SPARE TIME FOR WOMEN
Posted On Friday, March 09, 2007 at at 03:23 by rk rishikesh sinha
Being a woman is a terribly difficult task, since it consists of principally in dealing with men. – Joseph Conrad
The International Women’s Day on March 8 passed as usual, without much hype and hoopla, and fanfare as we all witness in and around us on ‘V’ (Valentines) Day. For million of women, urban or rural, besides being the basis of a family, strength of the community and the essence of the future, must have been grappling for a secured sphere in the men’s world of hegemonic tendencies and machismo.
What we all have seen on this very day – a full page advertisement with close – up photographs of political leaders coming in the last page basking schemes, laws and legislation for the protection of women and major policy initiatives undertaken by the government.
Can’t the concerned ministry could carry out a front full page advertisement as we all see in the consecutive days in our so called national dailies. The truth is: government could do, perhaps much better execute, but sorry it is again the XY chromosomes factor dominating the XX chromosomes.
If there have been a genuine concern, the X, Y, Z ministries, companies, forum or organization could have for a sake run a hour- long programme in television and on print. But we all end up seeing full page advertisement of companies in print and in the television.
The open secret is that like V Day craze with potential market orientation, the women’s day doesn’t come even near to it. A particular day’s success and failure is coherently directly related to market. And the thumb rule is that forces of market always rule, so are the media. Something that we all must accept or acquiesce. As we all know, governments are synonymous to problem; if there is no problem, there would be no government, they are intertwined and interchangeable.
Coming to media which is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy, as far as my experience goes is not much better place for them. In television, where the pace of work is staggeringly fast, it is a common feature people falling over their colleagues. But the question is ‘how’ people fall over other, say to a lady colleague.
The whole nation awakes and sleep with the chubby angel faced news anchor. But how many of us know while being smilingly delivering the news, the mental agony the news anchor is undergoing. She is being rebuked, insulted by her immediate senior, and it goes uninterruptedly when we all are glued to the live news. That’s the beauty and strength of women, despite juggling between the two worlds – visible and invisible as in tv, she excels.
Here is an incident which really jerked and jolted me, and I still feel pity of myself. It was my first stint in my professional career in tv. I was struggling hard coming in terms with the tv scriptwriting and with the related peripherals involved. With the responsibility of putting live news on air, virtually on a single day I was made a man from a novice, greenhorn student, who has just taken birth from the mass communication classes of the university.
Hardly one month had elapsed from the day of my joining, what I saw, I still fail to forget. The senior video editor was callously rebuking, threatening and insulting the lady librarian, who was in responsibility of the thousand of cassettes, in front of all junior and senior people, as he has found out a soft target to show his male machismo of power and ‘tv’ ego. For a moment, I thought, someone will come forward. But no body stepped in. From haywire a thought crossed my mind that was surely in the capacity of myself being a man, I can request him to lower down his loud and shriek voice. But, the very thought remained a mere thought, devoid of action. The very next day, she left the job and nobody cared to inquire about her. She lost in the pace of work schedule.
Just ponder on this real story. How many of such similar incidents takes place in our working environment, they are hardly reported. Just think for an moment the mental agony she would have suffered. Think, but also act.
The International Women’s Day on March 8 passed as usual, without much hype and hoopla, and fanfare as we all witness in and around us on ‘V’ (Valentines) Day. For million of women, urban or rural, besides being the basis of a family, strength of the community and the essence of the future, must have been grappling for a secured sphere in the men’s world of hegemonic tendencies and machismo.
What we all have seen on this very day – a full page advertisement with close – up photographs of political leaders coming in the last page basking schemes, laws and legislation for the protection of women and major policy initiatives undertaken by the government.
Can’t the concerned ministry could carry out a front full page advertisement as we all see in the consecutive days in our so called national dailies. The truth is: government could do, perhaps much better execute, but sorry it is again the XY chromosomes factor dominating the XX chromosomes.
If there have been a genuine concern, the X, Y, Z ministries, companies, forum or organization could have for a sake run a hour- long programme in television and on print. But we all end up seeing full page advertisement of companies in print and in the television.
The open secret is that like V Day craze with potential market orientation, the women’s day doesn’t come even near to it. A particular day’s success and failure is coherently directly related to market. And the thumb rule is that forces of market always rule, so are the media. Something that we all must accept or acquiesce. As we all know, governments are synonymous to problem; if there is no problem, there would be no government, they are intertwined and interchangeable.
Coming to media which is considered as the fourth pillar of democracy, as far as my experience goes is not much better place for them. In television, where the pace of work is staggeringly fast, it is a common feature people falling over their colleagues. But the question is ‘how’ people fall over other, say to a lady colleague.
The whole nation awakes and sleep with the chubby angel faced news anchor. But how many of us know while being smilingly delivering the news, the mental agony the news anchor is undergoing. She is being rebuked, insulted by her immediate senior, and it goes uninterruptedly when we all are glued to the live news. That’s the beauty and strength of women, despite juggling between the two worlds – visible and invisible as in tv, she excels.
Here is an incident which really jerked and jolted me, and I still feel pity of myself. It was my first stint in my professional career in tv. I was struggling hard coming in terms with the tv scriptwriting and with the related peripherals involved. With the responsibility of putting live news on air, virtually on a single day I was made a man from a novice, greenhorn student, who has just taken birth from the mass communication classes of the university.
Hardly one month had elapsed from the day of my joining, what I saw, I still fail to forget. The senior video editor was callously rebuking, threatening and insulting the lady librarian, who was in responsibility of the thousand of cassettes, in front of all junior and senior people, as he has found out a soft target to show his male machismo of power and ‘tv’ ego. For a moment, I thought, someone will come forward. But no body stepped in. From haywire a thought crossed my mind that was surely in the capacity of myself being a man, I can request him to lower down his loud and shriek voice. But, the very thought remained a mere thought, devoid of action. The very next day, she left the job and nobody cared to inquire about her. She lost in the pace of work schedule.
Just ponder on this real story. How many of such similar incidents takes place in our working environment, they are hardly reported. Just think for an moment the mental agony she would have suffered. Think, but also act.