knowledge has no horizons

No longer women are maids in the halls, cooks in the kitchens, and whores in beds. Nor are they considered to be the bringers of pain into the world. Forget about the Bible tale!

Women are making their marks in all the fields, which were once thought to be unfit for them, either in the field of politics, or in astronomy, or in literature, or in the lucrative field of information technology. The world has witnessed and is witnessing women ruling the countries and states efficiently. In India, Indira Gandhi, called the ‘iron lady’, ruled the country without a rival – albeit for a span of years. In the state level, many achieved fame to their names and are now deciding the destiny of governments. Jeyalalitha adorned the chair of Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for 10 years, Mayawathi and Sudesha kirubalani – the latter having the credit of being the first woman chief minister of an Indian state – the chair of Uttar Pradesh; Rabri Devi, the chair of Bihar; Parvathi, the chair of Andra Pradesh. Apart from women being PM and CMs, many have entered the local politics and managed to win to become Mayors and councilors. India ecstasied with nominating a woman – Pratiba Patil – to the top of post of the Indian sovereignty and Meera Kumar to the chair of Parliamentary speaker.

Coming out of the confinement of politics in India, we can also see many to set their feet in it and succeeded becoming the supreme leaders of their states. Countries surrounding the Indian sub-continent always honoured women with high posts. Sirimavo Bandaranaike registered herself in the Sri Lankan as well as the world political history as the first woman prime minister. Who forget Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge of Sri Lanka, Sheik Hasina of Bangladesh and Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar?

Many unprecedented changes have occurred in their lives in the recent decades. Women, once thought to be fit only for kitchens, prove now equal to men and to be as efficient as their male counterparts to earn for themselves livelihood. It is explicit and evident from what we are seeing everyday that they, standing o their own legs, gained good positions in the society, not expecting their men for their survival. It is welcoming that the percentage of women working is exponentially grown in the few decades. Many have added laurels to their heads as successful entrepreneurs and have achieved fame as the supreme heads of organizations, like the Chennai-born Indra Nooyi to become the CEO of PepsiCo.

Women’s participation in the field of science and technology is also of paramount importance. Their explorations and attempts of exploring of what is above and under the earth proved significant. Kalpana Chawla claimed the credit of being the first women to make space voyage. Also, the domination of women in the field of literature becomes an often-felt one. Three women – Elfriede Jelinek of Poland, Doris Lessing of Britain and Herta Müller of Germany – are in the row of Nobel Prize winners for literature within a decade.

It is no hyperbolic to say that 2009 is year for women, as, for the first time in the history of Nobel Prize, five women are awarded the Nobel Prize. Beating the record of 2004 when three women got Nobel Prize, all the five made their marks. Marie Curie started the count in 1903 winning the prize for physics, and from then onwards, 40 women have registered their names for 41 times in the Nobel records. It is perspicuous from the fact that women’s dominance is on the fields of literature and peace, in which they were awarded 12 times each, respectively. This year is noteworthy for women for yet another reason. Right from the year of inception of the prize for Economics in 1969, Elinor Ostrom is the first to get it. Of course, women folk have all rights to take pride in this.

Now, read the beginning paragraph of the essay.