International Women's Day, a hindsight

International Women's Day - is it about receiving roses or standing up for women's rights.
I can't help but feel a little insulted when I am handed a rose and chocolate on Women's Day. I wouldn't have minded if the rose was given by a person who thought I was a special woman in his or her life but the fact that it was given to me by my manager made me feel inferior to my male colleagues.

On an organization level, my company made great shows of celebrating Women's Day but I have not yet received an answer for a proposal I submitted for optimization of the Maternity Leave by including adoption leave in the policy.

This is not a tirade against my company. On the contrary, my company's attitude just reflects the evolution of Women's day as almost a clone of Valentine's day. The only difference is that 8th March is not only for lovers.

At the risk of sounding clichéd, I want to ask the 'dressed dhamaal' women the relevance of all this syrupy patronizing attitude towards women. IWD is an important day that needs to be celebrated to uphold the rights of women. Even in today's so-called modern world, the newspapers are strewn with 'fair-beautiful' girl matrimonial advertisements, employees ask women candidates about marriage plans, a 3 year old girl gets raped, the sex ratio of the country is severely skewed, mothers of daughters are still being asked to complete the family by producing a heir, the government forms have only Miss or Mrs as the title ... and we feel so happy about receiving roses and free drinks in restaurants.

I am not against a little pampering but I can't help but view these as ploys to keep us from thinking about real issues that still plague us.

I tell myself, as I accept the rose and preen when someone tells me i am the most important woman in their life, I shouldn't forget that little girl who is begging on the streets to support her brother who goes to school, or the time when I had to hear that it is an insult to my husband that I choose to retain my maiden name.

I am all for celebrating women power, having 'me-time' but let us all remember that the catchword here is emancipation and empowerment, not appreciation and flowers.