‘People are proud of the bird, beautiful in plumage and voice, which they trap in a cage, these greedy grabbers forgetting that this beauty belongs to all the woodlands. Men have captured and staunchly guarded as their own right, the sweetness of a woman’s heart and her flair to care.’ (Woman, Rabindranath Tagore, 1933)
The international ‘16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence’ (25 November – 10 December) is being observed through the joint efforts women and men of government and non-government women and human rights organisations all over the world. Under the initiative and guidance of the United Nations, all member states are commemorating these 16 days by holding meetings, discussions, exhibitions and cultural events.
The theme of this year’s 16 Days of Activism is ‘Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!”
And we have pledged
‘Women in an orange world will
Overcome every hurdle.’
From the past down till today, other than the direct and indirect obstacles, social and economic exploitation, repression and discrimination, there are innumerable restrictions and confines that are shackles around a women’s feet. There are tales of women’s constrained lives, whether in the West or in the East, repressed in varying degrees and in different ways.
So much has been written and said in the lore and literature of various countries. Folklore tells the story of the actual precarious predicament of women. Ancient folksongs of Vietnam compare women to the drops of rain. How cruel is the fate of women!
‘Women are like drops of rain
No one knows where they will fall,
To the muddy ground or the palace hall.’
In Bengal, girls are the bane of the family. The plight of their birth is clear in the proverbs:
‘We hurl down a girl’s name
If they are taken it’s the same,
If forsaken, it’s the same.’
Or,
‘A lump of clay makes a daughter
To be thrown in a moment into the water.’
These rudimentary rhymes bring to the fore the painful cries of Bengal’s suffering women. Reports appear at regular intervals in the media of the slave-like treatment meted out to women, to wives, but the law seems inert. Women are victims of class, religion, community and political vengeance.
A woman’s slavery begins with her restricted life and naturally the question arises, where is all this leading to? The answers can be found in the research of sociologists, historians. The 19th century social scientist August Bebel said that women were the first to be forced to accept subservience and slavery, wearing the shackles or slavery even before the custom of slavery emerged.
From then women became commodities of exchange, costly possessions and valuable slaves.
And on the other side of this plight began prostitution. Forcing women into prostitution is one of the many oppressions faced by women as slaves to men’s wishes.
The Industrial Revolution ushered in fundamental changes in the system of production, bringing about changes in the social system too. But social exploitation and repressions remain intact in various forms.
Even in the year 2021, there is violence against women taking place all over the world. But today’s women are vocal and active in protest, succeeding to snatch their rights from society and the state.
The United Nations is playing a tangible role in ensuring women’s rights. Women are being educated around the world, consciously building up organisations for movement to earn their rights.
In all countries of the world women are questioning why they are still shackled even in this 21st century, why they are encaged. On one hand women are being exploited, on the other hand women are rising up in protest. The UN has been observing International Women’s Day (8 March), Year of Women, International Day for Prevention of Violence Against Women (25 November) and now in 2021 ’16 Days Against Gender Based Violence’.
These initiatives and declarations of the UN must not just be a show of formalities. With the concerted efforts of women and men alike, we look forward to these national and international efforts to be a success.
* Maleka Begum is professor and head of department at the Sociology and Gender Studies Department, Central Women’s University, Dhaka