A Woman's Space...

Today morning, me and my friend Smitha decided to stop by the small tea-stall outside the institute... we ordered our cups and waited... what we noticed (not unusual) were men-- young and old glancing at us like we had barged into their space...
I couldn't figure out if it was astonishment or bewliderment but these same kind of glances had reached me once when i had decided to sit on the upper berth in a local passenger train.. like the men usually do.. and we women don't stare at them..
So, why exactly are we treated like from outer space when it comes to doing something away from the conventional...?

In this age where people are talking day-in and day-out about Women Empowerment and Uplfting the position of Women in society... why are these things such a big deal??

Why does my decision to wear my salwar kurta without a dupatta, or a t-shirt and pair of jeans, or smoke (understading it is harmful to health and a public offence) make me a "characterless" woman?

Women empowerment does not come from granting reservations to the weaker sex(like men call us) for colleges, in buses, trains and for jobs... that was just a step.. that isn't even needed anymore.. What's required is for the men to change their thought process, their disposition towards women... they require to accept us, in the way that we want to be.. like women in other countries are being accepted..
Till you (men) slap on our faces with those dirty looks at our weird clothes, our hair let loose or our boldnes-- you make us afraid and compel us to live quietly and hold ourselves within the house and the family and unwritten backward social restrictions...

Why is it okay for you men to discuss us women as a topic among a group of your kind and offensive if we even look at a passing man not with any inention at all?
Why is it "but natural" for you to fantasize about women behind locked doors, watch obscene pictures of unclad women but inacceptable if we walk around in a t-shirt and pair of jeans or a tight blouse or a short skirt?
Why is it fine if you pass an itimidating comment about our body while we pass but close to blasphemy if we retaliate loudly or comment on you....?

We are still looking for a space of our own.. Where you'd just shut up and not smirk at us pervertly... why not let us be?