By Roli S
I am sure when I am sitting here thinking of writing this piece, in many corners of India, even in present times, a woman’s worth is being measured by the amount of gold she brings as dowry, or wears when she attends social functions. Gold, that she has received as a gift, not something she has earned for herself, determines her worth, in many cases, if not in all! That is why a gold medal won by any female athlete in a sporting event carries so much more value, because it is not only a gold that is hard fought and earned by her, but is indisputably a positive source of strength and motivation for the self-development of girls all around the country and the world. Does it not feel good when a Virat Kohli and a Harmanpreet Kaur get the same attention? Does it not make your heart swell with pride when a Parul Chaudhary stands on a victory podium, and female shooters and archery athletes hold those medals with same confidence alongside their male teammates? Women and sports are a classic conflict in a culture of honour, like that of war. Once upon a time, the point of athletic events was to have women admiring male competitors from the sidelines, and later presenting the winner with his reward. The more segregated and conservative the society, the harsher the restrictions on women’s sports! The real reason I suppose for the reluctance to have women practicing sports in the past was, of course, that, if a woman feels her own physical strength, she may be inspired to think she is capable of many other things that traditionally belonged to their male counterparts and drift away from female duties. That is why in the past the female athletes mostly participated in sporting events only if their families supported them financially. Not any longer. It takes numerous laws, governing bodies, political intention and working groups to enable greater female participation in sports and this government of the emerging Bharat is doing just that. It’s taken a lot of will and equal amount of effort to get to this level of parity and there is still much work to do. We have a long line of inspirational female athletes like Mary Kom, PT Usha, Anju Baby to thank for these hard-won advances. And there’s still a long way to go. However, we are undoubtedly in a better position today than a decade ago. Today, children everywhere can be inspired by female athlete role models competing on the global stage. Numerous female athletes in India have become household names including Nikhat Zareen, Meera Bai Chanu, Aditi Ashok, to name a few. The future is bright for women in sports in India. Now is the perfect time for all those women who dream of becoming athletes to adorn themselves with a different value of gold, a gold medal in the sports of their choice. Women must understand that they are all different and have different aspirations, so even though someone is getting ahead of them, it doesn’t mean that they are not good enough; it just means they must wait a little bit, and the skill will come when it does. There is always going to be a reason why women still can’t do what they want but their job should be to constantly look for the reasons why they can achieve their dreams of being a sportsperson. Courage, sacrifice, determination, commitment, toughness, heart, talent, guts – that’s what I believe all girls are made of, not sugar and spice, as it is made out to be. The time has come for the girls to earn ‘gold’ of a different kind for themselves! And time has also come for the audience to encourage a Shaifali Verma with as loud a cheer as they do a Shubhman Gill! Spend money, go watch women play a sport. Be it Kabaddi, Volleyball or Kho Kho. Women comprise fifty percent of the population and to have men from different walks of life coming and cheering women competing in sports arenas from the sidelines and appreciating them, and later presenting the winner with her reward, will take participation of women to a higher level and sports will become an accepted ‘cultural norm’ for women in India as in many other advanced countries. Are we not aspiring to become an advanced nation in the near future? To establish the argument, a very valid point can be made here- The dream with which all the Indian athletes had gone to participate in the 19th Asian Games was to come back with at least 100 medals and make the nation proud. And that dream has been fulfilled by our athletes, but it is obvious that this would not have been possible at all without the combined efforts of, both, men and women! It is the people of a nation that make it proud, not a he or she.
(Roli S is an Educator, Teacher Trainer, Author and School Reviewer based in Thane)
