One More Day For Women To Shine
Move over Women’s Day and Mother’s Day. Marketers have found a new day to celebrate women — and take the cause of equality for an outing on social media.
August 26 is celebrated as Women’s Equality Day. If you hadn’t heard of it till now, don’t be surprised. It is yet to be commercialized to its fullest potential. I got to know thanks to Twitter.
It’s a day to celebrate the hard-won achievement of women’s right to vote. That happened in America in 1920, but the celebrations began only in 1971. It even demands the attention of the President of America, who issues a proclamation every year on this date.
In the fishbowl of social media, this day has become a global event, with Indians too joining the party in recent years. Companies may not hire many women, but they surely make the right noises about women’s issues. There’s Shyam Steel India, Pratham Motors, and SIB Infotech — brands that you may not even have come across — posting on Twitter to mark the date.
For a digital marketer, it’s one less post to worry about. Put two circles in pink and blue with an equal sign — as has been done in one of the posts— and you’re done for the day! You even get to charge the client for that.
Like Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, this too is an import from the West. It’s just not as popular yet since Archie’s hasn’t got to it. Even as the Rakhi rush got over, the run up to Teacher’s Day has begun. So it’s hard to fit another day in between.
Hallmark doesn’t have any cards for the occasion either. That may not be surprising since the movies made by their namesake channel still have men playing knights in shining armors. It’s a full-time job rescuing pretty damsels from a lifetime of loneliness and lack of love.
Mind you, I’m a total sucker for romances. On a bad day, I can totally depend on the charismatic Richard Gere in Pretty Woman, or the goofy Hugh Grant in Notting Hill to lighten my mood. That Julia Roberts is common to both is incidental.
And therein lies the problem with equality in this world.
Here’s a mega star who’s kicked some real ass in Hollywood. When she donned a blue blazer with jeans in the last scene of Pretty Woman, it became uniform for teenage girls like me the world over. When she said “I’m just a girl standing in front of a boy asking him to love her,” in Notting Hill, it melted hearts and defined romance for an entire generation.
Yet, these films belong more to Gere and Grant than to Roberts.
Till date, male actors get paid more than female ones for the same film. I believe Deepika Padukone recently walked away from a film because she was being paid less than her male counterpart. Atta girl!
Think back to Bajirao Mastani, or Padmavat — I’d say Padukone’s role tested far more of her acting skills than her male co-star’s. In any case, her dancing had far more appeal than Ranveer Singh’s. There has to be something terribly wrong then with a scenario that rewarded her lower than the men.
It’s been a hundred years since women were first allowed to vote. Yet, we’re talking about gender gap and equal pay and equal rights in the 21st century. And, of course, men, especially those in power, still think they know what’s good for women.
They say women shouldn’t wear jeans. But wearing skirts makes boys lose their heads. Good old salwar kameez comes to our rescue here, covering us from head to toe. But now that salwars have given way to trousers, wonder if the sight of bare ankles will affect the boys the same as our bare knees do.
I’m happy to follow the advise of those asking women not to eat noodles. That’s just unnecessary carbs for dinner in any case. So let’s give them that wish. But cellphones? If I give that up, who will run the trains on time at work and at home?
If the world were equal…
…the husband would have got the stretch marks for the babies I delivered. And he would get to share the hot flushes and mood swings that await me in the not-so-distant future. It doesn’t seem fair that as we both get older at the same rate, all he has to fret about is not getting his — um, hopes — up, while I have to physically bear the brunt of menopause.
…the offspring would be leaving school with a certificate displaying his grades in household chores and baby sitting; while his female friends would be marked on finance and investing. And cut-offs for college admissions would include these marks, like they do currently for a language.
…the husband would stop being the subject of envy for having a wife who goes to work every day, while he gets to stay at home. Now that we all know what work from home really is, it’s hard to resent his work-life balance.
…Padukone would get paid the highest for her next blockbuster, while her dashing husband would change nappies at home, albeit made of the eccentric prints Singh so favors for his own clothes.
…finally, there would be a cabinet berth with a Minister of Equality, who’d get to present an annual budget on gender parity. She’d be answerable for the country’s progress on the UN target of gender equality by 2030.
There needn’t be a limit to my imagination — but I’ll stop here.
My reality has been kinder than most. I’ve been fortunate in having access to education, the right to keep my name and religion, and opportunities to follow my heart. I’ve had a career for two decades, and child rearing hasn’t interfered with my desire for world domination.
The men in my house, though, could do with a little sympathy. They have to eat what I decide will be cooked, wear the clothes I buy — even shorts with pink flamingos — and smile for the camera when I ask them to.
Thankfully, they don’t get to vote me out of power any time soon.
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