Day 2 : Women’s Safety Week

The recent scenarios have made me realise that I have a huge responsibility, to take my people on a seven-day journey of reflection, exploring the importance of women’s safety and dignity.

So, keep looking forward as we journey together through my thoughts, perspectives, and reflections on women’s safety.

Day 2 — Let’s continue this journey

A Woman Is Not a Warning Sign

A woman should not have to calculate her safety before she calculates her dreams.

Which road is safer?

Which dress will invite fewer eyes?

What time should she leave?

Should she call someone while walking home?

Should she pretend not to notice the man following her?

Should she keep her keys between her fingers?

Why have we made these calculations a woman’s daily mathematics?

We teach girls to be careful.

But perhaps we should be teaching society to be responsible.

A woman stepping out at night is not an invitation.

A woman trusting someone is not consent to be harmed.

A woman wearing what she chooses is not permission.

A woman saying no does not require an explanation.

And a woman who survives violence does not owe the world a perfect story to deserve compassion.

Safety is not a privilege granted to women who behave correctly.

It is a right belonging to every woman.

Let us stop raising generations of women who are experts at avoiding danger.

Let us raise generations of human beings who know how to create a world where danger does not have to be avoided at every turn.

Because women should not merely learn how to survive the world.

They deserve to live in it. Without fear. Without apology. Without shrinking themselves.

Dr. Kalpana K