Graphing Hindu Women OUT of International Women’s Day
- authored by Pushpita Prasad
March brings with it a focus on women’s history and representation. My social media feed is flooded with events focused on celebrating International Women’s Day, with stories of strong impactful women now and through the ages.
International Women’s Day calls for “A world free of bias, stereotypes, and discrimination. A world that’s diverse, equitable, and inclusive. A world where difference is valued and celebrated. Together we can forge gender equality.”
These are eminently commendable goals. So, it seems supremely ironic that this lofty website (as well as most major content creators for Women’s Day), fall short in representing the diversity of women and being inclusive to ALL of them!
Note-the IWD website is not an isolated instance—just one of the more obvious and visible representation of the problem. And they matter because they play a large role in framing the issue, and providing guidance on how to plan and celebrate this day. Thousands around the globe download and use their toolkits and look to them for guidance on how to think about the event and the broader issue.
There are more than 1.2 billion Hindus in the world, so we can assume that there are approximately 600 million Hindu women in the world today. Surely, they deserve some representation and inclusion?
The International Women’s Day website prominently features “Free resources and a Toolkit” to help people around the world create their own IWD campaigns. Not one of their resources give any representation to women of the Hindu faith. None of the images are identifiably Hindu.
The images lack even something as simple and iconic as a Bindi – the dot on one’s forehead worn by millions of Hindus across the globe.
The bindi is so representative of Hindu women, that a hate group targeting American Hindu immigrants in the US called itself the Dotbusters. Even in the pre-internet era, their graphic name needed little explanation! From 1975 to 1993, the Dotbusters attacked and threatened Hindus and Indian Americans in the New Jersey State.
A Google search for images of a “Hindu Woman” shows how omnipresent the Bindi is. Will IWD take note?
So why do today’s connected designers seem to consciously leave out this or any other representation of Hindu womanhood? Even in a site and on a day dedicated to inclusion and representation? The lack of such representation has been visible for years and the scope seems to be amplifying
Defying Logic
This omission or should we say erasure is all the more puzzling given that Hinduism is the ONLY major religion today that worshiped and continues to worship divinity in the feminine form. The Shakta tradition in Hinduism focuses on the worship of Shakti or the divine feminine energy and many Hindu scriptures portray girls and women as manifestations of this divine energy.
Across the Indian subcontinent and anywhere Hindus live, you will find temples and sacred spots dedicated to Shakti. Many Hindu festivals such as Navratri are entirely dedicated to female deities. The world’s oldest female authors are found in a Hindu scripture-the Rig Veda. The oldest religious text known to humanity, it features numerous rishikas – female sages and poets among its contributors. And for thousands of years, women have been well represented in Hindu literature, art, architecture and sculptures.
So, what a crying shame that it took the “modern” era of diversity and inclusion to erase Hindu women from popular representation and consciousness.
Bring Hindu Women Back into International Women’s Day!