Does Women Empowerment truly create a EQUAL world?

The concept of equality of sexes has been taught to us right from our childhood  and in support of the same concept the idea of  women empowerment was born and since then this movement has gained  popularity. But the question that should have been asked before the rallies for equal rights for women gained strength is :What exactly is women empowerment? The question itself is quite simple but the answers are varied and complex.

The gender gap captured in Media 

According to the document published by the United Nations, the term basically entails the following five components:

• Women's sense of self-worth; 
• Their right to have and to determine choices; 
• Their right to have access to opportunities and resources; 
• Their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and
•  Their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally. 

However, as more organizations joined the fray to fight for women empowerment the definition became vague.

  Women empowerment should enable women to fight against any injustice done to them or should enable them to fight for their rights. In the earlier days, when India was a young free country, many laws had to be laid down to bring the status of women at par with the men in the society. However, as time passed these arcane laws were never changed. The quota reserved for women in every government institution and in most  fields was a necessity in those days. To continue in the same vein even now when most women are at an equal footing with men in all walks of life is a violation of the ideology in the support of which this initiative was first taken. These laws automatically put men at an disadvantage.They are not given even a fighting chance at grabbing the opportunities that in a perfect world should have been available to both the genders equally. 

The society has various means of twisting the definitions of concepts in a way that suits itself and the definition is generally distorted to such proportions that the original meaning of a coined term is forgotten. Such is the case with the term ‘women’s empowerment’. By granting women freedom, it no doubt aids them in making conscious choices and also makes them independent, but it doesn't entail handing them opportunities like gifts for it only makes them weaker. A child only becomes strong when it has fallen time and again, only to make one more attempt at walking till it takes its first step. If the women do not fight for their own rights and do not compete with the men in a world apparently dominated by men, they will never realize their self-worth in the true sense and may never reach the peak of their potential. Granted that women are considered to be the fairer sex and they are weaker than their counterparts in terms of physical strength, it should not result in the male gender bearing the brunt of unfair practices to compensate the wide gulf.

The concept of women empowerment will be truly implemented only when the women make themselves capable of competing with the males on an equal footing. Only then will the scales of equality be balanced.The men of today’s age understand the importance of their female counterparts in more ways than we can possibly count and I guess the time is ripe for women to pick up their arms and walk down the path to the new world as equals with the men and not as the underdogs that need special offers or concessions to make their presence felt in the world.

Dream for a EQUAL world 

Hence, when we teach gender equality in our schools today to girls and boys, let's tell them that both the sexes are truly equally-equal opportunities, equal importance, and equal reward-punishment standards for both.But for these values to get ingrained in the minds and hearts of our children the teaching should start at home and continue in our schools. Hope, this would lead us to a equal world where women are respected and treated as par with men. Neither women are  discriminated against nor granted undue favors. 

I AM

“I have hopes,

I have dreams,

I want to fly high,

 I want to swim deep,

 I speak many languages,

 Of love, peace and silence,

 I have been crushed many times,

 Yet I get up every time bearing the bruises,

 I give u birth,

 And at death, I am the one you melt in,

 I am a vortex of emotions,

 I am your shore in a storm,

 I am simply.... a woman!!”

-Kavisha Shah

--by Kavisha, a volunteer with Citizens Association for Child Rights a  non profit education start-up working to improve quality of health and education in municipal(inner city) schools of Mumbai 

Clean India Mission : It starts with ME

Before I start with this post, I would like to thank our Government for the “ स्वच्छ  भारत  अभियान  (Swach Bharat Abhiyan) - The Clean India Mission campaign that highlights the need to protect our heritage and to curb the problem of waste. With the world facing recession and unemployment, civil wars and migration, this issue has taken a backseat. The new Government of India has understood that lack of cleanliness is a existing problem and if measures are not taken it can snow ball into disasters in the future.

I am not going into deep discussion on the faults of the Government; rather I will concentrate on the Why’s.

I started observing my surrounding while traveling and working to understand the depth of this problem. The common kinds of waste that are found on the streets are:

1. Chocolate wrappers/tickets/ready-to-eat packages: Our minds are tuned in such a way that our hands automatically throw the wrapper without realizing our location.
2. People defecating/urinating/spitting: Spitting is such a common problem that it feels like everyone is suffering from Tuberculosis -TB. Some are addicted to the point that with every step they take, they spit. If you are a regular train traveler in India then people defecating/urinating/spitting is a common occurrence to the extent that our minds do not even register it.
3. Fruit skins: Fruits are good for health so are fruit skins for us and the environment. Do you know orange skin wards off mosquitoes and banana peels unclog sewage? 
4. Leftovers: This is the most common waste. Since it smells and attracts insects, the best way of disposing is throwing on the streets, right?
5. Leaves: Depends on the weather. Currently it is winter so I see the roads filled with dead leaves and stems.
6. Pamphlets: They are the cheapest way to advertise and most expensive loss of paper.

Now let’s focus on the scene of the crime:

1. Railway Station
2. Restaurant/street vendors
3. Public places, monuments, gardens, and zoos
4. Pilgrim/tourist places

The reasons of the crime:

1. Emergency
2. No dustbins in the vicinity
3. No toilets in the nearby area, existing toilets stink or are the breeding homes of the world’s most popular diseases
4. Apathy to ones surrounding atmosphere
5. False beliefs:My Nation is NOT my home, so as long as my home is clean why bother?
6. Old bad habit of littering 

Now who are the people who commit this crime? Practically everyone- from men to women, rich to poor, young to old; all are equal participants.

Poster made by a school child on cleanliness 

The current situation reminds me of Pareto’s principle - The 80:20 Rule. 80% of the waste is caused by us, citizens, while 20% is the negligence of Government. We keep our homes clean, but not our surroundings. We throw garbage on the roads, yet we blame the Government. We have maids to keep our homes clean, which does not mean we keep our homes  dirty considering the maid will clean it up. In the same way, though we have Government employees to clean the road, then why are the roads still unclean?

 We see pets taken for strolls and the animals conducting their business on the pavements or public gardens. Those with no access to toilets conduct their morning routines on rail tracks or footpaths. Is the Government to be blamed for all our actions? We can buy expensive TVs, mobiles, vehicles irrespective of our status but we are unable to contribute for building toilets in our locality.

The Government needs to be blamed for not providing adequate number of dustbins or toilets. The Government is responsible for not maintaining the toilets and not closing those that are managed improperly. The Government is responsible for replacing old or broken dustbins and for cleaning the toilets.We are responsible for controlling our actions and for finding suitable disposal methods. If a disease has gripped the locality,the reason lies in the waste we throw that clogs the sewage and the bacteria and other microorganisms that grow there and multiply.

 The Government is responsible for not picking the garbage daily, for not removing the waste that fill the roads, or for cleaning the sewage.We are responsible for teaching our children to throw wrappers on the street if there is no dustbin. We are responsible for teaching them to urinate on the rail tracks or the corner of the road if there are no toilets nearby. We are responsible for throwing fruits on the rail track after eating it lavishly in our first/second class compartment.

Pilgrim/tourist places are most common places where people come in groups and litter in tons. Government is responsible for not placing dustbin at equal intervals based on the number of tourist every year. We are responsible for not keeping waste bags to collect the waste and dispose it off once we find the dustbins.

We cannot only blame illiteracy or Government for these offences. Both literate and rich people are equally involved in perpetrating one of the above offences.

Children and teachers cleaning their own school playground during cleanliness week  

“CACR had organised many events for creating awareness and educating parents and children on cleanliness and waste management from  13^th to 19^th November through skits and other innovative programs. Children also contributed by writing open letters  to the Additional Municipal Commissioner, City and Education  (read here) for making the city clean”

We hope through these endeavors  the future generation learns the importance of waste management and do not allow history to be repeated. It is important for us to be educated and rational, but it is equally important for all of us to be clean people.

We can come up with a number of solutions but the most important is to consider littering and spitting as an offence. We need to fine people as well as charge them with community service to make them understand the bitter realities.

It’s easy to compare our country with other countries and blame the Government for inefficiencies. The irony of the situation is that while traveling to foreign countries we are epitome of model citizens, but within our own country we are repeated offenders of our environment.

The Government has already executed the first step of their strategy, i.e. Creating Awareness. Advertisements and influential people  from all walks of life are contributing to spread the message of “Cleanliness is next to Godliness”. 

The next step is ours . Remember : Prevention is better than Cure.

The last step is of the Government for appropriate Waste Collection and Management. 

Lets do our duty and the Government will follow. 

--by JZ, a volunteer with Citizens Association for Child Rights a education non profit startup working to improve quality of health and education in municipal schools of Mumbai 

Mobile phones the new change agents?

We live in a world where lack of innovation can lead to one’s extinction. The question that one should ask here is whether innovation leads to the creation of breakthrough products or does it help execute the current ideas differently?

Today India as a country is gripped with the problem of educating its vast population. A firm command over the English language along with proficiency in computers can help the people of this nation move forward. One simple solution to tackle this problem is to generate enough teachers and resources that are able and willing to spread their knowledge in these respective fields. The sheer lack of such resources has made the growth of this country stagnant.

In order to change our existing situation it is important to adapt to the new age technology and innovations. One of the best solutions is the use of video tutorials-either online or offline. This method can lead to better and faster communication and spread of knowledge. But in a country where renting or owning a space is so very expensive, it becomes extremely difficult to create such a set up. Other problems such as weak Internet and electricity connections again cause hindrance to the smooth delivery of knowledge driven by technology.

So what is the real solution? Its time we observe our surroundings. Mobile phones can be an extremely effective and efficient solution. A mobile phone is the most penetrated product in every part of the country from the remotest village to the most popular urban area. We have all the statistics of the world for this product, yet how efficiently do we use it?

We have phones with inbuilt software and games. Here is an idea- Why not use these inbuilt features as our strength? Why not make it official for every mobile phone (irrespective of 2G, 2.5G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) to have a dictionary or a “word search” or “unscramble the words” game? 

Children irrespective of their age or literacy level are able to operate mobile phones efficiently. Along with playing games like “Angry birds” or “Fruit Ninja” etc. Why don’t we use this phone to improve one’s vocabulary and software skills?

 Mobile phones can be a medium to reach out to a large number of people so lets find ways to use this product for making a social change. Let us work together to be the change we want to see.

This article is written by JZ a volunteer with CACR a education non-profit working in inner-city schools of Mumbai,India.