I am not quite a fan of celebrating such occasions. I sometimes feel these “days” have been cooked up by the gifting industry. That said, Woman’s Day is special because it makes me take a pause and celebrate being one.
Today, we find all around us, a lot of women who have achieved so much in life. Women have made a mark in various walks of life and many gender biases are slowly disappearing.
Take for example, the fact that Kathryn Bigelow has won the Oscar for best director for the first time ever pipping ex-husband James Cameron to the post.
That said, I know this may not hold true universally yet- we still hear of female infanticide, dowry deaths and sexual harassment. But, my submission is that, as women we can come together and bring about changes if we believe in ourselves.
What do you say?
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The whole awards season was billed as a showdown between Kathryn and Cameron.Kathryn came out trumps at the BAFTA, and it increased the interest of the viewers who wondered whether she can do the same at the Oscars.She stole the show here as well.
The Hurt Locker is actually a film that was made in 2007. The Avatar director must now be wondering why his ex-wife’s film released in 2009, and not in 2008 or 2007.
Closer home, the Women’s Quota Bill comes up for voting in the Rajya Sabha. After 14 long years, one hopes that the bill will finally get the approval of the upper house, petty politics notwithstanding.
It’s been a long time coming but women have succeeded in breaking gender barriers to an extent. And if we stick up for each other and build on the work done by those before us, who knows where we’d be in 10 or 15 years?
Here is my favourite research finding from Catalyst and McKinsey -companies with significant numbers of women in management have a much higher RoI. In addition, a study from London Business School shows that when work teams are split 50-50 between men and women, productivity goes up.
On Jayanthi’s point, at Prayag too we have a good proportion of women and I would definitely endorse the point on having a good mix of men and women in teams, or in an organization.
Yes, we’ve made a lot of progress, and there is still a long way to go. And while we should not forget the large swathes of women around the world who are still suppressed, today is a good day to celebrate our achievements.