Independence and dependence

You might be wondering why I named this post "Independence and Dependence." Well, today is August 15th—yeah, Happy Independence Day, India. Currently, half of India's population is independent, and does that half have a specific gender? Oh yes, absolutely! The male population of India really seems to be independent, but we can't say the same about the female population, especially regarding recent incidents. Oh, wait a minute, why am I saying "recent"? A word better suited is "what always happens here in India."

I remember a few years back in Parliament, the current leadership party's female Members of Parliament were very upset that an opposition party leader had remarked India to be the capital of rape. They were livid at the remark, but today I have to say it's not wrong; your government has literally made it a fact. This is a fact: women's security is an illusion.

Nobody cares if a woman dies in the most brutal way. Literally, she died screaming this time, not in a public transport, a road, a warehouse, or a less crowded area—not that it makes it any less horrific—but it was her workspace. We've been talking about giving women equal rights, equal pay in their workplace for quite some time. Now I feel we were asking for too much. Equal pay? They can't even give us security. We should be grateful to leave our workplace alive and not sexually assaulted... right? It would have sounded sarcastic before, but now, looking at the situation, I don't mean to be sarcastic; I'm serious. I don't want equal pay in my workspace now because India doesn't seem to live in the 21st century. I want the guarantee that I will be safe working there, from the time I step inside the doors until the time I step back outside. All I want is the safety of my person. And I need that to be included in the contract.

We thought we had opportunities, we thought we had equal rights, we thought we had the right to dream. Oh, we were so naive. That girl was a doctor; she had dreams, and she achieved those dreams, all for what? Now some misogynistic people will come here and say, "Yeah, she should not have been working; if she had assumed her natural role of being a housewife, this situation could have been avoided." Like the solution is for women to not go outside? Then I would just have to bring out the long list of rape and violence cases against women done at home—what is it called again, domestic violence? The fact of the matter is, women are not safe anywhere. And we all know this fact; some of us just don't want to accept it, but it's true. So the question is, what can we do about it? Should we let half of India's population continue to live in a state of dependency, a state of enslavement tied by customs to endure always... or do we start a fight for freedom from these chains that weigh us down?

Many of my friends, sisters, and acquaintances are afraid. By these events, they say, "When I see and hear about such incidents, I feel 'it could happen to me.' What would I do in such a situation? How long will I run? How long will I hide? I refuse to go out at night, I refuse to wear anything slightly revealing, I refuse it all, but I don't think I would be safe even after that." This fear is in the mind of every Indian woman right now. But we shouldn't be afraid to live in our own skin. I have another proposal: let's be angry, enraged, livid. Let our rage speak. Let's demolish this institution, let's demolish this policy. Women are not second-class citizens. We are not to be treated this way, always fearing for our safety. After all, "Freedom is never given; it's always taken."