Book_Release_Girls_&_Girlhoods 6-3-2010

Comment

Comment by Prof. Dr. Vibhuti Patel on July 12, 2010 at 9:13am

Book Review by, Dr. Usha Thakkar,
Hon. Director, Institute of Research on Gandhian Thought and Rural Development,
and Hon. Secretary, Mani Bhavan Gandhi Sangrahalata, 19 Laburnam Road, Gamdevi, Mumbai 400007.
“Girls and Girlhoods at the Threshold of Youth and Gender-A Vacha Initiative”, Editor: Vibhuti Patel, The Woman Press, Delhi, xxv + 480, price: Rs. 1595.
Women’s organizations, citizens’ organizations will have to work for the betterment of girls. Women will have to develop new strategies for betterment of this neglected group and gender issues within it. And every woman will have to be aware of her own strength. In the words of Maya Angelou, “A woman should have a feeling of control over her destiny”.
After participating in a meeting of women over Sarda Bill, Raihana Tyabji wrote to Gandhiji that they were glad that Gandhiji upheld the age of 18 for marriage for girls. But she was distressed to see the general feeling of the society to view women as ‘the weaker sex’. When she wrote to Gandhiji about it, his response was, “I do not need to be a girl to be wild over man’s atrocities towards woman. I am uncompromising in the matter of woman’s rights. In my opinion she should labour under no legal disability not suffered by man. I should treat the daughters and sons on a footing of perfect equality. That he wrote in Young India, 17-10-1929. This is 2010. Still we are far from putting daughters and sons on the same footing of equality.
I will conclude with, "The Woman," a poem from the volume of Hebrew poetry. It is written by Yehudit Kaffri and translated by Tsipi Keller. I think it reflects feeling of us who are present here-…This exaggerated woman
wasn't pruned right
she sprouts all sorts of
odd branches
water roots
cries of thirst.
…Remove her from the
scenery,
say the superintendents of
nature,
she spoils the line,
the water budget of half a
neighborhood
is wasted on her
even a river wouldn't be
enough for her.
It doesn't matter, someone says,
in one of the driest summers
I saw several small birds
hiding in the shade of those odd branches of hers,
it was the only shade in the whole area…
Yes, friends, women have grown and will continue to grow, in different ways. Many more birds will find shelter in our branches. My best wishes to Vacha and its director Sonal Shukla and to Vibhuti Patel, the editor of the book for all their activities.