“My World ” is a series of insights on gender issues by the people for the people

Our youngest writer till date Ms Prajakta Adlinge studies in 9th Standard in Jnana Prabodhini Prashala, Pune. Her areas of interest are coding, photography, videography, chess and psychology.

Here in a very balanced manner she has expressed her views about meaning of freedom for women in today’s India.

Meaning of freedom

In earlier period women were deprived of all kinds of freedoms which are taken for granted today. In pre-independence era things started changing gradually for the women when social reformers started raising their voices against the practice of sati when women were literally placed in burning pyre merely because they were widows. Later women were granted the right to vote and nevertheless, in the prevailing world, many laws like Domestic Violence act, right to property act etc were passed to make women equal, safe and secure. These efforts have bore some fruits but they have not changed the scenario as per the expectations. Even in the 21st century, women are feeling insecure to do whatever they want for their personal engagement andentertainment.

While some women are still fighting for their rights either in their households or at jobs to fulfill their dreams, where frequently they are taken for granted and get exploited across the spectrum. On the other hand, there are women who misuse the freedom created for them while men bear the burnt. A horrifying example of one such case going viral on social media is from Amity University, Noida. Here some girls not merely asked a gang of 25-30 goons to beat the accused persons brutally over a lame parking argument but also registered a false case of molestation against them. Unfortunately one of the victims lost his life and the other is still struggling for his life in ICU. Here we can see that some women are exploiting and abusing the freedom they have got.

In short we can say that freedom conferred by the constitution and through various acts is for the wellbeing and development of women, but these provisions should not and must not be misused. Also the women who are corrupting the society with such incidents must be punished, for harming the freedoms and rights of innocent men and needy women. The only way to stop such false cases is to work towards rigorous prosecution of all false accusations and false articles of evidence, as well as the investigational malpractices done by the police.

So when we look at the things that are precious in our lives and then think of all the discriminations against women and girls, there appears a tremendous irony of our modern times where we already know that the world is incomplete without women and yet we mistreat them. The pandemic situation made us realise that even if a single thing in our life gets lost, we cannot function properly. Most people do not appreciate those precious things and details in our life.

Similarly, life is impossible to imagine without humanities 50% fraction who are women! Humans only exist due to the contribution and sacrifices made by women. Hence, when women are regularly killed, harassed and abused in our union which identifies itself through the lens of being the “mother” nation, the shameless hypocrisy of our anti women culture becomes obvious. There is nothing in this world that can substitute a woman’s role in building the humanity. Thus, the masterpiece in human existence must be loved and treated with utmost care and affection.