We have such a wrong notion of what it takes to be a man. And anything feminine is not to be given power… I’m just happy that the LGBT community is finally speaking up.”

Mahabanoo feels helpless when she hears stories about the perpetrators of rape roam around free: “So many women have come and told me about genital mutilation after watching our play Vagina Monologues. It’s shocking! What can you do when the law doesn’t support you? We donate, we put in so much effort, but where are the results? There should be a fast track court for such cases.”

The theatre enthusiast also says that women should go for PAP to detect cervical cancer. “But how will the illiterate know their rights? At hospitals, they are treated like dirt. Women are treated like cattle, worse probably, because the cow is at least worshipped in our country!” says an enraged Mahabanoo.

The solution is in having more educated women in the Parliament. “There should be more representation of independent women like doctors and lawyers. But then politics has got such a bad name in our country that nobody wants to join,” she trails of.
m_jayeeta@dnaindia.net