Feminism

Feminism

So what is feminism?!....

Everyone we ask this question would answer that supporting women is feminism but is it..?

To be honest this not feminism. So again the question arises, what is feminism! According to dictionary it is the advocacy of women’s rights on the ground of equality of the sexes. And what we hear is totally different. Just supporting women isn’t called feminism at all. A female gender has to face challenges since she is born. There are still some parts in our country where girls are considered bad omen in families while in vedic purans a girl is considered the form of Lakshmi and same Lakshmi is being killed just because she is girl and can be a burden on her parents. This is done in some parts of country but if we talk about overall situation, it is still not that great. Since birth girl has to faces lots of challenges. Since day one people assume that when this girl will get older her ultimate goal would be to get married. When she comes in high school, she is taught to be in particular manners which is actually not wrong but the way she is taught is a wrong way. Her parents start distrusting their daughter that what if she did something which would ruin the family reputation. As soon as she comes in college, she is prepared to perform all house chores, again it’s not wrong but with the intention of thinking that ultimately she’ll represent her parents at her in laws house is actually wrong. Teaching house chores because you want to send your daughter for higher studies away from home would actually motivate her to learn those chores. After college, she gets a job and her parents start searching for an appropriate groom which is ultimately going to treat her as a door matt. Maybe not all men treat their partners as door matt but according to research 60-70% men actually don’t treat their partner with respect and equality. Recently I went to a family event where most of my relatives saw me and straight away asked me about my marriage plans and I was like I’m just 22! Same way I went for a group meet with my friends where I had to face some sexist opinion on girls like girls would’ve an ultimate goal of marrying a rich guy and settling down and I was like why! And these people call themselves feminist like we can’t have such “feminist”. Feminism can be shown in a silent way by not participating in such jokes. It doesn’t always mean that we need to speak up for women. NO! we don’t need some random words on rent for ourselves because we can’t take our own stand. We just need some silent support and again support doesn’t mean by just talking about women empowerment. A female is already surrounded by lots of challenges. Some have to face sexism in their home itself and that place is least expected for such opinions but still we carry through and then when also she faces it from her age group people, it hurts her because that was also least least expected place to hear such. If we can’t support women then at least we shouldn’t speak ill about women’s goal and ambitions. If a women is self-centric, people say she is too bold and like why! Isn’t the concept of self- care important in case of women too! Our society doesn’t understand the concept of self-care in case of women so not a point of discussion.

The simple point is if you can’t motivate women around you then you don’t have right to say rubbish about women’s goals and ambitions. It’s her life and she can live her life on her own terms and that’s not wrong until it’s not harming anyone. Some of might have not heard the name of Ahilya Bai Holkar. She was first queen after Razia Sultan to rule the state of Indore. The best part of her life was her father in law, Malhar Rao Holkar Saheb. He was a true feminist. Always believed in his daughter in law. She was first girl child to ask for the right of education for girls and her father in law supported her during those times when girls weren’t allowed to study. When her husband died in battle field, her father in law stopped her from being sati and made her the ruler of Indore. Her father in law was a friend, philosopher and guide in her life. She accomplished great things in her life with the support of her father in law and this is what we call is feminism.

We need some serious feminism around to keep ourselves motivated. We aren’t begging but also we wont need sexist opinions too. Can’t express some disappointment in words for sure!