Celebration vs Reality: The Persistent Challenges Facing Indian Women : Parag Biswas

In a TV advertisement released on the International Women’s Day in 2017, an elite woman, who came for a hair-cut at a beauty parlour in a posh urban locality, was shown asking her hair-dresser, with tears in her eyes, to make her hair so short that nobody could hold it again.

Nine years after the advertisement was made with the objective of generating awareness among the masses about domestic violence in India, most women in India feel that the plight of women in our country continues to be the almost the same and they are still victims of violence and gender bias in one form or the other.

According to them, there is no denying the fact that the lot of women in India has improved significantly over the past few decades, especially in terms of legal rights, education, health, and political representation, but the progress is still very lopsided and limited to a few urban centers of the country, and women still face substantial challenges regarding economic participation, safety, and deep-rooted patriarchal attitudes.

Celebration vs Reality: The Persistent Challenges Facing Indian Women : Parag Biswas

Noted Bollywood filmmaker Rekha Karan, who has just finished working on her latest Marathi film, “Girl Friend - Boy Friend,” which deals with the subject of parental support for children, feels that working women and women who aspire to achieve success in various walks of life do not get sufficient support from their families and the society. “Most people in our society do not support a woman when she wants to become self-reliant or wants to achieve her ambitions in life. Very few family members back her up and when she achieves success on the basis of her merit and talent, most people say that she could achieve it only because she was a woman.

It is a pity that when a woman achieves success and recognition balancing between household chores and workplace workloads, her talent and merit is ignored and it is attributed to a gender bias in favour of women in the society, which is totally wrong,” lamented the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar-born 46-year-old award-winning film director.

Desh Ratna award winner social activist Kakoli Paul, who shared Karan’s sentiments, said that instead of getting any special favour, women have to face discrimination in almost every field. “It is a pity that women, who are worshipped as deities in India, are looked down upon when they honestly and sincerely endeavour to make a mark in the society.

When I first began working as a social activist, I had to face almost insurmountable hurdles. I had to work my fingers to the bone in order to rope in funds to run my social welfare programmes. Many people could not believe that a woman could almost singlehandedly organize social welfare programmes on a large scale – a mentality that stems from the propensity to dominate women both inside and outside their homes,” said the president of the International Crime Control and Human Rights Organization.

Renowned Bollywood actress Riya Bhattacharje, who agreed with Paul, believes that complete emancipation of woman was still a wishful thinking as most women in India still languished in illiteracy, ignorance and abject poverty. “Of the 716 million women in India currently, 186 million still face significant, multidimensional poverty—struggling to meet basic needs like nutrition and sanitation.

There has, undoubtedly, been a significant improvement in the status of women over the past few decades, but it has been largely limited to the urban and educated areas of the country.

The government is no doubt taking measures to improve the lot of women, but this improvement will be of no use if we are unable to educate every woman in the country and if over 500,000 women are killed every year in the wombs of their mothers after clandestine sex determination,” the Mumbai-based veteran TV, film and OTT actress pointed out.

Arjuna award winner ace paddler Mantu Ghosh, who shared Bhattacharje’s feelings, regretted that even after so many measures by the government to ensure the safety and security of women, most women in the country do not feel safe. “Despite a significant improvement in law and order situation over the past few decades in India and in spite of several programmes launched by the police and administration to generate awareness among the masses about the need to ensure safe and secure environment for women in our society, we do not always feel safe. Almost all of us still need a male person to accompany us, whenever we venture out after sunset.

It is impossible for the security agencies in the country to deploy security personnel for every woman in order to provide security to her round-the-clock. The need is to change the mindset of people. If we are unable to change the way people look at women, safety and security of women in our country will remain a pipe dream,” observed the former national table tennis champion.

According to noted clinical psychologist Abha Agarwal, the challenges that women face are not only physical but also mental, emotional and psychological. “It indeed is great to see women redefining traditional gender roles in the workforce – heading companies, chairing conferences, hosting TV shows, flying fighter jets, adjudicating cases in apex courts and even leading governments of many countries across the globe. It is equally great to see women becoming independent to the extent of achieving financial stability, emotional self-reliance, and the confidence to make personal life decisions such as filing for divorces and choosing not to get married.

But most of us don’t see the psychological, mental or emotional strain that even some of these women have to go through just as a housewife undergoes in a nondescript village or an affluent metropolis.

The clients, who normally visit our clinic every day, mostly complain of anxiety, anger and feelings of being overwhelmed due to identify crisis at home and/or workplace, emotional neglect in marriage, financial dependence on others and constant conflict with in-laws.

It shocks and surprises us when we find that the women of 2026 still suffer from issues that our female folks had to deal with several decades back.

They often complain that even many years after their marriage they are still treated as mere caregivers and are not accepted by their in-laws as a part of their families.

They also say that if they look to assert themselves within their families, they are branded as a rebel.

The emotional burnout that these conditions create in them often leads them to anger, anxiety, irritation and frustration, which not only shatters them internally but also tells upon their health.

It is high time that we realize that material democracy is based on emotional democracy and women should be equal with men in both their physical as well as psychological freedom.

With International Women’s Day round the corner, let’s wish that some effective steps are taken soon for a holistic emancipation of women in our society that would ensure their all-round development,” she hoped.

E.O.M.

paragbiswas1972@gmail.com