As a married 40 plus women I was in a toxic workplace subjected to harassment and thankfully I got out.I am married and a mother. What bothered me is I felt I was safer coz I was older, reserved and a married woman,a mother. Plus I live in one of the safest places abroad and this incident happened in a company near my place which is worst.If this happens to me..how tough is it for single women. Now I know it does not matter about age,gender also when it comes to harassment. Some things what bothered me was what those men told me.These creeps were Indian men btw. 1) Indian men abroad are scared. 2) If women are that afraid they should stay back home. The amount of anxiety I had there was very bad.Anyways all is good now. I remember traveling in bus when younger and that was a very worst experience especially with older men too.Am sure many women can relate to me. Nowadays things are looking better with better education and confident women.However..are we really safe? I know of some single friends who are braving it out in the work place in India but they got desensitized to the situation due to financial needs. How and what can be done to eradicate this problem? I faced it and it was a nightmare experience for me but thanks to some financial security and support system I didn’t have to succumb to their nonsense. Women deserves safety.However looks like there is no silver lining.
It is my firm belief that a woman, wife or mother has no safety at all, in the whole world, especially indian men, that too when they are abroad, except when she decides to take things into her hand, be wise to avoid trouble, be brave to counter tough attacks, be nice to herself. Yes, she deserves better but the proposal is always on the minds of women and on the paper not on the minds of men with the super superiority complex..
@anika987, Attitude, Behavior, Character, & Discipline ("ABCD") in life are fundamental to the growth of any individual. The children should be inculcated with the imporance of all these four even before they become adults. But the moral value education doesn't finish as a child but continue in real life as a practice when they become adult. There are umpteen number of social media that are ready to corrupt these four moral values 24/7. But the stability of the mind to stick to these four moral values should be something every adult should practice. Our forefathers taught us to talk to women with respect which is why the practice of the children calling adults as Aunt and Uncle to reflect that they are sisters and brothers of our parents and calling same age group children as Sister and Brother to treat them like their own sisters and brothers. Some where down the line, all these practices disappeared with aggression and inappropriate touching of women in the public transport system, cat calling in the street, making lewd comments, and so on. It is handful of men who makes the entire society look like a society which is morally bankrupt. It is inappropirate to think only women can fix this problem. Both men and women with moral values should work together to stop this nonsense and those who encourage this behavior and those who remain silent to such a behavior are in a way, are contributing to such behavior.
I also feel yoga,meditation and moral Science classes should be mandatory in every school. Plus teachers should be selected based on not just intelligence as they play a vital part in grooming a child and need be selected properly. I had only teachers who used to vent their frustration on the kids sans few. Another thing is I had a moral Science class when I studied plus Bhajans which stopped after fifth grade.I think these classes should be taken seriously and people can take turns to teach kids. Lot of volunteers everyday need to be in school In rotation basis to check for bullying.In US I like how the children are thought to speak Up and also we have a Psychologist in school. It is not an easy task but Instead of just giving back to society through technology one can give back some Morality and humanity. Respect starts from home and how the parents are. I am also trying to change aspects of myself and talk respectfully to my kid and apologize if I made a mistake. Society as a whole starting from Home,school we have to work collectively. Education is not just to earn money but treating others like how we deserve to be treated. I feel some Changes like the above can groom better humans which could lead to better morals and positive influence in the society which could inturn stop harassment.
@anika987, I agree with everything you said above. That is why I have chosen a free service to the school children to teach morals on a regular basis. I had 9 girls and 3 boys in my class. It is only every Thursday of the week at 6 p.m. and not a single student missed my classes. Even if they miss one due to conflict on preparation for AP exams, they always send me a text asking me to conduct a special class for the student over the weekend. I was pleased with their commitment in learning more about the morals. I taught various classes including about six enemies of the mind, Character development, character enhancement, equanimity, forgiveness, healthy mind, introspection, meditation and transformation, circle of influence, social media addiction, stress management, time management and many more.
This is an awesome contribution you are making sir and kudos for that! Apart from in person,If you are interested in taking online classes or even if you can start to post in Instagram there will also be lot of people who will benefit from it
That is very commendable. Can you share on which capacity you teach and how children find you. Are there avenues for kids in other places to join such classes.
@Anika587 & @Thoughtful, I do this through our spiritual center only in our city. I am not sure whether I can do more weekly classes, may be once a month to introduce a concept. May be I can do one class through online for the parents in IL to see whether it is useful to their children. I do have my own Zoom credentials to set up calls, if required. If there is enough support in our IL community, I am ready to do a sample class where the parents can also listen in. Generally, I group the children from Grade 1 to 3, 4 to 6, 7 to 9, and 10-12 separately. Some of my classes are specifically for high school students who are likely to go to college and live away from their parents.
