Celebrating Womanhood during Diwali

When I am explaining my non-Indian friends what's Diwali, there is something that makes me subtly proud. Being a woman, the last two days of Diwali celebration are very special to me. The days of Padva and Bhaubeej. The days to celebrate the essence of being a woman-honoring the contributions of a wife and a sister. When I tell my non-Indian friends about it, they are jealous that they don't have anything special for a wife and or a sister ( Valentine day doesn't count, its for lovers) I am happy to see that centuries ago, despite being predominantly male dominated, my culture decided to acknowledge the contributions of the women. The joy isn't about getting gifts or stuff like that. Gifts are very secondary. Besides, now a days, there isn't much left in gift giving and receiving..everyone has everything..plus a good percentage of these wives and sisters now are capable of earning and can buy whatever they wish.. That's not the whole point. Getting acknowledged is.... I understand, that it still tilts little male oriented , in the sense that you still have to have a husband and a brother for these days but still centuries ago, when they decided to have these special days as part of our festival of light, they covered a large chunk of the women population. And I am thankful we at-least got that. I am a feminist but not the fighter type. I have come to realize that you can gain substantially by negotiating and compromising than fighting. More of the democratic way than the autocratic. I grew up in the house where being a daughter was nothing less important than being a son. And growing up with two smart sisters was icing on the cake. In a way, I never had to fight the gender bias . There was no inherent inequality either. I am proud to be a daughter, sister, wife and now a mother but more importantly I absolutely love being a woman. That's why these two women centric holidays make my Diwali very special... Let's celebrate .. Cheers to Womanhood!