Women against Women

In a society where women are treated so poorly, you would expect them all to work together and fight the inequalities. However that’s not the case.

Over the summer, there was a video going around on social media. The girl, was wearing a dress that was slightly above her knee at the mall. A women, in her late 40s tells them that they deserve to be raped and goes on to tell a group of men to rape them. The girl and her friends confront the women, telling her to apologize for her comments but she continues to argue with them. The woman also tells the store associates to call the police since the girls were filming her.

Women like her are holding back society from advancing and becoming a better place for women. India right now is trying to pass a law for death penalty for rapist meanwhile the society does not want to want to change their mindset.

No one in any circumstance should wish for another woman to be raped. When I first say this video, I was disgusted. How can a mother wish this upon a girl, old enough to be her daughter? But these types of behaviors explain why places like India and other South Asian countries are some of the most dangerous places for girls and women.

 

https://gulfnews.com/world/asia/india/indian-woman-in-mall-calls-for-rape-of-girls-for-wearing-short-dresses-video-goes-viral-1.63673134

 

Izzat: The Real Issue

Izzat, a simple word that simply means honor or respect yet holds so much importance to South Asian families. Izzat is everything that families live by. The family honor is often what drives the decisions that women in South Asian communities make.

To protect one’s “izzat”, a family would go against what a person wants, disown them, or even in some severe cases, kill the person going against them. Since the idea of “izzat” is placed upon girls at a very young age, it feels like a responsibility or burden. Throughout their entire lives, they need to protect their family’s izzat. However in most cases, what a son or male does, doesn’t affect the family honor as much. What a girl wears, her actions, and the people she hangs around with, all affect a family’s izzat. Old traditions and ideas need to change!

 

https://www.natcom.org/communication-currents/uncovering-face-how-two-generations-south-asian-indian-americans-navigate-

 

 

Current Situations in South Asia

Although the environment for women in South Asia has been changing over the last couple of years, there are still some places that are still strongly holding on to tradition. Tradition in this sense being expectations and rules enforced upon women in these areas. Where women cannot go to school and have a basic education because it costs too much money and “they are only girls” and don’t need schooling. Basically saying that girls and women are a waste of money. Where women cannot go outside without men constantly harassing them. Without the fear that they might get kidnapped, raped, or killed because of their gender. Where they are still being shamed for choosing a career over a family and children. Where they are still considered inferior and weak compared to men when in reality they are so much more. Where their own families disown them and or even kill them. Where still a son’s birth in the family is celebrated with “Ladoos” but a daughter’s is kept quiet. Where women are still seen as merely toys for men to play around with.

Why is it that women are seen less than men? Why are they treated so differently when we’re all just human?