Why women must be educated, empowered & encouraged?

“Educate an individual to develop a family, but educate women to develop a community”

Well, not long ago, the common notion was men for work and women to serve men, confined to the four corners of an apartment; there was hardly an instant when women broke that shell of confinement. Women were treated like servants, without right to say, right to education and right to rise. However the situations have changed now; the mindset of people has drastically evolved; women have broken that stereotype shell and now where men have his feet women has managed to reached there, Women has conquered what man has; walked where men has. Be it in politics, science, arts, health, or any organizational hierarchy there are women, although the ratio of men still outnumbers women.  And that is one obvious reason as to why women must be empowered, encouraged and enabled.

A mother carries a baby for nine months in pain and shame, eats with shit, sacrifices in rain and sun to protect. If there is one person who knows every movement of child, every strength and weakness, in fact every aspect, it is the mother.  A child is very much shaped by a mother. How good or bad a child becomes later or how healthy or unhealthy a child is all depends on the mother herself.   How can we expect a better and productive child if mother herself isn’t?  How can we expect a chaos free society if the chaotic state of mothers aren’t addressed? Mothers (women) are but the root of everything, the growth, the development, advancement and longevity.  It therefore becomes imperative that the society accepts such facts. It seems that the society and we as an individual have forgotten the value of women. She at the personal level must be aware of all the roles and responsibilities as a mother, as the root of the very existence of life.  And how do we go for it?  Well, with proper care and education, with proper awareness, empowerment and encouragement.  Strong messages of important aspects like the consequences of giving birth to large number of child, the advantages of being healthy and happy must be reached to the mothers in the far flung corners.

But the irony is that women are still considered inferior, incompetent and weak, we still have lots of blatant violence against women; there are rapid rise in rape cases and harassments. I feel the more campaigns we talk about empowering women, the more such unfortunate incidents tend to occur and that’s saddening.  Almost every day we hear and read about the merciless and shocking news of an innocent girl being molested or gang raped and the culprit either being escaped or sentenced. I feel such things have become very casual in the daily life of ours. Imagine 20-30 years from now into the future, how will the state of the women, ultimately the sate of world be if such things are not addressed and considered with proper precautions and judgments before it is too late?

Now we have started to hear lots of unimaginable acts like mothers strangling her own new born child and preferring abortion just because the child is but a girl, a huge problems of gendercide is robbing off the women from coming to the life, which results to sex trafficking . From where and why has such stigmas evolved?  Although Bhutanese girls are fortunate enough comparatively with no gender discrimination and equal opportunities, we have huge gap in the ratio of men to women in any fields. There is sudden rise of the violence against women, flesh trades are coming into existence and these are some of the wide areas, where policy makers might consider lifting up the status of women. With two political parties headed by women presidents now and gearing for the 2^nd parliamentary elections, hope more Bhutanese women are encouraged and empowered.

Happy International Women's Day!