Women power to the fore

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women to participate in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.

The history of International Women's Day is a history of taking action. The event originated in 1908 when women garment makers in New York demonstrated to demand better working conditions. They worked in appalling conditions, earned half of men's wages, died prematurely from poor health and didn't have the right to vote.

In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February 1909. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913.

The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen in 1910, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

Inspired by an American commemoration of working women, the German socialist Klara Zetkin organized International Women's Day (IWD) in 1911. On March 19, socialists from Germany, Austria, Denmark and other European countries held strikes and marches. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job.

Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disasters were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.

As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere.

Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike. The growing international women's movement, which has been strengthened by four global United Nations women's conferences, has helped make the commemoration a rallying point for coordinated efforts to demand women's rights and participation in the political and economic process. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

International Women's Day was created to inspire women throughout the world to work towards equality. The day is commemorated at the United Nations and celebrated in nations around the globe.

Few causes promoted by the United Nations have generated more intense and widespread support than the campaign to promote and protect the equal rights of women. The Charter of the United Nations, signed in San Francisco in 1945, was the first international agreement to proclaim gender equality as a fundamental human right. Since then, the Organization has helped create a historic legacy of internationally agreed strategies, standards, programmes and goals to advance the status of women worldwide.

Over the years, United Nations action for the advancement of women has taken four clear directions: promotion of legal measures; mobilization of public opinion and international action; training and research, including the compilation of gender desegregated statistics; and direct assistance to disadvantaged groups. Today a central organizing principle of the work of the United Nations is that no enduring solution to society's most threatening social, economic and political problems can be found without the full participation, and the full empowerment, of the world's women.

In a country like ours where society is marred by heinous crimes against women, including rape, dowry deaths, female infanticide etc. , the international women’s day holds special significance. In India too therefore, Women’s day is celebrated with great fervour. Several women’s organisations, NGO’s students and social activists participate actively by organising seminars, mass rallies, movie and documentary shows, staging of gender sensitive plays, theatre and so on. Several government and civil society initiatives like girl child education, reservation of seats in local panchayats, etc. have led to empowering the Indian woman today. However much more still needs to be addressed to make women equal citizens both in the public and private domain. The International Women’s Day thus serves as a reminder of how much we have achieved and how much more still needs to be done. In Tamil Nadu, more particularly under DMK rules led by Kalaignar, women in the state can proudly claim march over their counterparts in the rest of the country.

Although history of Tamils is replete with women poets, women ambassadors like Avvaiyar and women rulers, with the invasion of Aryans and Vedic philosophy and culture, women were rendered as second class citizens with no rights and education. Religion held them as weak gender and subordinated them to menfolk all through their lives. Though there were some social reformers at various times in different parts of the country who were sympathetic to the cause of women, it was Thanthai Periyar in Tamil Nadu in the 20^th century who gave a clarion call to women to rise, revolt and liberate themselves from the yoke slavery, fight for their rights to education, employment opportunities and social and economic equality with men. In his concept of egalitarian society, it was not just economic and social equality but gender equality was also an inalienable part.

That is why when individual achievers in various spheres are remembered and hailed in various other parts of the world on International Women’s Day, the Dravidian movement – the DMK and its sagacious leader Kalaignar wants to take stock of the development and progress of women as a whole in Tamil Nadu and how various legislations, actions, schemes and projects implemented by the DMK government in the interests of women have helped them in their upliftment.

For the first time in India, it was the DMK government led by Kalaignar which appointed women in State Police force and today more women are holding high ranking posts in the police department. Tmt. Latika Saran is the Director General of Police in Tamil Nadu while Tmt. S.Malathy is the head of the State Administration as Chief Secretary.

In the year 1929 the women’s conference held under the guidance of Periyar, a resolution was adopted for equal property rights for women in hereditary properties and Kalaignar enacted the path breaking social legislation for conferring equal rights for women in hereditary  properties in the year 1990. Again in the same year Kalaignar introduced 30 percent reservation for women in government jobs for the first time in the country.

Besides these two measures for economic empowerment of women, Kalaignar introduced Women Self Help Groups in memory of Bangaru Ammal in 1989 in Dharmapuri district and about 5,000 women were enrolled in two years. But with the change of rule in the next five years no progress was made in that scheme. Again when Kalaignar took over office in 1996, the scheme was extended to all other districts and in these five years 12 lakh women members were enrolled in SHGs. When DMK assumed power for the fifth time in 2006, the scheme was taken away from social welfare department and brought under Rural Development department under Thiru M.K.Stalin, in whose dynamic leadership and tireless efforts Women’s Self Help Groups have grown into a massive movement with 75,66,497 women members organized in 5,54,538 groups. They have been given revolving funds to the tune of Rs.520 crore so far and provided with bank loans to the extent of Rs.3,214 cr. Prizes of Rs. Three lakh each to five best groups and Rs. One lakh each to 10 groups are given. The government had also arranged for marketing facilities for their products and an exclusive Marketing complex in the name of Mother Teresa was opened and functioning in Chennai.

Education being the key for enlightenment and progress of women, Kalaignar formulated and implemented a number of schemes for directly providing education to women. Under EVR Nagammayar Memorial Free Education for Women scheme, tuition fees for girl students was cancelled upto post-graduate level study in government arts and science colleges. For first generation girl students tuition fees for engineering courses is paid by the government. There are eight different schemes for financial assistance for marriage of girls of poor families and as an indirect incentive for providing education to girls a minimum educational qualification is prescribed for eligibility of women to get Marriage Assistance of Rs.25,000. For eligibility under Moovalur Ramamirtham Ammayar Marriage Assistance, the girls should have studied upto 10^th standard, which prompts parents to send their wards to schools. This is not seen in any other states in India.

Tamil Nadu was the first in the country to provide 33 percent reservation for women in local bodies, enabling over 44,000 women all over the state enter public life. Of the 10 Mayors of Municipal Corporations five are women, Kalaignar played a pivotal role in the selection of Tmt. Pratibha Patil as the Presidential candidate of the UPA. In support of her candidature DMK women’s wing organized a massive women’s rally participated by over three lakh women. The DMK government had been consistently pleading for the enactment of Women’s Reservation Bill for providing 33 percent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislature.

Moreover many more welfare schemes like free colour television scheme, free gas stoves with LPG connection scheme, Dr. Muthulakshmi Reddy Pregnancy Assistance scheme for providing Rs.6,000 financial assistance for pregnant women, Monthly Assistance of Rs.500 for unmarried poor women, old age pension scheme etc., are in vogue.

Undoubtedly women in Tamil Nadu can genuinely boast of social, political and economic empowerment of them and that women power is to the fore in the state. The selection of Tamil Nadu as the Best State – Diamond State Award in the category of women empowerment by the News Channel IBN7 is a fitting tribute to the DMK government and Chief Minister Kalaignar on the centenary year of International Women’s Day.