Women—Not the Last colony
Momina Moin Writer and Social Activist
Colonisation, a term, not very much liked in the present world, refers to a state of being subjugated. The era of colonisation started when the ruling empire, i.e Europe realized, that their population is increasing at the expense of their resources. This was the time, when vast lands of the American Continent attracted all the major European powers to colonize and exploit. They used American land for their plantations, used Indian native women to increase the population of the colonized continent, extracted gold and silver from there, and what not. Centuries to follow, were marked by forceful and exploitative colonization, in Africa, in Asia, and where not. The colonial masters extract human as well as material resources from their subject colonies, and then make those colonies a market for their goods. The last century saw a spring of decolonization, one may say that the domino effect of American Revolution, was strong. But, just when the traditional colonization ended, the role of unconventional colonization increased manifold. The multinational corporations, having manufacturing units in the developing countries, where they pay less and extract more, is no less than colonization. Even the multinational corporations is not a new concept, rather it started back in the thirteenth century with the establishment of Stora Kopparberg in the 13th century. The debate regarding colonialism, old or new, is a long one, but what one needs to focus here is, that this phenomena resembles something.
It resembles, how women are being treated. It creates a perfect analogy between a woman and a colony. Men being the colonial masters, have exploited, subjugated and ruled the women since forever. And a woman is not just the last colony, but the oldest one. Even before the actual territorial and material colonization, there existed this worst form of human colonization, where men ruled women. The history of this subjugation can be traced back to the start of humanity. Gender is merely a social construction. We have grown with the indoctrinated facts that women belong to private sphere, and men to the public one. It is the society which creates and then highlights the differences between it’s male and female members. It is a mother herself who will bring home a kitchen set or a doctor set for her daughter, and a car for her son, as toys. We teach our daughters to be submissive, and sons to be progressive. Ambitions are for boys. Women should be economically dependent on their male counterparts for a peaceful coexistence. An educated woman is going to be a disaster for the society. And a highly educated woman is going to be a bigger disaster. Self-dependency is dangerous. This reminds me of a phrase, ‘give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day, teach a man how to fish and you will feed him for a lifetime’. Feeding for lifetime, here, is the issue. A woman who can feed herself, needs a man only for compassion. And this, actually is a threat to peaceful coexistence.
From the very beginning, women have been fighting for their political rights, let alone economic. Democracy started in the Greek city states, and the citizens were made to vote for the election of their representative, but guess what, women of the era didn’t fall under the category of a citizen, therefore they were not allowed to vote. The United States of America, the champion of democracy, granted the basic democratic right of enfranchisement to it’s women in 1920. After almost 244 years of the great American Revolution.
Why cannot women live in the society as freely as they have the right to live? Why do we have to teach our daughters to stay home to be safe, and not teach our sons to make sure they do not become the reason of someone’s insecurity, instead? Why were they not granted the right to vote in a democratic set up? Why were they not given the right to contest elections? Why were they not given any share in property? Why were they not allowed to participate in the public sphere freely? Why were they not allowed to acquire education? Why were they buried alive, just as soon as they were born? Why did they have to struggle for their freedom, for their very basic rights just like all other colonies of the past? While you ponder upon these questions, I’d just wrap it up, with an addition to the phrase Women, the last colony. Women are not just the last colony, rather Women were the first, and will be the last colony.
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