No matter how rhapsodized is the “Equality of Women” or “Women Empowerment” in the articles written by wisest of men/women and policies made by wisest of politicians (However, ‘Politician’ is, I believe, only word in English which can not be qualified by “Wise”) the state of reasonable equality is still far, far away and an absolute equality is out of sight.
“Creating equal opportunities for women “will not happen in a fillip. Policy makers would have to sit with an open mind and think about it with equanimity. There are multiple instances such as the case of Lilly Ledbetter, an Alabama woman who lost a wage discrimination suit at the Supreme Court last year to the New Dell website for Women, Della, where it’s been visible that even though things have changed a lot still there are persisting issues with equality, issues with the “Concept of a Women”, surprisingly they are still perceived to be only Pink.
With time involvement of women in many social aspects other than cooking and home making has increased as a matter of fact US women donated more than $109 million to the presidential candidates this year which is 3 times the money that they contributed a couple of years ago. Now women are, at many places, in controlling positions, and with the rise of 21st century women, they have become an integral part of almost every activity, they are scientists, journalists, Presidents, CEOs and much more. Considering the analysis of US polls women were the ones who actually decided fate of the history changing presidential elections.
With all this don’t you think it is reasonable to demand for “Equality” a true one. I think that time has come when women can be seen in colors other than Pink as well.
Now coming to the latest sensation over Dell’s new website for Women “Della” which came across as condescending. I am not sure what DELL executives thought before launching this website when they should have targeted the smartest of tech-savvy women by telling them the good technical stuff about there products they chose to put a pink cover on the website and non tech technical tips for them. Quoting from an article from Forbes magazine:
“The question of "female-friendly" products and marketing is a complicated one. Perhaps where Dell went awry was in marketing down to women rather than passing along smart information that smart women really need--and want.”
Something did go wrong in understanding women. Isn’t it?
Now in these bad times when DELL is on the path of declaring a huge loss I do not think it is a great time to annoy there biggest consumers ( as a matter of fact women make 83% of all the consumer purchases ).
If it happened only to the DELL executives that they perceived women like that it is fine and definitely they have taken steps to make there situation better for themselves by making the website a little more informative (information about topics other than Yoga , cooking, calorie cutting and Home making) but I am afraid most of us take women as “PINK” always.
Policy makers may get the feeling of satiety by advocating equality in a press conference or in a public rally but basic social needs of a woman can not be fulfilled by words merely or girlish advertisements or products specially marketed for women. They need a voice, a real one, a representation, a sense of equality in all that we do; above all they need a new image “an equal perception of women”.
4 comments:
i think those who want to empower women are confused whether to empower them or treat them equally..coz if they do former that means they are not equal and vice versa...the fact that they are not equally treated is a bitter pill to digest and no one wants to accept it...
i think those who want to help women are confused that whether they want to empower them or treat them equally...coz if they do the former than it implies that women are not treated equally which is a bitter pill to digest and no one wants to accept it publicly...
@Prateek
Yes Prateek !! I think people are confused so are our policy makers at one hand they will say that they should be treated equally and on the other they would talk about special privileges. I know with humility that they should be respected but that respect should come with a sense of equality. As per a new theory there should not be any discrimination on the basis of Gender say it for privileges or for rights.
Let the culture take a new shape where there would be equality with respect (for an individual not because the individual is a SHE ) that we give to equals.
I wouldn't agree entirely on the Dell aspect of your post. It was more of a an execution mistake than blatant disrespect to women. If you look at the women consumer market there are probably 2 different segments those who use laptops for professional purposes (and were loyal customers of Dell) and those who probably don't have an inclination to use a laptop. Dell was probably trying to appeal to the 2nd segment, giving them an incentive to buy a laptop, but through poor execution, it ended up becoming a generalization of all women, and hence flopped, because it offended the women in segment 1. And to put the blame for inequality of women firmly on the shoulders of policy makers is unfair. I think that society at large which includes women also, should take blame. Today we live in a country where society still expects women to behave as subservient citizens, for example in my college a girl gave up a package of 18 lakhs because she wanted placement in the same city as her husband. Why? because society expected it of her. And for new culture to take shape its only us and our stubborn pre-historic values which neede to be revisited.
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