The recently gone viral video of Pechiyammal is trending in a lot of social media discussions these days. You must have heard about people changing their gender, but you will be moved to hear the story of Pechiyammal, a resident of Tamil Nadu and a mother who wears a man's outfit for her daughter for the last 36 years.
Pechiyammal, the woman who is living like a man:
Pechiyammal is a mother who has adopted the disguise of a man for the last 36 years. It's not only an inspirational story in itself, but it is an example for today's parents. According to some newspaper articles and interviews, there lives a mother in Katunayakkanpatti (a small village in Tamil Nadu), who has disguised herself as a man to raise her daughter after the death of her husband. The name of this woman is S Pechiyammal. She became a widow just 15 days after her marriage, at the age of 20. It was a difficult stage for her, coz by then she had become pregnant. Later, people explained a lot to her that she should get remarried, but she did not want to get married again.
People's rebukes & evil eyes forced her:
To take care of her daughter, she took up the jobs in hotels, tea shops and construction sites, but she got disturbed by the various remarks & evil eyesight of the people. This forced Pechiyammal to don the male dress and offer her hair at Tiruchendur Murugan temple. She changed her name to Muthu, the reality of which is now known only to those closest to her. She soon started living her life as a man.
Pechiyammal is now 56 years old and her daughter is also married. She now wants to spend the rest of her life as a man. The 56-year-old Pechiyammal's name on the Aadhaar card, voter card & ration card is also Muthu. People say that she neither has her own house nor any savings. Now she cannot even apply for a widow certificate. She is too old so she can't even work. She has been constantly requesting the government to provide her with some financial assistance. However, collector Dr K Senthil Raj has assured her that he is trying to arrange for some social welfare scheme so that she can be helped.
There are many like Pechiyammal:
You may remember Akanksha Rao's name. Last year, she was not only famous in the entertainment world but also on platforms like YouTube, Google, Facebook and Instagram. The voice of this child artist resembled that of Noor Jahan & KL Segal. She blew everyone's senses with her voice. But, apart from this, what's different in Akanksha was her outfit. Replying to the questions about her outfit, her father said that insensitive acts towards women in the society, incidents like day-to-day rape cases etc forced him to keep his daughter in the boy's outfit.
When the character of Meenu Master was filmed in the film Mera Naam Joker, it was done keeping in mind the then situation of women. It raised a big question in front of society. The question was, "Has the level of the society fallen so much that now women have to adopt the attitude & attire of a man to escape the ruthless evildoers?"
But the question does not end with this story. How long will women continue to fight for their existence in a world that talks about women's empowerment? How long will women's empowerment continue to be graced only in the burning issues of the newspapers and forums? It should start from home.
What do WHO and NCRB statistics say?
According to the WHO, approximately 1 in 3 (30%) women worldwide experience either physical or sexual violence by their intimate partner in their lifetime. Moreover, 4.05 lakh cases (30.9%) of crimes against women are registered under section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) 2019 report. These figures are appalling in themselves. While they are registered figures, consider how many figures do not even reach the government records. Who is responsible for those figures? It should be our endeavour to create such a well-ordered society where women like Pechiyammal do not have to burn the pyre of their existence, rather, they can fearlessly become a part of the society.
