I hope to answer for you a question you should
be asking? not WHO should I vote for but WHAT should I vote for? Any
choice that implies we have to do something..take an action is always
tricky....whether it is the school we choose for our kids, the
profession we stick to....the men we marry...the dinner we cook...big or
small our actions are not as simple else social psychology and
marketing people would not be in such demand
as they are....
Actions are based on who we are....simple yes? no because who we are; our sense of Identity or self is not made in a day. It takes a long while of being, thinking, getting and a lot of not getting what we want and thinking about they whys and why nots of that....eventually makes us who we are.
In collectivist cultures...a fancy name for places like India, where our family, our community, our various affiliations mean a lot to us...you know our region, religion, caste, class, ...they imply to us who we are, what are values "should be". who we are is also very much influenced by who others are. especially for women; their roles as wives and mothers take priority till date...
Thankfully The Supreme Court of India made sure that the daughter role take priority too...not being the honor of the family...but being the provider if the parents can not support themselves Section 125 (1) (d) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, ..these updates I think that should be the start of us knowing who we are as women from India in 2014. the other end of this confusing spectrum is also the recent conviction of upper middle class dentist couple killing their daughter Arushi, in her own home. The spectrum or the really strange possibilities of what can happen with wrong and right values must be uppermost in our minds as we decide on who to vote for...
Unfortunately, we know that voting is not where it should end but it does for most us...away from governance, another fancy word that covers the gamut of preventing rapes, not letting gas cylinders be 6 in a year, keeping all children safe not just your own, opportunity being equitable...meaning that we DON'T ACCEPT "Raja" complex...that we grew up with. We were so familiar with our tales of rajas and ranis that we got used to being treated unfairly not just as girls (as people outside India believes so simply) but also bc of our class, caste, connections, religion and what not...the only limit on opportunity some will say is ability or kabiliyat...but even that is stared way way before we are born.... if someone gives our mother lots of nutritious food, safe home, happy life...and her health and age is appropriate for giving birth...if the dad is not smoking, drinking and not carrying diseases...if when we arrive as babies, we have a home and parents who can take care of us...if they get along ...and have a social and family support and money to give teachers and schools and blah blah....and anyone who makes us believe that opportunity starts with high school scores or bc. some economist out there has found a "development cure" is misleading us. How come that economist did not figure out how to get millions in the developed world itself out of poverty? ..I think coining fancy words and isms ....does not help because we are all different, think and act differently///one cure for all diseases? maybe that's why no cure for cold? the most common disease ....
I don't want to disrespect a worthy discipline...believe it or not the same economists saved us....because we became a market worthy of our middle and populous classes. A market can be full of contradictions...its streets can be more and more unsafe for working women, or women hanging out late at night, but at the same time an adult movie star like Sunny Leoni can be a growing artifact of our mainstream value systems? women in our villages are being kidnapped and trafficked and managing the farms as their husbands migrate but the same women can get their uterus hired as surrogates by people all the way in USA and Denmark so they can make enough to feed their own children and families. but are we a market - are we commodities? are we things people can buy? Who will determine our role and identity? do we want to transition from Devi to Development vehicles, to cover pages of Debonair?
No one needs a Raja and Rani anymore ..and we don't need hi-funda managers designing our markets...we need people who take us seriously, our opinions seriously, and our choice not just before voting but after it!
we should vote for whoever will allow our voice and our participation. Some of us are not yet mothers or wives and might choose not to be...some of us are grandmothers ....so long as we know the role and know who we are in a role is a piece of who we are...no ideology? economics? politics? sociology should be allowed to write our stories....only we should! We have been offered before as objects for a greater cause ....women know more about which causes are important..because they are invested in survival...we should vote for how we will be influencing outcomes ..meaning making things happen...not being a tool in someone else's assessment.
Women in India need a set of criteria beyond Divinity and Dynasty...one that maintains the Dignity of human beings...! and we should vote for where ALL human beings have a right to their dignity...in their homes and on the streets. just being middle class is not enough/ being urban is not enough/ being a market is not enough/ ...we need a home that does not crash with every dollar value and one that does not crush other homes or people ... Dignity must be of choice..to survive, to succeed, to stand for the meaning of whatever it is we want from India/ Bharat without fear....holding power accountable not the other way around.
Actions are based on who we are....simple yes? no because who we are; our sense of Identity or self is not made in a day. It takes a long while of being, thinking, getting and a lot of not getting what we want and thinking about they whys and why nots of that....eventually makes us who we are.
In collectivist cultures...a fancy name for places like India, where our family, our community, our various affiliations mean a lot to us...you know our region, religion, caste, class, ...they imply to us who we are, what are values "should be". who we are is also very much influenced by who others are. especially for women; their roles as wives and mothers take priority till date...
Thankfully The Supreme Court of India made sure that the daughter role take priority too...not being the honor of the family...but being the provider if the parents can not support themselves Section 125 (1) (d) of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973, ..these updates I think that should be the start of us knowing who we are as women from India in 2014. the other end of this confusing spectrum is also the recent conviction of upper middle class dentist couple killing their daughter Arushi, in her own home. The spectrum or the really strange possibilities of what can happen with wrong and right values must be uppermost in our minds as we decide on who to vote for...
Unfortunately, we know that voting is not where it should end but it does for most us...away from governance, another fancy word that covers the gamut of preventing rapes, not letting gas cylinders be 6 in a year, keeping all children safe not just your own, opportunity being equitable...meaning that we DON'T ACCEPT "Raja" complex...that we grew up with. We were so familiar with our tales of rajas and ranis that we got used to being treated unfairly not just as girls (as people outside India believes so simply) but also bc of our class, caste, connections, religion and what not...the only limit on opportunity some will say is ability or kabiliyat...but even that is stared way way before we are born.... if someone gives our mother lots of nutritious food, safe home, happy life...and her health and age is appropriate for giving birth...if the dad is not smoking, drinking and not carrying diseases...if when we arrive as babies, we have a home and parents who can take care of us...if they get along ...and have a social and family support and money to give teachers and schools and blah blah....and anyone who makes us believe that opportunity starts with high school scores or bc. some economist out there has found a "development cure" is misleading us. How come that economist did not figure out how to get millions in the developed world itself out of poverty? ..I think coining fancy words and isms ....does not help because we are all different, think and act differently///one cure for all diseases? maybe that's why no cure for cold? the most common disease ....
I don't want to disrespect a worthy discipline...believe it or not the same economists saved us....because we became a market worthy of our middle and populous classes. A market can be full of contradictions...its streets can be more and more unsafe for working women, or women hanging out late at night, but at the same time an adult movie star like Sunny Leoni can be a growing artifact of our mainstream value systems? women in our villages are being kidnapped and trafficked and managing the farms as their husbands migrate but the same women can get their uterus hired as surrogates by people all the way in USA and Denmark so they can make enough to feed their own children and families. but are we a market - are we commodities? are we things people can buy? Who will determine our role and identity? do we want to transition from Devi to Development vehicles, to cover pages of Debonair?
No one needs a Raja and Rani anymore ..and we don't need hi-funda managers designing our markets...we need people who take us seriously, our opinions seriously, and our choice not just before voting but after it!
we should vote for whoever will allow our voice and our participation. Some of us are not yet mothers or wives and might choose not to be...some of us are grandmothers ....so long as we know the role and know who we are in a role is a piece of who we are...no ideology? economics? politics? sociology should be allowed to write our stories....only we should! We have been offered before as objects for a greater cause ....women know more about which causes are important..because they are invested in survival...we should vote for how we will be influencing outcomes ..meaning making things happen...not being a tool in someone else's assessment.
Women in India need a set of criteria beyond Divinity and Dynasty...one that maintains the Dignity of human beings...! and we should vote for where ALL human beings have a right to their dignity...in their homes and on the streets. just being middle class is not enough/ being urban is not enough/ being a market is not enough/ ...we need a home that does not crash with every dollar value and one that does not crush other homes or people ... Dignity must be of choice..to survive, to succeed, to stand for the meaning of whatever it is we want from India/ Bharat without fear....holding power accountable not the other way around.
