We live in a country where the word feminism is not always used in a positive connotation, saying “I’m a feminist” has given me more eye rolls than smiles.
It’s an extremely overused word, people casually throw it around too. So what exactly is ‘feminism’, I’ll try to jot down what I mean when I say I’m a ‘feminist’. Feminism is about equality, It’s about all genders having equal rights and opportunities. It’s about not trying to prove that one gender is superior than the other. We are all aware of the male dominance that’s still prevalent in our society. People still look down on you if you’re a woman. You have to demand equal pay, equal rights, and equal treatment.
Now to me, this fight itself is absurd. Imagine overlooking everything and having a preconceived notion in your mind that if she’s a woman, she must be good in certain things and not others.
How did gender roles begin? It’s a very simple explanation. The world started with men and women, when humans were hunter-gatherers they came down to a conclusion that since men are stronger physically and can endure more, they would go look for food, do all the physical work and provide for the family unit. The woman would look after the family, cook, and are emotionally evolved, hence they can look after the family better.
This was the entire concept back then. Nothing more, nothing less. Now, over the years, people still use this convenient excuse. Instead of evolving with time, they kept on looking down on women. We’ve always seen that a ‘homemaker’ is taking care of the entire house but is dismissed since they’re not making money out of it. When it is a choice, it’s amazing if you want to take care of your family, and the man wants to provide. But what if it’s not like that?
People should be ‘open’ to new ideas and be more respectful to people’s choices. We should be smashing the stereotypical gender roles and making the world a better place.
The world is still unfair to women and it can’t be denied, there’s no debate about it. The abuse, harassment, constant objectification, and limiting women to their looks by still using cat phrases like ‘beauty with brains’ as a compliment implies that if a woman is beautiful and smart, it’s a big deal. Men fool around saying ‘don’t act like a woman’ when referring to weakness. By saying that, they reinstate the fact that women are weak. In India, the constant sexism trying to put women in a box. It’s just sick.
So when I go on talking about feminism, and proudly say that I’m a feminist. I get more eye rolls than smiles. Why? Because people think stereotypical feminists are the male-bashing, head-shaving types. When all we want is to make the world a better place for every single person and to be given equal opportunities. Hence, all of us should be feminists.