It’s one of the oldest stories in the world, where people tend to believe that women are incompetent compared to their male counterparts in most of the tough situations. In case of physical attributes, the world has many misconceptions to offer, for which women in too much physical activities is still an uncanny sight for many.
Proving these misconceptions wrong, many women have achieved many feats which gives a tough competition to not just their counterparts, but the hypocrisy that still exists behind the veil of our civilized society. In past few months, Women in India, especially in sports, have excelled to such extent that have raised a vivid question on how the society should raise their daughters and treat them equally.
Keeping in mind, the recent achievements by women in India, Sports Minister have sent 9 names for the 2nd highest civilian award of the nation, Padma Vibhushan, and interestingly enough all the names are of female sportspersons. There have been 3 athletes who have been previously honored by the same feat, which includes, Viswanathan Anand for Chess (2007), Sachin Tendulkar for Cricket (2008) and Sir Edmund Hilary for Mountaineering (2008).
6 times World champion MC Mary Kom, who already have Padma Bhusan and Padma Shri to her name, now have been called for the Padma Vibhushan. India’s recent golden badminton star, PV Sindhu have been also added to the list of Padma Vibhushan category. Ace wrestler and Padma Shri winner, Vinesh Phogat also made the cut to the list. Apart from these household names, other names include a few underdogs and achievers.
Table Tennis star Manika Ratna; T20 skipper and batting sensation Harmanpreet Kaur; Hockey goal scorer and the captain of the national side, Rani Rampal; or the accurate shooter Suma Shirur; and the adventurous duo of Tashi and Nungshi Malik; all have been recommended by the Sports Minister for the prestigious honor. The final selection and announcement of the name of awardees will take place the day before Republic Day 2020. These women have already garnered much appreciation and respect from the entire nation, but it should not be a trend where women need to prove their place in order to be validated in the society.
