Recently we all celebrated the International Women’s day. There were lots of shows on Television and Radio. Many offices had organized celebrations. There were many tempting shopping offers from the retail giants and various brands for the ladies. I don’t know what this fuss is all about when virtually every day is women’s day! Anyways, it is more a marketing gimmick such as Valentines Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day etc.
That reminds me, we also have something called Childrens Day. But except in schools, it is not celebrated as intensely as Women’s day or Valentines Day. Why? Because it’s not glamorous enough. Besides, lovers and women constitute much wider consumers than the children who do not have any financial power. So, it’s more profitable for the businesses to hype up Valentine’s Day and the Women’s Day.
Coming back to the Women’s Day, few questions came in my mind such as What is it about womanhood that should be celebrated or should it be celebrate at all? If womanhood is celebrated then why is there no celebration for “Manhood”? The term “Manhood” seems a bit negative and offending. Because for a man, To be a man socially means to dominate, to take the charge of his life and be strong; physically as well as emotionally. Remember the cliche Boys don’t cry? So a Real Man is supposed to provide and protect, be emotionally cold, and to dominate, mostly his family members.
When we think about celebration of womanhood, the most cliched and the most obvious concept which comes in our minds is: Motherhood. it is often regarded as the greatest joy of womanhood. It has been glorified so much in our society that once a woman becomes a mother, she receives an exalted status, more respectability in the social scenario. Suddenly she becomes a Godlike figure, a Devi who has performed her “duty” successfully.
So, Is motherhood the ultimate aim of womanhood? Of course Not. Those who think it is do so because of the social conditioning. Therefore let’s leave the motherhood apart as it’s a wide topic in itself and it will require me to write a separate post to be able to do justice to it.
Coming back to the Womanhood, let’s discuss it from the day to day life perspective. Because leaving apart philosophies, it’s the practical world we live in and if theoretical concepts do not apply in the daily life, then they are realistically of no use.
Here are some reasons why being a woman is so pleasurable, why womanhood is so great and why we celebrate or rather should celebrate womanhood.
1> We can feel great just by looking great i.e. Dressing up well, Using (right) makeup and other accessories automatically acts as stress reliever and mood enhancer for us. Like Men, we don’t need to drug ourselves with alcoholic drinks or other addictive substances to get rid of stress.
2> We can blow up our husbands/boyfriend’s hard earned money on shopping for stuff that we don’t really need, without any guilt.:)
3> We can get expensive jewellery as gifts during weddings. (our own or close relatives)
4> We can get Headaches and “fall sick” whenever we want :)
5> We can get long Maternity Leaves from office.
6> We can afford to be not so “career minded” and get away with it. In our society, Career Minded means someone who’s only aim in life is to earn a fat paycheck.:)
7> We can choose not to work, just enjoy ourselves and still be accepted and loved.
8> We can pursue diverse hobbies without having to bother about paying bills.
9> Men consider us the weaker sex, but we know in our hearts that Men are strong only till they see women’s tears :)
10> We are the Boss at our homes.
11> We can be emotionally melodramatic without inhibitions.
12> We have more choices in each area of life such as dating, clothes, accessories etc. Men have restrictions and reservations.
13> We can approach the opposite sex without the fear of getting slapped.
14> When a man hits a woman, he is being abusive. But when a woman hits a man, she is just protecting herself :)
15> Last but not the least; we get to wear/buy/ receive (as gifts) Diamonds! There is no joy better than having loads of Diamonds! They truly are the girls’ best friends.
Note: These are strictly my personal opinions and if anybody feels offended, it’s not my concern :)
Vaibhavi
