Sania Mirza Posted online: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 1025 hours IST Updated: Wednesday, November 16, 2005 at 1046 hours IST 1 2Next »
It’s startling but true that, despite being born in an era quite different from my ancestors, the average person’s thoughts about women—particularly the girl child—haven’t changed.
Girls are in no way inferior to boys and, given encouragement and support, could excel and do India proud in all walks of life. Believe this, if I found success it was only due to my parent’s support and nothing else. Hard work to me was elementary. I had to defy all odds to first convince those around me that a woman was capable of bringing name and fame to the country. I guess all this needs to change if India wants to see many more Sanias, not just in tennis but in other fields as well. What I feel needs to change most is one’s mindset, particularly towards women.
It’s strange that a girl child is considered a curse by many in our society, in both villages and cities. This came as a rude shock to me two years ago when I was appointed the brand ambassador of the Girl Child by the Central government.
How can people be so cruel? It’s difficult to digest that a child’s future is just in males. Without women, the world would cease to exist! My heart bleeds when I read that there are some areas in our country where almost 70 out of 1,000 girls fail to see the light of day. Worse still are people in our society, who sympathise and actually support this female-male ratio imbalance.
The figures for female foeticide and infanticide are chilling and the fact that we have not been able to check this is alarming. An end to this barbaric act or stringent measures to check female foeticide to me would be India Empowered.
While female foeticide remains a burning issue, I would also like to highlight that women are no longer cut out for just household chores. Every child I feel should be given adequate and equal opportunity to education.
Education is the first step to building confidence, to tap potential, to be independent, and to speak one’s own mind. It’s only when we recognize this and act on it that a change will be seen. Once again it is disheartening to learn that when a girl is born its future is pre-determined mainly due to the warped thoughts of parents, relatives and traditionalists who themselves have had limited education.
While female foeticide remains a burning issue, I would also like to highlight that women are no longer cut out for just household chores. Every child I feel should be given adequate and equal opportunity to education.
