Newskarnataka – Exclusive
By Sandhya Soans
Women are leaders everywhere you look–from the CEO who runs a Fortune 500 company to the housewife who raises her children and heads her household. In our country where a strong woman like Indira Gandhi fought against the stereotypes we must continue to break down walls and defy.
With the spread of conformity and image-driven superficiality, the SI of Mangalore Traffic police Rosamma is seen with a white and beige uniform that makes her ubiquitous yet invisible. A woman of spirit, strength, courage and valour Rosamma portrays a strong, self – reliant, married, cultured Indian woman.
A mother of two, SI Rosamma has been successfully tackling her professional and personal life for the past 8 years since the time she has been in Traffic department; Rosamma’s job requires her to monitor signals, she has to race all the roads under the jurisdiction of her station and report traffic jams, accidents and other related problems.
As I speak to her within the busy roads of Hampankatte on her views of today’s Indian women and women empowerment, she directs her junior and runs around monitoring the signal.
Rosamma says, “Women needs to be empowered, but is there empowerment everywhere?” She further says there are several women we don’t even know who are still ill-treated and segregated from the society. A wife of a former Army officer Rosamma says “I too had a dream to become an army officer; I came in this field with lot of hard work and dedication. I tried a lot to get into CRPF, but later decided to join Traffic.”
With regards to safety of a women, Rosamma said, “To a certain extent the safety of a woman relies in her own hands, atrocities happens which is saddening but we need to be conscious before taking decisions, making friends, knowing our limits.”
A Bindi, Bangles, a Malgalsutra and Sindoor on their forehead but their uniforms speak much more than these. Other such tough women constables in the traffic police are seen around the city out of which talking to Spoorthi and Vanamala was tremendously inspiring.
Vanamala, a women constable at Milagres signal says, “Education enlightens women, people say a husband or a father has the accountability of the family, but they never understand that their mother took care of them and brought them up towards the responsibilities of life.”
Spoorthi a woman constable who was on duty in the station says, “The uniform gives us a liberty and we feel safe.The department has always encouraged women for their duties which is a good part as per empowering is addressed.”
Speaking to a renowned social worker in the city, Rita Noronha elaborates the changing culture, gender inequality and the myths of segregation between men and women.
Rita Noronha is another courageous woman who has been in the field of social work amid all the odds for the past 40 years. Dedicating herself to the society, Noronha, started with community development and collective welfare in the ‘80s. She has been striving to give justice to the victims of atrocities and working towards the welfare of marginalized societies.
Defining Feminism Noronha says, “Branding of feminism is done in several ways, but according to me feminism is men and women both striving for equality rights of the women.”
“A mother has a portion of a Man in him whereas a father has a portion of woman in him but the Institutionalized relationships and structures in the society, patriarchal culture, Genderized Identities, Mindsets and many such attributes tend to influence the division”, she added.
Elaborating the social outset, Noronha said, “Women and men have to together build a society on constitutional values, equal efforts must be made to get rid of patriarchy, it is not about being a man or woman but we must look at every person irrespective of his individualist as a human to maintain a humane society.”
Concluding the discussion, Noronha said, “Women have to assert themselves with an aim to get visibility in the society. If children at a young age understand the values of equality these problems will never come-up.”