Emma Watson once said, “If you stand for equality, then you are a feminist. Sorry to tell you.” And I couldn’t agree more.
Feminism is a radical notion that women are human beings. It is misinterpreted or pretended to be misunderstood by a large chunk of our society, especially the section that lives by the dominant ideology of patriarchy.
Both conscious and unconscious gender bias is indeed rampant within us, but most of us aren’t aware of it.
Feminism is about and only about advocacy of women’s rights and opportunities based on equality of sexes. It’s ironic how when women talk about feminism in a male-dominated setting, they are believed to be expressing a wish to stand on a pedestal to rise above all.
But in reality, it’s absolutely the opposite of what feminism demands.
We, women, want others to step down from the pedestal and stand where you belong, on the ground, shoulder to shoulder with us, and treat us like living beings and not a possession or property of someone.
No feminist is ever heard saying they are more or less than the other sex. Women want equality. How hard is that for the world to understand?
Men and women are two different sections of society and, hence, are different in many aspects, but that doesn’t mean that one needs to be the dominant and the other submissive. Because men and women have different physical capabilities, these physical differences don’t mean equality is not possible.
There is this ever-prevailing wrong perception in human society that men do not need women for their survival, but women cannot survive alone.
How I wish I could burst this bubble and tell every human ever born that women might want and appreciate the support from their brothers, husbands, sons, but they don’t need it. They can rise and shine all by themselves. The day people understand this, the world will be a much happier and progressive place to live in.
I’ve heard people saying that if a woman hits a man or gets hits by him, the other one must, without hesitation, hit back, “we are living in the 21st Century and it’s all about equality, it’s all about feminism”.
No, we shouldn’t need a show of strength and power to prove that there is equality in society. Everyone needs to stop hitting, hurting and stooping down to such levels altogether. For instance, when we ride a bicycle and the front tyre gets punctured, we don’t puncture the other tyre too to bring down the other half of the bicycle, we get the first one fixed.
Women are made to feel less right after they enter this world. Before society gives us a chance to prove our worth, it assesses us.
Talking about India and an Indian household setting, the day a child is born, we start saving for their future. We start saving for our son’s education and daughter’s marriage. It’s high time we start saving for the education of our girls too.
Because not much attention is paid to educating girls, it results in the mentality that considers women “settled” in their lives only when they are married no matter how much they’ve worked hard and achieved throughout their lives. Nothing else matters.
When women are ready to work hard, why are their employers not ready to compensate them fairly and equally. Why is there so much difference in the pay packages? Why are they not treated equally and have to work harder than men to achieve what they want?
Society needs to change and this change needs to happen fast. We are running out of time. It’s high time we stop saying not all men are the same and start questioning: are all men standing for the much-deserved rights of women?
We need to call out the patriarchy, starting from our homes. We need to start accepting the fact that women can be the breadwinner of the family and men can be homemakers.
Women are human beings and deserve the same fundamental rights as men. Treating them as mere ornaments or property for men undercuts the moral foundation of society.