Even on the verge of the 21st century some old generation men still raise their eyebrows when they see women working in the offices in India.

Earlier; before the freedom of India, the family structure defined men to go for work and earn money for the whole family and living.  Women were only confined to look after children, other family members and taking care of the kitchen.  Women were not even allowed to be educated.  "Why do you need education when you just have to cook and feed the family?"... was a typical contemporary men-oriented society approach!

Well! The winds of freedom replaced the old, contemporary dust with modern, optimistic and globalized concepts.  Now, women in India can seek an education without fear . . . And are working in highly responsible jobs and proving their skills while working with men.

However, the ability of women to gain an education in India has not eradicated the men-oriented society attitude toward their other family duties.  Women are even looked at differently in the workplace . . . with many having to tolerate molestation, sexual harassment, dirty looks, double meaning language, and etc.  Women are still considered as inferior, weaker than men and are unfortunately expected to keep low profile.

Some folks still can not accept women as their bosses at work places.  Many working men can not tolerate their wives earning more than them or carrying higher social status than them.  It is not considered compulsory for men to keep up their social characteristic value, but women still have to be utterly careful about their social behavior.

In short, a husband can go have fun with his friends in pubs, bars and come home late at night.  But a wife has to come home immediately after work before 7 p.m. to perform her other responsibilities for the family and home.   We men still have not confessed that women are more hardworking than us. They look after the family, home, children and still can work shoulder to shoulder with men at work . . . proving themselves equal or even better in skills and talents.

The remedy is not only Indian men should offer equal rights to Indian women, but women themselves also will have to be more alert towards their social rights.  More and more organizations working for women's rights are needed with strong voices in order to correct this social injustice.  Let us hope the day is not far away in India and everywhere else that it exists!