Women Empowerment – Why the right has to be given… it’s their right to own.

"Like life, peace begins with women. We are the first to forge lines of alliance and collaboration across conflict divides." Zainab Salbi (founder of Women for Women International)

When I read these lines, I paused my thoughts and went back in time, clearly seeing the 3 images in my mind. These women I had the pleasure and honor of interacting and spending time with, learning their wisdom and prudence. One led a family of 40+ in her in-laws, while the other was the mother of 4 from her husbands’ previous wife and the 3rd was the one, I called “Walida”. 

Baji means elder sister in Urdu/Hindi, this is how she was mostly addressed by many in the family. Baji was the wife of 4th son of the house with one younger brother in law & Six sisters in law. Her responsibilities were never defined or even assigned by anyone; they were understood by default. The character was so strong that everyone looked up to her, approached her, and brought all the unresolved matters to her round the clock. Baji was the only one in the family that could create an atmosphere of understanding and compromise between the north & south of the family. I have witnessed in my olden days, her playing an anchor role in very bitter family disputes and putting her repute in the firing range.

Khala is the aunt (mother’s sister), that’s how was she addressed by the children of the previous wife of her husband. It is customary in the parts of India & Pakistan that the second wife is obligated to care for any children of her husband. In some cases, it could be one or two, but in Khala’s case they were 4 and the youngest was only a couple of years old. The real test begins when you have your children and need to maintain balance & love among all the children alike. Khala managed her duties and role to the best of her ability and made some rules of her own.

Walida respectably is the mother, and we were six of her own. Her only purpose in life was to ensure that we were provisioned with good education and instilled in the best of manners. She dedicated her life to the pursuit of this goal her entire life. Her main hurdle was the stereotypical mindset of our societies that good education gets you good jobs and good earning, which was not her concern. She always made us understand that education is for you to understand between right & wrong and your values will live beyond you with people and in memories of whom you interact with.

It is very easy for us to get inspired by the celebrities and superstars and the fame of wealth and so on…. But I believe that we all have examples around us that reflect the successes in society and they are authentic and powerful enough for us to connect with. My respect for women across the globe is with my life experiences and learnings from these three best women in my life. I learned how to be cooperative and manage an environment with forty plus people diplomatically and honestly. I learned how a woman can sacrifice her wish to bear children so that she can be just and fair with someone else’s children and nurtured them till they all were settled & married. And finally how it is so important for a woman to instill values & ethics in her children for a better future and a decent society.

If these are not examples of women empowerment, I am not sure which part of the world you would find women with wisdom, sincerity, and futuristic approach. We have hundreds and millions of such women around us that inspire us in their way, may it be domestic, workplaces, institutions, or corporate… the list is endless. We do not have any right to claim that Empowerment should be given to them… It’s their right by default and has been designed for such powerful roles in societies.

The social set up around us has become so naive to recognize the great women the history produced like Marie Curie, Florence Nightingale, Princess Diana, Mother Teresa, Martina Bergman-?sterberg, and many more. If we have policies & initiatives like UAE to have an equal pay law shall set some standards in the times to come to combat & conquer the fear. Unless & until we have changed our inner self and not a superficial surface coating of Fairness and equality slogan.

I will conclude by simply mentioning the following, Women are empowered within and do not require permission or guidance from anyone.

“An educated woman is a liberated nation” – Millicent Mashele

Atique Muhammad