We are still reaching there gradually but steadily. I am at the hypermarket one afternoon only to find it being ‘manned’ by an all women force. Must say, the store is managed smoothly and with ‘smiles’. It might be a less tedious job than the Tipu Express being run by an all women crew since last ten days. Right from the pilot of the loco to the ticket checker to the railway protection force, it’s the women taking control of the train with utmost dedication. Again this may sound a little trivial in comparison to the two truly gutsy women, the NASA astronauts, Jessica Meir and Christina koch taking part in an all women spacewalk from the international space station to fix a power controller.
We again stand close to celebrating International women’s day on March 8th, it is apparent that women are fearlessly and on their own accomplishing several missions. On this day, Indian women T-20 team plays the final match in the ICC Women’s T-20 world cup which sees four time champions Australia take on first time finalists India! (I will be honest to accept that such an important news I get from hubby whereas the newshunter in me totally miss it!) It seems there is an indomitable spirit to conquer the unexplored. There is no competition to show the other gender what a woman can do rather there is a fire to shed the inhibitions and reach the pinnacle with utmost dedication and unmatchable hardwork.
The year gone by saw some really important developments nationally and internationally which cemented our faith in the rising stature of women. Finland saw the formation of a government of five parties all led by women with a youngest ever Prime Minister Sanna Marin, at the age of 34 (even saw a meme on this in the WhatsApp University in not so good taste but then WhatsApp is WhatsApp). Esther Duflo became the second woman to win the Nobel prize in economics, although her Indian husband made much more relevance to us.
Back home, we had a pathbreaking announcement with the honorable Supreme Court directing the women in army to be inducted into combat roles. There was and still a debate whether women in combat roles can be accepted by the sub-ordinates. So it all came down to mindsets which might require a few generations to undergo a change but then till then can women stop? When we talk about mindsets its not the male mindsets we are talking about…women mindsets too need a transition. Nothing can stop the gush of energy, power and dynamism that the women are whether they are in some glorious role or the ever critical and important helming the family role. Who cares about mindset? Let it take its own course..