Why Do I Focus So Much on Women’s Issues?

A few people have commented and I myself have wondered recently why I write so much about injustice done to women in India. I mean I’m a guy and there are plenty of other serious problems in our country. Poverty, hunger, and corruption are just three off the top of my head. So what is it about women’s issues that gets my goat up and why do I choose to focus on them more than others?

The first reason of course is that it goes against my basic sense of fairness. Poverty and hunger while big issues are not really anyone’s fault. They’re the result of macro environmental factors such as the economy, population, job availability, food prices, agricultural production and so forth. So not really fixable or immediately avoidable.

Human rights issues on the other hand are fully within our power to solve today. We can’t wish away poverty by a mere act of will no matter how hard the entire country focuses its efforts on doing so. But deciding that women have the right to live their lives as they please? Deciding to treat homosexuals equally? Not blaming the victim for the crimes perpetrated on her person? These are our problems, not the environment’s. Their resolution is solely up to us. There is literally nothing stopping us from fixing them.

Which is why it’s frustrating when we don’t do it. As if there are not enough truly intractable problems facing us, we have to go and compound them by manufacturing more out of our heads! So back to square A – why women?

I think it’s because they encapsulate much of what is wrong with our attitudes and behavior today. Believing in human rights and equality is a mindset and the way a person treats women is a symptom of that mindset. Women’s rights are a barometer and by focusing on them, I’m able to challenge and bring to the front many outdated and inhumane ways of thinking.

There are other disadvantaged groups of course like homsexuals and animals. But neither of them have come into the public spotlight enough to make others sit up and take notice for very long. The right of gay people to exist and have a decent life without harassment is a big one though and I’ve covered that quite a bit. But there are fewer stories, and fewer protests to keep drawing attention to it.

Another reason why I concern myself with women’s issues even though I’m a man is that bigotry doesn’t have just one enemy. When it targets a group of people, it’s only a matter of time before others are on the chopping block. Martin Niemöller wrote this famous poem describing the laid back attitude of German intellectuals during the rise of Hitler. It describes how everyone needs to stand up for injustice even though it’s not directly happening to them.

First they came for the communists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a communist.

Then they came for the socialists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a socialist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a trade unionist.

Then they came for me,
and there was no one left to speak for me.

We’re all in this together. Tomorrow when my neck is on the chopping block, there are people who will fight for my rights because they’re afraid that their turn will be next. But more than that, they’ll fight because they want to live in a fair and just world. And so will I.