I refuse to celebrate Women’s Day.

Come March 8th and all the women of the world are, apparently, made to feel special. I don’t recollect having a Men’s Day?! Why are we, then, chirping and dancing around and making plans for a Women’s Day? Are we in the minority here? 

To set the record straight, WE are half the population and WE raise the other half. I refuse to celebrate the Women’s Day. Because I refuse to be treated as a special case. Haven’t we been believing in and demanding for gender equality?

Why then this discrimination against men, if you ask me! Poor souls... they don’t have a Men’s Day to feel special. The commercial world is abuzz with discounts for women this day and this week and probably the whole month. Loads of marketing gimmicks are inviting us for lunches and parlour indulgences and spa sessions and wardrobe makeover, and what not, all at special rates. 

The work place is brimming with excitement for celebrating this day, with games and parties and gifts. The corporate world is taking pride in acknowledging the presence of women amidst them. This defeats the whole purpose of Women’s Day. Women’s Day is a battle against all of this. It is not about feminism or even, motherhood, for that matter.

I am a woman. And I am your counterpart. We complement each other. You yourself call us ‘better half’. Need I say more? Don’t treat me special on this day, treat me just the same throughout the year. Give me an equal opportunity at the work place, rather. Don’t look at me differently after I get married or after I become a mother.

I refuse to celebrate Women’s Day by treating myself in a commercial way, because Women’s Day is about remembering the struggle behind the decades of discrimination against women. It is not about getting excited by discounts and offers and gifts and parties.

Respect me throughout the year, just as you expect to be respected. Don’t dedicate a day of the year to me. We dedicate our whole lives to you. We deserve better. We deserve much more. We deserve freedom to make our own basic choices. We deserve safety. We deserve gratitude if we become a housewife while you enjoy a career. We deserve appreciation when we leave our little one behind to make our career. We deserve kindness as you got from your mother, sister, wife, daughter and daughter-in-law.

We deserve the whole world. Don’t  get away cheap with just one day dedicated to us. We create and nurture. Do not take us for granted. What would you do without us? 

Happy Women’s Day? No, thank you.