- Reams and reams are written on how gender bias so rampantly prevalent in Indian society is heavily tilted against women. Despite making rapid progress in terms of advancements, developments, innovativeness, and inventions over the last few decades, women continue to struggle to receive gender parity, equality, and level-playing field cannot be disputed either. Women are subject to prejudiced treatment even after proving themselves beyond doubt in many of the veritable fields is a poor reflection of how skewed our thinking is failing to even acknowledge at par contributions. Patriarchy and misogynistic viewpoints still garner substantial space in our daily narrative and do not bode healthy and welcome trends as we gallop ahead.
PC: Liz Nelson
- It is a well-known fact that girls outshine boys consistently in board exams of Grade X and XII over the last few years. It is also a well-established precedent that girls emerge triumphant as compared to boys in topping many of the competitive examinations as well as professional courses. Recent reports corroborate that women outnumber male counterparts in engineering admissions to undergraduate and postgraduate courses too. In a welcome turn of events, women are also not far behind in ruling the roost on the sporting arena as the ongoing Olympics in Tokyo, Japan firmly showcases how our sportswomen are emerging triumphant bravely battling out adversarial challenges. Socio-economic and debilitating existential challenges fighting all odds.
- The very first day of the Olympics brought cheer to the entire nation when a champion weightlifter Mirabai Saikhom Chanu lifted so spectacularly to own a silver medal in the 49kg category. Make no mistake, the hopes of the nation were triggered by this one lift soaring expectations of owning a handful of medals before the games conclude. Sportswomen did not disappoint either as shuttler and reigning world champion PV Sindhu won bronze, following her silver medal win in the previous edition of the Olympics. Unheralded boxer Lovlina Borgohain has already secured a boxing bronze, and hopefully may improve this color soon. Discus thrower Kamalpreet Kaur fell heartbreakingly short of India’s first athletics Olympic medal yesterday. Inspiring stories, indeed.
PC: Hita Prakash
- Irrespective of the subsequent outcome, the Indian Women Hockey Team has already made us proud by achieving a historic feat of qualifying for the Olympic semifinals by beating favorites Australia. The moot point to ponder over here is why our women athletes are giving more bang for the buck as compared to their more fancied male counterparts? Look no farther than Indian society making it so much harder for women to play a sport and fighting through this swamp alone makes them develop that extra steel and grit to conquer seemingly impossible challenges. For a long time, it was India saving the girl child. Now, the girls are saving India in the world’s biggest sporting arena. May the women’s power keep growing stronger by the day.