Lately, I've been thinking quite a bit about the youth and the women, basically the females, of Kolkata and India. I've been thinking about their rights and their freedom, and how easily and often that I take my rights and my freedom for granted. If you know me at all, you know that I am a proud and stubborn woman, and that I am incredibly adamant about women's rights. It's just been such a difficulty seeing that women don't have even close to equal rights and equal treatment to men. There are women that are brave and beautiful and blunt and are rocking Kolkata by storm, but there are so many more women that are not being heard and are being treated as slaves or as animals, disposable to the men that they work for. How did I come to take my freedom so lightly? The only time I've been ridiculed or teased was mainly from my brothers, and I was more than capable to spit a sarcastic comment right back to them. In fact, if someone tells me no, it makes me want to do it even more. I do not like being told that I can't do something.
I know that the women of India feel the same way, but they may not know how to go about voicing their rights and their hopes. They don't have many avenues to explore in finding out their rights and what they want from their life and from their world. There are NGO's working day and night, thankfully, to help women and youth, but it is a slow process. I can only dream and hope that in the future, the women and youth of India will be free to voice their ideas and free to change their world. I was reading an article today sent from my instructor, Sucharita, and it was talking about female education. This mom was saying that even though her family is very poor and they are living under a bridge, she wants her daughter, Durga, to get an education. She knows that is her only way out of the vicious cycle, and she doesn't want her daughter to have her life.
Now, I don't want to paint a picture of these victimized women that need to be pitied. In fact, these women are relentless, in a positive way. They are unstoppable. But they do need help in achieving their dreams. I have been blessed with the variety of women that I've met in India, and I hope that I can grow to be like them one day. If I could use one word to describe them it would be "gumption". Gumption means, "courage; spunk; guts." This is the epitome of the Indian women here. They bring a radical meaning to the word "fierce".
I know that the women of India feel the same way, but they may not know how to go about voicing their rights and their hopes. They don't have many avenues to explore in finding out their rights and what they want from their life and from their world. There are NGO's working day and night, thankfully, to help women and youth, but it is a slow process. I can only dream and hope that in the future, the women and youth of India will be free to voice their ideas and free to change their world. I was reading an article today sent from my instructor, Sucharita, and it was talking about female education. This mom was saying that even though her family is very poor and they are living under a bridge, she wants her daughter, Durga, to get an education. She knows that is her only way out of the vicious cycle, and she doesn't want her daughter to have her life.
Now, I don't want to paint a picture of these victimized women that need to be pitied. In fact, these women are relentless, in a positive way. They are unstoppable. But they do need help in achieving their dreams. I have been blessed with the variety of women that I've met in India, and I hope that I can grow to be like them one day. If I could use one word to describe them it would be "gumption". Gumption means, "courage; spunk; guts." This is the epitome of the Indian women here. They bring a radical meaning to the word "fierce".
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