Deabtes 2005
Wow... I'll never forget that day.... we had spent days... no weeks slogging over the pc... umindful of backaches and wierd blurrings in front of out eyes.... the topic given to us was "reservation policies give the fairer sex an unfair advantage". Something like 2 days before the actal debates we figured we were prepared only for one angles of the entire debates... Many times during that final week I had told myself that winning was not my objective but not making a cake of myself was... and eventually when I did get on that podium I remember bieng vaguely calm... but it did not last for long... by the end of my speech I thought I was going to collapse or something... nand oh yeah... I also thought I was going much too fast and much too low. oh well.. alls well that goes well... in the end we managed to get best team nd I won runner- up best speaker missing best speaker by one point... :) so yeah... if ure interested.. here's my speech...
According to the National Commission for Women every 26 minutes a woman is molested. Every 54 minutes a rape takes place. Every 48 minutes an eve-teasing incident occurs. Every 4 minutes a woman is kidnapped. One act of cruelty every 33 minutes and one criminal offence every 7 minutes against women take place in our country.
(Intro)
We come from the land of the Manushastra… where Manu has explicitly stated that a woman is expected to be “taken care of” first by her father, then her husband, and in the last stage of her life by her son.” In India… women have always been respected… as ideals of art and beauty, NOT as a part of the government.
In rural India, almost 60 per cent of girls are married before they are 18. Nearly 60 per cent of married girls bear children before they are 19. 245 million Indian women cannot read and write making it the largest population of illiterate women. In spite of all this women are trying to come up in all fields but they are being put down at all levels. Indian women can dominate in almost all fields of economic activity, having acquired the essential instrument for empowerment – education and skill training. These women just need a chance to get back on their feet. Reservation policies for employment and education will help them in just that.
In our day to day lives, every day, in every situation - in public transport, markets, restaurants, women face various degrees of harassment - from whistles, catcalls, cheap songs and rude remarks, to touching, pinching, flashing. When these go unchecked and unpunished, the result is often molestation, rape and violence. In a country where women have to carry safety pins and wooden rulers as defense objects, and fear retaliation from their abusers, reservation policies form a much better choice.
In politics, can any of us ever believe that no woman has political aspirations or can any of us every say that no woman has ever dreamed of making a difference? Then why is it that women who form half of the Indian population and one-third the labor force are represented in the parliament only by 11.6%...? The common argument is that people believe that women lack the sharpness and charisma to carry a public post. We have already seen the success of the women panchayat leaders who have benefited from the reservation bill reserving 1/3 of the seats for them. A new army of a million empowered women have come forward and have taken bolder steps against corruption and have passed policies to reduce liquor consumption in their villages. These reservations in governance are not incentives for the women to enter politics. Rather it is to force men to give way for them to enter.
The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes
ask no favors for my sex.... All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks.
According to the National Commission for Women every 26 minutes a woman is molested. Every 54 minutes a rape takes place. Every 48 minutes an eve-teasing incident occurs. Every 4 minutes a woman is kidnapped. One act of cruelty every 33 minutes and one criminal offence every 7 minutes against women take place in our country.
(Intro)
We come from the land of the Manushastra… where Manu has explicitly stated that a woman is expected to be “taken care of” first by her father, then her husband, and in the last stage of her life by her son.” In India… women have always been respected… as ideals of art and beauty, NOT as a part of the government.
In rural India, almost 60 per cent of girls are married before they are 18. Nearly 60 per cent of married girls bear children before they are 19. 245 million Indian women cannot read and write making it the largest population of illiterate women. In spite of all this women are trying to come up in all fields but they are being put down at all levels. Indian women can dominate in almost all fields of economic activity, having acquired the essential instrument for empowerment – education and skill training. These women just need a chance to get back on their feet. Reservation policies for employment and education will help them in just that.
In our day to day lives, every day, in every situation - in public transport, markets, restaurants, women face various degrees of harassment - from whistles, catcalls, cheap songs and rude remarks, to touching, pinching, flashing. When these go unchecked and unpunished, the result is often molestation, rape and violence. In a country where women have to carry safety pins and wooden rulers as defense objects, and fear retaliation from their abusers, reservation policies form a much better choice.
In politics, can any of us ever believe that no woman has political aspirations or can any of us every say that no woman has ever dreamed of making a difference? Then why is it that women who form half of the Indian population and one-third the labor force are represented in the parliament only by 11.6%...? The common argument is that people believe that women lack the sharpness and charisma to carry a public post. We have already seen the success of the women panchayat leaders who have benefited from the reservation bill reserving 1/3 of the seats for them. A new army of a million empowered women have come forward and have taken bolder steps against corruption and have passed policies to reduce liquor consumption in their villages. These reservations in governance are not incentives for the women to enter politics. Rather it is to force men to give way for them to enter.
The test for whether or not you can hold a job should not be the arrangement of your chromosomes
ask no favors for my sex.... All I ask of our brethren is that they will take their feet from off our necks.
posted by Chittz at
12:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home