What’s the big deal about Women’s Day?

Last month a man aboard a Mumbai-bound flight refused to fly with a woman pilot. ‘Marna hai kya? Ghar nahi sambhalta, plane kya sambhalegi?’ (Do I want to die? She can’t take care of the house, how will she take care of a plane?)

We celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8 year. Just like before Valentine’s Day, the phone and mailbox is flooded with promotional SMSes asking me to pamper myself this Women’s Day. I don’t get the big deal about it.

When something as basic as refusing to fly an airline just because the pilot is a woman is reason enough for us note that nothing’s worth celebrating if you’re stripped off respect and recognition for things you work hard to achieve just
because you happen to be a lady.

Often on the road you hear exclamations like “don’t cross now, that car is being driven by a woman”. I don’t want to use this opportunity to bash men, but many of these sexist comments come from women. A friend and MCP (male chauvinist pig, for the uninitiated) tells me his office colleagues celebrated women’s day by shopping for jewellery. Is that all womanhood is about? Give me a break. Such idiotic things give these MCPs reason to be what they are.

While a former nurse lies in comatose in KEM Hospital for the last 36 years, following a brutal sexual assault, we are wishing each other a “Happy Women’s Day”. Can we really have a “happy” day when day in and day out we hear this girl was shot here and that girl was raped there? Does a day specially dedicated to us make us feel more womanly than we already are?

What’s the point of ‘celebrating’ women on one day while hypocritically retreating to insulting them for anything and everything based on gender?

It’s time we stood up for our self-respect and get over these special days ‘cause for a woman of real substance, everyday is a celebration of hard work and success. We don’t need special days in our honour, just give us the bare minimum respect that we deserve.