How many women in India do you think are aware of Woman’s day? I wonder if this celebration makes any difference to most strata of the society. The women in the lower middle class and the low class continue to toil for their living. Is woman's day ever going to make a difference to them or whether it ever has? These women are not appreciated by anyone. It could be their place of work or character of work, yet with a surrounding and a mindset that cannot appreciate women, Intl' Woman's Day is not going to make a difference.

To think of it, how many of us stop to wish our maid happy woman's day? Let alone wishing her; what do we do to celebrate her womanhood? How many of us treat our maids with respect? I don’t mean treating the maid as your equal, but at least as a fellow human being. We burden them with most of the house chores just because we pay them. How many of us are ready to work extra hours at work or accept an extra load of work for the same pay? Don’t we cringe? Isn’t the feeling the same with our maids? We don’t give them a break on Woman's Day nor do we do anything to make them feel special. We should be appreciating them for they take away a huge onus of housework from us. Are we really celebrating Woman’s Day in this case? If yes, who are we celebrating it for?

Alright, we have read innumerable blogs and articles about female infanticide, abuse, molestation etc. How many of us, as women, have tried making a difference to all those victims? What are we doing to change the society? Will just a single day in the year change all the atrocities women undergo and make these women special? If we cannot do something to change an ailing woman's life, what are we taking credit for? Celebrating Woman’s Day is not the solution to suffering women. A better society is what will help. Let’s work towards that.

A few women, successful in their careers were interviewed on Woman’s day. They were asked the purpose of celebrating Woman’s day. Nobody had a sensible answer to give. Somebody came up with a reason saying the world needed to celebrate the success of women in various spheres. Alright, the argument is, women need this kind of celebration at least once in a year because they are not recognized otherwise. Two things- first, does one day of recognition, celebration and appreciation make a difference? Don’t we expect more of it all the time? Second, for someone who cannot appreciate your worth the other 364 days, is he/she going to celebrate your success on this particular day alone?

Before you start to doubt, let me tell you- I am not against women. I don’t condemn them. I am a woman and I am very proud about being one. I am just trying to say, let us not reduce ourselves to ridicule. Just sit back and think – why are we celebrating woman’s day? What are we seeking through this? I have never heard of any country celebrating men’s day. And men do not argue about this. Why are women seeking this attention and recognition? It is because, women are on an identity crisis. We want to keep reinforcing men and women are equal and that we are capable of doing almost anything a man does. Sure we are just as capable as men are. But I think, the belief lies in your heart. It lies in your mind. Trust yourself and you’ll succeed. Let’s not reduce ourselves to just a day’s celebration. It is not going to make any difference. To all you women out there, please refrain from such foolish acts. Achievement, celebration etc ultimately is about how you feel about yourself. Happiness and contentment is within the self and a single day in the year cannot bring about these qualities.

Lastly, I don’t think the present day women need to celebrate woman’s day at all. New successes and achievements by women are recognized almost immediately in any sphere. We have seen Indra Nooyi and Kiran Bedi being felicitated, but it did not happen on March 8th. Women throw parties to celebrate their success and such celebrations don’t necessarily wait until the 8^th of March.

If you need to do good to someone, if you need to appreciate someone, if you need to recognize someone, if you need to make someone happy- do it right away. There is no wrong time to do the right thing. Let’s not restrict ourselves to just one day in a year to do a good deed.