A few days after Kathmandu celebrated International Women’s Day, I woke up to a news report on rape and sexual abuse in Nepal. I was gashed with a mixture of unpleasant feelings; I simultaneously felt anger, sadness and frustration. My heart wrenched at the sight of injustice in my country. It is disheartening that this type of crime has become a daily issue. There are various forms of abuse that range from catcalls on the streets to brutal assaults that hamper the physical and mental health of the victim. So many women in our country—and the world—go through this. Harrassment and abuse can have adverse effects on a woman’s psyche. I have heard stories of women who have been completely broken down by these sorts of incidents—and in each case, their only fault was that they were women, living in a horrid male-dominant world. It is disturbing to know that almost all the girls I have known, have been, at least once, stared upon while walking on the streets like they’ve done something wrong. Some have gone through worst.

Internationally, Women’s Day is marked on every calendar to commemorate the importance of millions of women across the globe. I think the whole purpose of this day is to promote and spread awareness regarding women’s rights. However, the irony of this day surfaces when there are bold headlines about women abuse and injustice the very next morning. What is the point in celebrating International Women’s Day when it doesn’t even hold enough significance and is but a one-day formality?  I think we need a more significant idea that could help change the status of women in society. The empowerment and affirmation of woman should be celebrated and encouraged on a daily basis instead of depending on a single day of the year. This should be done voluntarily because if the whole point of celebrating Women’s Day is to promote gender equality, then how is having a day celebrating the value of being a women enough? This in itself creates a misbalanced image between genders.

Both women and men should be respected and treated equally. However, the treatment women receive in most societies strays miles away from the idea of equality. While in some societies, the role of women is to give birth—something that bears immense greatness in itself but is overlooked—others regard women to be the ones who look after homes and their families. The gender’s power and capabilities are largely undermined, in turn, depriving women of opportunities on par with men.

Despite the biological difference, both the genders are equal—they are born the same way and die the same; they are human. So why this partiality? I remember the acid attack on two young women last February and it depresses me. What had they done to bear such pain? Marking a day in the calendar will not make a huge difference, I believe that we should vie to change the mentality of the people regarding gender and discrimination.

And nowadays, what ticks me off more than anything is the fact that we blindly believe that our voices become louder when we post contents and pictures related to women empowerment on social networking sites. Admitted that these websites have provided people all over the world with a platform where they can share their feelings and take up a stance, very little in the society has changed.

Gender-based crime is always happening and the people who have the power to do something about it don’t seem to be bothered. Perhaps, instead of posting momentary heroics on Facebook, we could actually engage in conversation with people in our community to talk some sense into them. Most of the crime that is happening is because people are ignorant and are unable to separate wrong from right. You might say that changing the mentality of people is hard, but trust me, it is not as difficult as it sounds. If you talk to five people from your community in one day and even if only one person hears half of what you have to say, you have triggered change. Call me a dreamer, but I believe that if we try, equality is not out of reach.

Bhattarai is a Bachelors-level student at Kathmandu Medical College