Not only Navratri, respect women all through the year
The festival of Navratri celebrates the victory of Goddess Durga over Mahishasur, the demon.
During Navratri days, girls are honoured and worshipped. But it would not be incorrect to say that this worship is ritualistic with no real sense of respect towards girls and women. Every day, girls are tortured and killed because it is believed that they are destined to be treated that way.
It is good to have this practice of honouring and even worshipping girls on certain occasions like Navratri but this lasts for festivals only. Once festivals are over, women and girls again have to struggle for their safety.
Though our culture believes that gods reside in people who respect women but ironically the same society treats women horrendously. That is why the crime graph against women is getting higher day by day and even small girls are not spared.
This duality of behaviour is the dilemma of our society, the difference between words and action is the reality of present time. This dichotomy doesn’t reconcile with ‘kanya pujan’ or other rituals honouring women.
This ritualistic worshipping of women for these nine days has not put a check on atrocities against women. They are beaten, abused, denied basic rights, tortured in the name of dowry, raped and killed. The nine days of Navratri have become a formality to please the gods but we forget that god is always aware of real intentions.
What is needed is not a ritualistic respect for women but a change in the mindset towards women. They should also be treated as a fellow human beings and not like an object of lust.
Objectification of women is not new. It has always existed in our patriarchal society and it is not only men who are responsible for such a behavior. Many women are also involved in this objectification of other women; a clear example of it is ill-treatment with girls in orphanages. Many women are involved in exploitation of girls in orphanages.
Girls are being exploited due to gender discrimination which starts months before she is born and her life is in danger only because she will be born a girl. Boys are always given preference in our culture and women having sons are always considered fortunate.
This mental block makes women crave for a son rather than a daughter. In our daily lives, we encounter many examples where people want to honour girls in the name of ‘kanya pujan’ but never wish to have a daughter.
Every year, many girls are killed in the womb. If this female foeticide is not stopped, one day there would be no girls for the ritualistic gesture of ‘kanya pujan’.
Women deserve respect, protection and decent behaviour throughout the year not only during festivities.
In our society, women are not entitled to live peacefully and safely. Men see them as a commodity to satisfy their male ego in every possible form. This thinking should change. If we can ask our daughters what to wear, when and where to go, why can’t we instruct our boys how to behave with girls?
The change should begin from our families. Teaching good manners to boys is the responsibility of every family. In fact, boys should be taught more attentively so that they can learn to treat women as a human being not as an object.
DR. SADAF FAREED