Author: Dr. Sapna Raina, Consultant, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Narayana Health City.
‘Behind every successful man, there is a woman’, goes the age old adage. This perhaps best captures the contribution of women and one which we all actually agree with. Women can be best defined as a symbol of courage, strong will-power, determination and brings about a positive change in the society and life is incomplete without them.
The world of work is changing fast, through innovation, increasing mobility and informality. But it needs to change faster to empower women, whose work has already driven many of the global gains in recent decades. Women still predominantly occupy jobs that pay less and provide no benefits. They earn less than men, even as they shoulder the enormous—and economically essential—burden of unpaid care and domestic work. Realizing women’s economic empowerment requires transformative change so that prosperity is equitably shared and no one is left behind. The international community has made this commitment in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Every woman should enjoy her right to decent work. Women’s Day also remembers the voices of many women that go unheard and who continue to be dominated from securing their rights and realizing their full potential.
India is fortunate to have had many great women – Auvaiyar, Annie Besent, First women president of Indian national Congress, Nevedita, Vijayalakshmi Pandit, First Indian Woman President of UN General Assembly, Mother Teresa, Sarojini Naidu to Indira Gandhi only the second woman Prime Minster in the world, to Kalpana Chawla, Indra Nooyi to Pratibha Patil first women President of India and many more in the Indian Corporate sector who have proved to be more than a match . Their contribution to society in whole and to Women in Particular is invaluable.
In Modern Indian society women are playing stellar role, even challenging the males in Politics. More importantly their role in family building, society development is stupendous. Indian woman is emerging out of their conventional role, realizing their unlimited potential and have begun to take major role in all walks of life.
Indian woman is beautiful, gentle, motherly yet powerful. Indian society look upto their women folk to take the lead, which is slowly happening. When India becomes a superpower, surely there will be significant contribution from great women. National Women's Day of India was observed on 13 February 2014 in memory of date of birth of India’s first women governor Sarojini Naidu. Sarojini Naidu was born on 13 February 1879 and died on 2 March 1949. This was the 135th birth anniversary of Sarojini Naidu.
As the famous writer and women activist Audre Lorde once said, “I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We've been taught that silence would save us, but it won't.” I urge all women today to remember that all life springs from you. Look at the world and smile that without you, life would have been impossible. Happy women’s day!