Eighty years of Independence, yet women are chained and smirked
In Short
We remember the great sacrifices of martyrs who laid down their lives during the freedom struggle for our bright tomorrow.
Share :
Eighty years of Independence, yet women are chained and smirked
With the dawn of August, it seems like the air itself has turned ecstatic and jubilant. Commemorating the 80th Independence Day, one is witnessing waves of national pride sweeping all over the country, including children waving the national flag with vigorous enthusiasm. Forgotten patriotic songs reverberate across localities in every city, district and village. We remember the great sacrifices of martyrs who laid down their lives during the freedom struggle for our bright tomorrow.
We proudly speak of the progress and development achieved in these 80 years. A lot should have changed in these eight decades. Long enough for a nation to transform itself. Yet what has not changed even is the treatment of women, who constitute 50 per cent of our population. Even in free India, they are abused, insulted, and manhandled in private and in public. They are still treated as second-class citizens. Political independence freed a nation from colonial rule, but it did not automatically dismantle deep-seated social mindsets. Abuse against women continues because traditional power structures, discriminatory customs and economic inequalities take longer to change than do laws on paper.
We forgot that the country’s progress will remain incomplete without the strength and support of its women, who are still chained by male chauvinism and by the shameless smirks of the society.
Too often in the society that we are living in, women are taken for granted. In public they comment on her clothes, physique and age and if she protests, the rebuke will be “behenji itna serious mat lo”. When an audience shouts something vulgar at a woman, the politician just stands there as a mute spectator. In that silence is their answer-It’s okay. We won’t lose votes by defending her.
When the leader smirks after a woman is ‘abused’, the message to the whole crowd is, ‘do it again, it involves no cost.’
At home, it is a mere ‘adjust kar lo’. Even in 2026, that line remains actively in use. The worst part is that even women sometimes stay quiet because of the fear of “what will people say”.
Abuse won’t stop till there is a cost. Social cost, political cost, legal cost. Right now, the cost is only paid by women. We can’t change every politician’s smirk. But we can refuse to laugh with them. And we can raise boys who do say “stop”.
More qualified, more efficient, more talented but that smirk is all over.
As for her, she is supposed to “ghar sambhalo pehle”. It breaks one, doesn’t it? Because you know your worth. The world knows it too. But they still look down. It is not about reforms or reservations but the biased mindset. Family atmosphere needs overhauling. Families often raise boys and girls driven by the thought that men hold more power and deserve control. Many people treat verbal, emotional or physical ill-treatment as a normal part of family life rather than a crime.
Reservation can get a seat. Reform can make a law. But no law can stop a man from smirking when a woman is abused in public. No quota can stop a father from saying, “beta shaadi ke baad job dekhna”. No bills can stop uncles at a function asking, “kab tak padhegi, umar nikal jayegi”. The victim- the woman fears the social stigma of separation. They often stay in abusive situations because they lack strong protective shelters or family backing.
The change must start where we all start, at home. Boys watch their fathers-If dad interrupts mom, son learns to interrupt women. If dad says ‘stop’ when someone abuses a woman, son learns that too. When mothers teach sons ‘beta her degree is bigger than yours, please clap for her, not ‘adjust karlo’. Shame the smirk. Right now, people laugh with the politician. What if the audience goes silent? What if the audience simply walked out? Learn to call talent by name not gender. “She is a good doctor” not “a good lady doctor”.
The position of women has not changed in 5000 years. Draupadi’s dignity was reduced to a spectacle; the powerful were silent; Dharma’, was debated, but no one stood up. Dignity even today is made a spectacle. Women are blamed. Power is used to humiliate and assassinate her character in the form of videos and trolling.
Are we still waiting for Krishna to appear, while we ourselves become the silent sabha. Weapons have changed and so have the stage and the language. But the insult is the same; it eventually sends across a message, “You don’t matter”.
