Indian Women Continue Their March Ahead

By M.Santhiran M.Santhiran, Bernama's correspondent in New Delhi shares his take on India. NEW DELHI, March 7 (Bernama) -- Many survived infanticide, many live in constant fear of being raped, many set on fire by their mother in-laws and many just considered as the slaves of their families and the society. Being an Indian women, for many life is an ordeal from cradle to grave. Yet in spite of the travails, Indian women who were traditionally confined to their homes and shackled by the rigid societal norms have come a long way. India has seen a prime minister and a number of chief ministers from the fairer sex, a women astronaut who took to the space, Bollywood scarlets who reached Hollywood, a women CEO leading an American multinational and the many sports personalities who brought glory to India. They are just the few of the many success stories. Indian women are continuing their march on the road to liberation and empowerment. With the world celebrating Women's Day on Tuesday (March 8), Indian women have more the reason to celebrate. Thus its not surprising the inaugural national Conference of Women Legislators here in Delhi over the weekend witnessed a full turnout, with the president, prime minister and senior politicians joining the conference. Indian woman who account for 637 million of India's 1.3 billion population are a force to be reckoned with. INDIAN WOMEN IN RETROSPECT While the world is aware that India has had a women prime minister Indra Gandhi (1966-77 and 1980-84), out of 29 states and seven union states of India, 12 of them are being or have been helmed by women. Currently, four of the key states are being headed by women with J. Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu, Vasundhara Raje (Rajasthan), Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal) and Anandiben Patel (Gujarat). Jayalalithaa and Banerjee enjoyed a fair share of admirers and critics on how they have been running their respective states. Banerjee is a political maverick who formed the All India Trinamool Congress, a Congress party splinter group, and in 2011 uprooted the Communist Party of India (CPI) that had ruled the state for 34 years. Even the sky is no limit for the Indian women. The late Kalpana Chalwa, became the first Indian woman to reach the space in 1997. Though Kalpana died tragically in another space mission when the space shuttle exploded while returning to earth, her achievement inspired many women to take up science. Today nearly 20 per cent of the 14,246 employees at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are women. Even the Mars Mission's deputy operation director is a mother of two. In the field of sports, Sania Mirza and Saina Nehwal stand out from the rest. Sania is an Indian professional tennis player who is currently ranked No. 1 in the women's doubles rankings. Meanwhile, Saina has momentarily put an end to the domination of Chinese women badminton players. She was crowned world No 1 player in 2015, 35 years after the legendary player Prakash Padukone took the crown for India. Tamil Nadu born Indra Nooyi is the Chairperson and CEO of US based PepsiCo, the second largest food and beverage firm based on net revenue. She is ranked 13 in Forbes World's 100 most powerful woman. SOME SEGMENT OF WOMEN STILL VULNERABLE However, the Dec 16, 2012 Delhi gang rape incident of the 23-year-old student Jyoti Singh served as a grim reminder that the fairer sex in India are not safe from heinous crimes. Since then more rape incidents were reported, with most women fearing their safety in open spaces. In a recent incident, an Andra Pradesh minister's son was reported to have molested a school teacher. Danger is lurking everywhere for the Indian women. More needs to be done to ensure women get their due respect from the society. I always remind my two teenage boys on showing their respect to women. They could be somebody's mother, somebody's wife, somebody's sister and they are an indispensable part of our family and society. -- BERNAMA