We all are the member of the democracy where few are concerned about who is perched at the seat of the highest importance to the nation. Let’s move on to an issue close to our lives, that makes a sight every day we travel to school, college, work, or anywhere on earth, in a public transport.
Today morning while travelling in the bus I was one among the three passengers who were standing in the whole bus, and men were seated in ladies’ seat, usually objecting to this is not my kind unless it comes to the issue of old age or mother with the infant, it’s hard. The conductor asked a man who was sitting in the ladies seat to get up and he was just not ready to leave excusing that he will step down at next stop. Then conductor shouted at him resulted in making him give up the seat.
The question is why we (women) have special seats, in a country where all those gender equalities protests happening. Let me tell you it is not for protecting women from men but its an act for consideration because many of you may think the other way.
The very anatomical body framework and physiological capacity of a woman are such that she can not stand for as long as a man can. Ever seen a man getting breathless, nauseate, vomit or faint in a crowded bus on a usual basis? No? But a woman does because she is more delicate and sensitive to the physical environment than a man. And this sensitivity does not imply a “weakness” but her very being, The Womanhood. And, there is no sneaking away from this natural fact. A woman can willingly be iron-minded but not iron-fisted. The optimum time period for standing at a stretch comfortably is much less for a woman than for a man.
Did you know that an alarming 52 percent of Indian women and about 88 percent of the pregnant ones suffer from anaemia? To keep in the simplest words, anaemia means lesser blood circulation in the body than required to keep healthy and to work efficiently. And this is as much true for the woman belonging to the affluent classes, as is the one belonging to lower socio-economic strata of the country. The reason is attributed to the faulty nutrition practices prevalent in the Indian society. With such a sorry state of health status, it is highly troublesome for a weak, lethargic and prone-to-faint-attacks Indian woman to bear the burden of prolonged standing in a crowded bus
Every woman of the reproductive age group (14-45 years of age) spends 5 days per month in their menstrual cycle (just another normal process exclusive to women). No matter what I say, a man can never understand the amount of distress and pain a woman passes through during this period. To say the least, the pain due to a broken leg would be less than what some women suffer from during this natural phase. Now imagine having to keep standing with a broken leg! And, to add to it, a giant man crushing the feet and least concerned to apologise for the same! Thanks to the male-driven and male-oriented social and official norms, this period requiring rest is not even considered for a medical leave, leave alone bestowing offs to the girls and woman during this time. And yes, they travel standing in the buses with the least physical ability during this period.
Moving on with age, did you have an idea that all forms of arthritis, joint pains and bone-weakening disease like osteoporosis are more common in middle-aged women than men? No! Then do know! They are. As a victim of such natural pathological tendencies, a woman with stiff, painful and cracking joints deserves to sit on an available seat more than a man with well-functioning joints at a similar age.
The daily schedule of a working woman starts at the speed of machinery from around 5 am in the morning, and runs all through the day untiringly. So what if they do not want to be standing on the bus on their way to the office, after a sprint schedule at home! It’s all easy for a man to ramble nonsense having been served and prepared breakfast on the bed like a royal, while the lady herself might have got no seconds to take what she has herself been cooking since morning! Same goes the story on her way back from office, a list of household chores awaiting her desperately.
You see it’s not always about gender equality and physical abduction, or protection from rapes but also an act of kindness
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