being female in india-a hate story

[Tigress DEM]

6. I hear your truth, but it conceals as many lies as it outs.

There is SO much farther to go before Indian women will have the equality and justice they deserve, but while what is said MUST be said, there is a kinder portion of India that is moving forward toward change, healing and hope.

I think this type of change happens on a continuum, where the worst offenses offend us all except those who would use any excuse for their behavior. To know that this still exists is a slap in the face of all progress made, but it does not erase tireless hours and years of advancement and changes in mindset that are happening however slowly.

On the next level of the continuum are those offenses you mention that demean rather than outright injure but are deeply rooted in society and take time and effort and constant vigilance as well as education to improve. As with our racial divide, there is MUCH progress and yet it is still a daily struggle.

On the higher level of the continuum are those who are evolving and leading the way. The young men who march with the feminist women because they value their mothers, sisters and friends.

In a country, there are so many different people and so many levels of advancement toward enlightenment or entanglement with changing social norms and fear of a future with strong women who can be valued as much as their male counterparts.

India is a country and in this time of growth and change, some reach toward the future and some step back into the past and cling to old ways out of fear of the unknown or nostalgia for how wonderful it used to be. There IS a place for the hard truth that much of the treatment of Indian women is hateful and many people are still consumed with that attitude. But there is also a place for the gentle truth that if the opposite of hate is love, then there is plenty of that to be found in India as well.

Here in America, women have risen up and taken our rights and gotten some better laws, but we still fight for equality. Many of our men fight as hard for us as we do and more importantly they have been educated about those kinds of issues you faced and how demeaning they are for a woman. Lots of progress has been made, but you can still find backwards thinkers and pockets of unabashed misogyny here too.

Our feminists were very virulent in the '60's and we were lucky enough that our creative industries began to see the profit in showing stronger women characters and portraying more positive roles for them. To calm those who fear what the future might bring, it's helpful to have people with vision that can show many positive outcomes as well as likely problems and solutions.

I hope this tragedy ignites a passion for change that seems to be needed and will turn a page in your history that puts so much of these difficulties further and further in the past.