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The tweets in social media about ending ‘Female foeticide’ proves that a woman’s existence has to be justified in some way, even today!
The past week we witnessed history. P V Sindhu, Sakshi Malik and several other Indian women made us proud with their outstanding performance in the Olympics. Social media was flooded with articles and tweets.
“Sakshi Malik a reminder of what can happen if you don’t kill a girl child ...”
‘Beti bachao, Medal Ghar Lao!”
“There would have been many Sakshi Maliks bringing laurels to our country and Haryana, if they were not killed in their mother’s womb or denied opportunities just because they were girls. It is 2016, we cannot miss any potential Sakshi Malik, Geeta Phogat or Vinesh Phogat and we have to end female foeticide and provide every single opportunity to girls.”
I know that the intention of all these posts is to send out a meaningful message – to value women because they are capable of being great achievers. But to say that we have to end female foeticide because these women have brought laurels to our country is an insult to human life. A girl deserves the right to live, with dignity and with opportunities because she is a human being, not because she can become successful one day. The thought that a woman’s life has to be justified by something as competitive as winning a medal in the Olympics is highly disturbing.
I thought to myself:
“I will never win anything in Olympics. I am not a mother and not even married. I am neither an achiever nor have I contributed to the planet by my fundamental purpose of carrying and raising a child. How is my existence validated?”
I am a second daughter. My parents have cherished my sister and me. They celebrated our birth out of love, not out of high expectations that we might accomplish something some day. Our contribution to society is immaterial. We are loving, caring daughters and that is enough for them.
Isn’t having a child about unconditional love? Does a male child guarantee anything? Should we keep looking for some benefit in having a girl child?
Save daughters, because they are human beings. Because every life is precious. Raise them well because they are your family, not because they can create a family someday. She need not be anybody’s wife or daughter-in-law or mother to make her life meaningful. Give her opportunities because she deserves it. She may not become a Sakshi Malik. But she will surely be the apple of your eye.
Image Source: Youtube
I like to write about the problems that have plagued the Indian society. I feel that the concept of gender equality is still alien , and that has been the focus of my articles and posts. read more...
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UP Boards Topper Prachi Nigam was trolled on social media for her facial hair; our obsession with appearance is harsh on young minds.
Prachi Nigam’s photo has been doing the rounds on social media for the right reasons. Well, scratch that- I wish the above statement were true. This 15-year-old girl should ideally be revelling in her spectacular achievement of scoring a whopping 98.05% and topping her tenth-grade boards. But oddly enough, along with her marks, it’s something else that garners more attention – her facial hair.
While the trolls are driving themselves giddy by mocking this girl who hasn’t even completed her school yet, the ones who are taking her side are going one step ahead – they are sharing her photoshopped pictures, sans the facial hair, looking nothing less than a celebrity with captions saying – “Prachi Nigam, ten years later”.
Doctors have already diagnosed her with PCOD in their comments, based on photographic evidence. While we have names for people shamed for their weight – body shaming, for their skin colour- racism, for their age- age shaming, for being a female- sexism, this category of shaming where one faces criticism for their appearance has no name. With that, it also has zero shame attached to it.
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