Proud to be an Indian Woman

I have only one request.
I do not ask for money
Although I have need of it,
I do not ask for meat . . .
I have only one request,
And all I ask is
That you remove
The road block
From my path.

– Lines from ‘Song of an African Women’

The lines from this song are in a way speak not just for Africa or India, but rather the whole world. It also bring forth the paradox involved in the status of women in the modern world. If on one hand she is at the peak of ladder of success, on the other hand she is mutely suffering the violence afflicted on her by her own family members.

As compared with past women in modern times have achieved a lot but in reality they have to still travel a long way. Their path is full of roadblocks. The women have left the secured domain of their home and are now in the battlefield of life, fully armored with their talent. They had proven themselves. But in India they are yet to get their dues. The sex ratio of India shows that the Indian society is still prejudiced against female. There are 933 females per thousand males in India according to the census of 2001, which is much below the world average of 990 females. There are many problems which women in India have to go through daily. These problems have become the part and parcel of life of Indian women and some of them have accepted them as their fate. 

Just as a means for us all to remember here I put forth the First Women of India:

·        First woman President of Indian National Congress — Annie Besant

·        First Indian woman President of Indian National Congress — Sarojini Naidu

·        First woman Ambassador from India — Vijay Lakshmi Pandit

·        First woman Governor of an Indian State — Sarojini Naidu

·        First woman Minister of an Indian State — Vijay Lakshmi Pandit

·        First Mayor of Delhi — Aruna Asaf Ali

·        First woman Central Minister — Rajkumari Amrit Kaur

·        First woman Film star to be a member of Rajya Sabha — Nargis Dutt

·        First woman Chief Minister of an Indian State — Sucheta Kriplani

·        First woman Prime Minister of India — Indira Gandhi

·        First woman Speaker of an Indian State — Shano Devi

·        First woman winner of the Bharat Ratna — Indira Ghandhi

·        First woman Judge of the Supreme Court — Justice M Fatima Bevi

·        First woman Chief Justice of a High Court — Justice Leila Seth

·        India’s officially recognized billionth citizen — Aastha

Indian women have mastered anything and everything which a woman can dream of. But she still has to go a long way to achieve equal status in the minds of Indian men.