Women’s Day — Celebrations that Matter

Trigger warning: These are my non PC views written with the belief that you will see the larger issue discussed without the need / presence of usual qualifiers.

So it was “Women’s Day” celebrations a couple of days ago — and as someone who doesn’t celebrate birthdays, anniversaries (took me 5 years to convince my wife), I always feel a little awkward. While I appreciate the sentiment, I somehow don’t see the significance of doing it at organizations where most folks working (women and men) are already in the higher brackets of society — so what are we recognizing in these folks on this day that the organization doesn’t already do in terms of salaries, promotions, awards, etc?

I find it difficult to get the words “Happy Women’s Day” out of my mouth even to my closest colleagues. I delete all the forwards requesting me to “honour” the women in my life. So when the latest edition of the “day” came up last week, I got ready for more of the usual.

While we did have some light hearted celebrations, I was very moved when our HR Manager (Susan) reached out to Rehoboth (a home for mentally challenged women in Chennai). She had a detailed discussion with them to find out their immediate needs. They needed a physiotherapy machine which cost about Rs. 20,000. Each of the women in the company then put their money to fully fund the machine. This was an act by my colleagues which deserved to be celebrated — I was proud to work with women who acted out of such values. They thought of the needs of other women for whom everyday was a challenge and reasons for cheer or celebrations were rare.

In the evening as part of the celebrations, a video was also shared which gave the entire organization a glimpse of the wonderful work done at Rehoboth. There was a visible hush and change in the mood — I thank the women in my organization for making this Women’s day memorable not only for me, but also for the wonderful people at Rehoboth.