March 8 is celebrated as International Women’s Day. It commemorates the cultural, socioeconomic and political achievements of the fairer gender. The day marks a call to a gender equal world which is free of bias, stereotypes and discrimination. Annually, this day is celebrated with a theme. “Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow”, and call for climate action for women, by women” is the theme this year.
Apparently, the context of the theme was about the need for the women to challenge odds and march ahead in every sphere of life. There is perhaps more needed to be done to let her flourish and prosper.
Women and girls experience the greatest impacts of the climate crisis as it amplifies existing gender inequalities and puts women’s lives and livelihoods at risk. Across the globe, women depend more on, yet have less access to, natural resources, and often bear a disproportionate responsibility for securing food, water, and fuel.
As women and girls bear the burden of climate impacts, they are also essential to leading and driving change in climate adaption, mitigation and solutions. Without the inclusion of half of the world’s population, it is unlikely that solutions for a sustainable planet and a gender equal world tomorrow will be realized.
There is also a pressing need to challenge the ills prevailing in the society which continue to threaten her because all sorts of tragedies befall daughters-in-law from kitchen fires, suicides and mysterious ailments. Marriage and money continue to be tied together. The fact that dowry has been illegal since 1961 means little. The vast majority of families, from the urban elite to other sections, still pay some form of dowry. The deaths remain an ominuous ignominy across India. Jammu and Kashmir is no exception. Various forms of crimes against women exist. Sometimes the murders are disguised as suicides or kitchen injuries from exploding stoves, even though husbands or in-laws drove the women to kill themselves.
According to the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data for IPC cases, a woman becomes a victim of dowry death roughly every one hour. Additionally, she becomes a victim of cruelty by her husband or in-laws every four minutes.
UNESCO’s message is important: International Women’s Day is an occasion to celebrate the progress made towards achieving gender equality and women’s empowerment but also to critically reflect on those accomplishments and strive for a greater momentum towards gender equality worldwide.
