Are women actually safe?

This is the one question that haunts every Indian woman irrespective of who she is and where she comes from. Yes. Whether she is rich, poor, famous, literate, illiterate or a 21st century modern, independent Indian woman. And rightly so, when the political, economic and social conditions don't seem to be favorable and conducive enough for the safety of our women. The rate at which the crimes against women are increasing is flabbergasting. It has sort of made India a home ground for crimes against women. This growth spurt in the number of crimes is something one must have never heard of or seen before. Be it rapes, female foeticide and infanticide, acid attacks, dowry deaths, domestic violence or the frequent cases of molestation and harassment against women - the male ego and power have betrayed the entire purpose of womanhood. So much so that women are grappling with their identity and sense of being.                                                                                                       Women are and have always been soft targets. But the real question here is: how long will this continue? It's time for men to no longer have a desire for ascendancy. They need to wake up to the truth and move on. Women are moving on. Upwards and onwards to a life of grit and determination; to not let the men and society downgrade them. And it's also time we acknowledge their presence and contribution in our lives in the right spirit. And the only way to bring about a change is by giving the same amount of rights to women as men. By making India safe for our women, we would not only be protecting them physically but also empowering and preparing them for a bigger battle. And the battle is to revolutionize our nation. After all, women constitute 50% of our voters.                                                                     Women have always, since time immemorial, formed an integral part of our family. It's a woman who binds the family together and makes a home out of a house. Above all, they are the ones who have brought us into this world and nurtured us ever since. This also implies to all those wrong-doers in our society who often forget that they have been bred around various women and even later they will assume the responsibility of their wives and daughters. The worst part is that some of them indulge in these heinous acts despite assuming responsibility of a family. They often forget that those women are also someone's wife, mother, daughter and sister. These men may harm them physically to prove their superiority. But the fact of the matter is they are loading a woman with fury and anger to vent back.                                                                                                                                      The angst and fury of this woman are just in no case only related to the harm they have done to her physical, emotional and mental state of being. It goes far beyond. Of bringing shame and sorrow in the lives of those related to her. Of rendering those dependent on her, helpless. Of the sorry state of her family. And this fury comes with much more force and gusto. It is just not like that, when we say - when you educate a man, you are educating just the man himself but when you educate a woman, knowingly or unknowingly, you are educating an entire family.