WOMEN EMPOWERMENT AND SWAMI VIVEKANANDA

 

Women empowerment has remained a phrase often quoted by the government in power but even after 74 years of independence it has remained an illusion for most women in our country. When I see them begging in traffic signals with a tucked in child I wonder whether they even understand the meaning of independence! Swami Vivekananda said "There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly with one wing." And that is exactly what differentiates the developed world from the developing countries. The latter are desperately trying to fly with one wing. If 50% of the population is denied equal opportunities in education, employment, movement, control over ancestral properties, easy access to capital and inputs for businesses, maternal benefits and support during pregnancy  then how will the community develop and the country prosper?

 

Empowerment of women should start from their homes but the reality is that the story of discrimination starts even before birth. Female feticide is shamefully prevalent even today. Government alone can enact laws but the real change has to come in the hearts and minds of the people in the society. Why should there be fewer girl children in schools and why should their dropout rates be so high? The government has by its Swachata Abhiyan stopped the shameful open defecation and helped to erect toilets in homes and schools. Is there a provision to review them and ensure they are in working condition? Do the girls’ schools have facilities for safe and hygienic disposal of sanitary pads? All these issues are important and must be addressed to keep the girls in schools. After all they should feel safe there.

 

Safety is another point that remains unanswered and NCRB says that India recorder 88 rapes every day in 2019 and the rape vulnerability has increased 44% in last 10 years!  And strangely only 36% of the 'Nirbhaya fund' has been utilized since it was set up in 2013! When influential politicians dismiss rape charges as 'bacchon se galton ho jati hai' (children commit mistakes, why fuss over it)and with pitiable conviction rates no wonder most rapes are not even reported. If work places, public places, roads, transports, schools, religious places and even homes are not safe for women then how will they be able to contribute to their fullest potentials? Swami Vivekananda once said “The best thermometer to the progress of a nation is its treatment of its women” and by this yardstick you can gauge how far we have progressed.

 

Empowerment of women comes from her economic freedom - how much money they earn, how they choose to earn it and then have complete control on their earnings and assets. This freedom should not only be in her home but also in her work place and in the society. And this freedom should be to dream, to plan and to execute. Do our women have this freedom even today? Are we utilizing the fullest potential of 50% of our population?

 

But all is not doom and gloom. There are islands of hope in this sea of despair. The power of woman's aspirations took Manya Singh, the daughter of an auto rickshaw driver to the 'Miss India runner up' crown. Anchal Gangwal, daughter of a tea seller became a pilot in the Indian Air Force in her sixth attempt - a picture perfect of perseverance. Anne Kanmani Joy of Kerala defeated her poverty and cracked UPSC in her second attempt to become an IAS officer. These are the celebrated few whom we know but many such success stories are scattered all over India and among all professions and sections of our society. Swami Vivekananda warned men against determining the course or pace of reform related to women, arguing that this was best left to women themselves. He said, “No man shall dictate to a woman nor women to a man… Women will work out their destiny better than men can ever do for them. All mischief has come because men undertook to shape the destiny of women.” 

If the Greeks ruled the world once upon a time it was because in ancient Greece there was absolutely no difference in the state of man and woman. The idea of perfect equality existed and their society prospered. The great Aryans, Buddha among the rest, have always put woman in an equal position with man. For them sex in religion did not exist. In the Vedas and Upanishads, women taught the highest truths and received the same veneration as men.

Referring to the Vedas Swami ji said “In what scriptures do you find statements that women are not competent for knowledge and devotion? In the period of degeneration, when the priests made the other castes incompetent for the study of the Vedas, they deprived the women also of all their rights. Otherwise you will find that in the Vedic or Upanishadic age Maitreyi, Gargi, and other ladies of revered memory have taken places of Rishis through their skill in discussing about Brahman. In an assembly of a thousand Brahmans who were all erudite in the Vedas, Gargi boldly challenged Yagnavalkya in a discussion about Brahman. Since such ideal women were entitled to spiritual knowledge, why shall not the women have same privilege now? What has happened once can certainly happen again. History repeats itself. All nations have attained greatness by paying proper respect to women. That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in future. The principal reason why your race has so much degenerated is that you have no respect for these living images of Shakti. Manu says, “Where women are respected, there the gods delight; and where they are not, there all works and efforts come to naught.

 

Illustrating the issue further Swami ji says“It is very difficult to understand why in this country [India] so much difference is made between men and women, whereas the Vedanta declares that one and the same conscious Self is present in all beings. You always criticize the women, but say what have you done for their uplift? Writing down Smritis etc., and binding them by hard rules, the men have turned the women into manufacturing machines! If you do not raise the women, who are living embodiment of the Divine Mother, don’t think that you have any other way to rise.”

 

“Woman has suffered for aeons, and that has given her infinite patience and infinite perseverance” Swami ji cautioned and offered a simple solution “The idea of perfect womanhood is perfect independence.”