Breaking the glass ceiling

Olivia Gurumayum *

Mary Kom's autobiography 'Unbreakable' launched at Imphal college on 18 Dec 2013 :: Pix - Ranabir Pao

Time waits for none. It keeps changing. Neither it can be stopped nor does it wait for anyone. Now, we say change is permanent. Many things have changed. Many people achieved many things fighting against all odds.

People have become more open to ideas, and are more into development, innovation and growth. The division of responsibility amongst men and women could be visible distinctly. But, the trend has been changed.

From games to becoming an astronaut the accessibility was more to man. Women are less given preference in any field. However, there are many women who have broken the barrier to place themselves on top of the list. Nobody sees the journey one passes by, but, the light of their success shine every nook and corner.

There is a saying "Strong women wear their pain like stilettoes. No matter how much it hurts, they carry it." When it comes to fighting against the storm that obstructs the journey to success, every individual become the strongest version of themselves. How much ever rough the path gets, they fight for it. It was in the second Olympic Games 1900 in Paris that women started to participate in games. Since then the number of female participants is increasing.

According to International Olympic Committee there were only 12 female athletes participated in the second Olympic Games out of 1066 athletes from 19 countries. Commonly, the first female gold medalist known in Olympic Games is England's Charlotte Cooper. However, there was another female prior to her in on May 22, 1900. Karnam Malleswari, was the first Indian female who won bronze medal at Sydney Olympics in the Women's 69kg category in weightlifting.

The recent news of Ace Indian boxer Mary Kom was suggested for the prestigious Padma Vibhushan Award, country's second highest civilian award with eight other female athletes for the Padma Awards. P.V.Sindhu from Hyderabad became a household name for her striking performance winning gold at the World Championships 2019.

Vinesh Phogat, ace wrestler, Indian women's cricket team T20 captain Harmanpreet Kaur, captain of the women's hockey team Rani Rampal, shooter Suma Shirur, ace peddler Manika Batra and mountaineer twin sisters, Tashi and Nungshi malik are the names suggested for the award.

These women have shattered every barrier to set an example, to the world, of how far an individual can reach if they work truly and honestly with determination. There are other women athletes who have reached beyond imagination.

It was also in the news that Manipur beat West Bengal by 4-0 goals in the 25th Senior Women's National Football Championship 2019-20 played at Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. Ng. Bala Devi from Manipur, scored a hat-trick while Daya Devi fetch a goal for the victory. All these women didn't reach this stage overnight. They must have faced rough patches.

It is not always about luck. It is the hard-work that pays off. It is not an easy thing for a woman to choose whatever path they want. There would be numerous people on her way to criticize her, to make her feel worst of her choice, try to fill her mind with all the drawbacks, etc. There would be just a handful of them to help her lift to where she wants to be.

Mary Kom is the perfect exemplar of barrier breaker. How she struggle her journey we all have heard about her story. And, of course, almost all of us must have watched the movie. The five-time champion Mary Kom the only Indian to qualify for the London Olympics. It must have been the roughest path for there to reach till here. Without her consistency and determination, she might not have been able to fight this battle of goal.

The most important thing apart from her diligence is the support that she gets from her husband and her family. It was rare that a woman gets support from her family even for her choice of career. Now, we are able to see women who take the lead in many fields. And, we can also see many women have broken the glass ceiling trusting their journey and believing in their aims.

These days we often hear of gender equality. Let's divert our mind an inch from what culture taught us. Women, in the first place, are also human being like man. They are individual. They are actually not weaker beings. However, the mindset of the society made them so weak that some of them have even lost their own voice and living in a shadow.

We cannot say a man is strong when he tries to silence the voice of a woman. We can say a man is strong only when he helps her while she struggles to grow her life. There are so many women who have proved that they are no less than man, both intelligence and physically.

Besides, it would be much better if both men and women have strong sense that they both are human being and should be given equal amount of respect. In order to develop or improve a society it is, indeed important to help each other grow than dividing classes among us. We must always keep in mind that no one is above or below law or God.

Appreciation, acceptance and agreement of each other should develop from the very young age. To have positive attitude towards another person an individual must have a positive mind from young age. It is not about boy or girl, man or woman, but about oneness as human being.