No work is insignificant. All labor that uplifts humanity has Dignity and Importance and should be undertaken with painstaking Excellence – Martin Luther King Jr.
A plea for the spinning wheel is a plea for recognizing the Dignity of Labour – Mahatma Gandhi
The gratitude shown by Railway Minister to women in railways is highly appreciated by lot of citizens. However, Congress leader Mr. Shashi Tharoor has not taken the same in high spirit.
Women Empowerment in today’s marketing enabled world has a totally different meaning. While the contribution of each woman is equally important, one has to understand the difference between qualified women at senior position, qualified women at mid level and entry level. Lacs of women not qualified yet chose to work instead of begging or doing any work that is contrary to the law of the land.
Be it speech of Harsh Mander or the Tweet from Shashi Tharoor, everything happens for a reason. For now the focus shall remain on the Tweet. There is a difference between mocking and showing gratitude. Cattle Class was plain mocking common citizens. However, we must appreciate Shashi’s candid approach in penning down his thoughts on social media. Therefore, there is no scope of misinterpreting.
There are different option for passengers at a railway station. Taking services of lady coolies with or without trolley is passenger choice. One has to be free enough to remember what all has been posted on social media.
Women empowerment has been reduced to a marketing activity to sell and promote one own self as some learned person on March 8 every year. Women Day should go beyond this celebration of only high flying women.
Recognising citizens who have done ground level work to uplift financially weaker section, assisting women in taking better decisions for their children and family (micro finance), assisting aspiring women in rural areas to become leaders in their area of speciality (sports, handicraft, etc), should be show cased on Women Day. A lot of functions on this important day revolve around high profile events, where Gyan ki Ganga over flows. Some people who speak in these events should be followed for a month to know the reality.
Look at some of the Padma Awards for last few years. The Women who got these awards did not sacrifice their life for want of an Award. They worked selflessly, never appeared in page 3. They have passion to service the society.
With advent of social media everyone wants to be a social worker. People have gone to the extent of sharing silly pics where there is no need. But if someone is highlighting the resolve of women playing different roles in railways then what is the problem? Jobs are by choice and not by force. One can’t have robots doing all the job. And even if one thinks of doing it beyond a point then people loose employment.
Women doing labour jobs or entry level jobs in any sector have a task on hand. They wish to support their family irrespective of the hardships they undergo. If such women are honoured or appreciated then it adds to the moral of the work force. PM interacting with sanitation workers or a founding member of a large logistics company having meals with long distance truck drivers are an attempt to show gratitude.
Ayam Nijah Paroveti Ganana Laghu Chetasaam,Udaara Charitaanaam tu Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam
“Small and narrow-minded people look at the reality in terms of ‘this is yours and this is mine’; for those of higher consciousness the whole world is a family”.
High profile women and their profession too deserves respect but that doesn’t mean we neglect others. Be it a woman police officer expressing her thoughts via a poem or an aspiring woman gymnast from a humble background expressing her views, nothing goes down well with some self declared intellectuals.
Let us make Women Day more meaningful by doing something more consistently.
#SheInspiresUs
Picture Credit: Screenshots from Twitter
Author: @ZeroAppeasement on Twitter
