We don’t want your token rose because what do you think this is, Valentine’s Day? It’s not Mother’s Day either, and you need to find a way to respect women who don’t require them to be desexualised into a familial role.
We don’t want your chocolate unless it’s as dark as the history of our oppression, as bitter as you think feminists are, and full of nuts — which is what we’ve been driven to by all these antics.
We don’t want your “saree day at the office” dress code because we are not employed for your viewing pleasure. And — on this day or another other — if you have a problem with our bra straps showing, or our bare arms, or the fact that we won’t wear a slip under a white tunic, we’re certainly not going to make the effort for you.
We don’t want your special discounts. Unless that discount happens to be 25%, which is where the gender pay gap in India stands as per the latest report by Monster India. And no, we don’t want to hear your smug justification about how you spend 25% more time at the workplace than we do. It’s not our fault if you can’t manage your schedule as efficiently. It’s not our fault that we leave on the dot because when we get home, we have even more to do, because no one considers housework is also work.
We don’t want your complimentary salon services unless you promise to ask each one of your patrons, “Who are you doing this for?” and have them at least ponder the answer before ripping hair out of their skins with hot wax. And we don’t want the allied weight loss programme, ever. Don’t
even offer.
We don’t want your free cocktails, because we never liked Ladies’ Night to begin with. Here’s an honest poster for you: “Stags! Here’s bar full of half-drunk women disappointed with watery shots, just waiting for you to hit on them!” Yeah, that. Just try lowering our inhibitions while we’re busy raising our standards.
We don’t want your contests that basically require competing with other women. Just No.
We don’t want your televised speeches and mandatory tweets about the girl child, not when your misogynistic actions and ideologies contradict them.
We don’t want to hear how strong you think (you have to say) we are, because this isn’t a weightlifting tournament.
International Women’s Day falls on March 8 every year, so this is either a day late, or 364 days early. It’s been observed — not celebrated, necessarily, but observed — since 1909, and was initially known as International Working Women’s Day owing to its political (specifically, Socialist) roots.
The day’s history is one of strikes and protests, and here are some in India this year: a silent protest by Garment Labour Union in Bangalore, a double-observance of Savitribhai Phule’s death anniversary called Chalo Nagpur, and... I can’t even find one more to finish my sentence nicely. I dearly hope there are more.
The pink-hued capitalism and condescension we see around us this week demeans the day’s true meaning. How shall we observe it next year?
(The Chennai-based author writes poetry, fiction and more)