Real respect for women - an enigma?

This year on International Women’s Day I don't want to wish Happy Women’s Day to any woman. In a country where we continue to seek justice for the crimes committed against women, it would be hypocritical to say "Happy Women's Day" to any woman! 

Most organizations and academic institutions celebrate this day on a grand scale. In my opinion, in a country like ours, instead of investing time, money, and effort in arranging the International Women’s Day celebrations, the real need is to invest time and patience to sensitize people (both men and women) at home, academic institutions and workplaces on how to respect women. 

Image courtesy: Google Images

Respect is not only about how not to make women feel uncomfortable in public places, not only about good and bad physical touch, not only about how to talk and behave with women, but even a whole gamut of things that we often don't talk about. If I look at my corporate experience of close to two decades, I have witnessed several instances where male employees have tried to ignore the points mentioned by their female counterparts in group meetings. I’ve seen many incidents where men didn't allow women to complete their point and sidelined them. It is unfortunate but true that even today, a lot of men (and even women in some cases) don't feel comfortable seeing women in senior roles, and in fact, they try not to take them seriously. In such cases, unless the leadership teams in those organizations or institutions are strong enough to back the women seniors, the concerned women will continue to be treated as second class citizens. 

So, for me, real respect for women can be achieved only when all concerned people (from parents to teachers to workplace bosses) are aware of it in its truest sense and ensure others follow it too. That is when wishing "Happy Women's Day" to a woman will be justified.