How different is today from last year when International Women’s Day was observed across the globe and in our own country and state too? Unless there is a system to monitor women’s ability to scale up their empowerment quotient by making use of their voices and to act decisively, these observances become mere formalities. Hence a monitoring system that measures women’s ability to speak up and advocate for better pay; for equal rights and for a place at the high tables of decision-making is imperative. The theme for this year’s International Women’s Day is “Accelerate Action.” This is a call to governments across the world to do better in their efforts to bring in gender equitable policies that recognize the special needs of women and where and how they need agency to arrive at an equal place in the decision-making platforms.
For centuries women have been conditioned not to speak up in public and especially not to speak loudly. Today such exhortations are passe. Women need to make their voices heard and if the system they live in is deaf to their pleas they need to make a noise and crank up the volume. Speaking softly used to be a trait by which women were accorded respectability. That managed to push them to the margins because society today is a noisy space and silent pleas tend to get subsumed in the cacophony that defines politics and all that it encompasses. Too often panel discussions on critical issues have only men at the high tables. Why are women not included? Why are their voices not considered important to bring the discussion to a realistic end? Without including women in discussions on health, education, the economy how can a country or a state expect to bring in a gender balance and gender equitable budgeting? Gender budgeting for all government programmes is critical and women should not allow a budget to be passed if it is not put through the gender lens. This requires intensive training for those sitting in the Finance Ministry/Department and also those heading different government departments.
Women are inflicted by stereotypical thinking that men know more about an issue then they do, so they fear to share their views in public. This fear needs to be overcome and can be overcome through regular training where women learn to present their views cogently, smartly and convincingly. Women need to learn to speak clearly, knowing that what they are about to say is important for policy making. Visibility is a sign of empowerment hence women have to be more visible at meetings and not take the backseats. Men will take centre-stage if women allow them to. There are enough studies to show that organisations that do not have women in senior positions do not reach their full potential. Above all, women should not allow themselves to be bullied or mansplained. Voice is the most powerful agency. Women ought to use this agency at every opportunity which includes writing for and speaking in multiple media channels.
