These days, a few images are popping up on my Facebook newsfeed every single day. No matter how much I try to ignore them, someone or the other in my friends list shares it. It saddens me to see people sharing and appreciating the image, but it saddens me more when women do so. This post isn’t a ran,t but simply, a request to everyone out there to respect each woman and her profession.
Undoubtedly, women in the army are a perfect example of women empowerment and, maybe, feminism too. But, how does that make a woman who is a poetess or a dancer or an actor or slam poetry speaker any less a feminist? Just tell me, how many times does a woman have the courage to go on a stage and raise her voice against acid attacks, rape, domestic violence or any such social issue? We should at least be thankful to these women who have had the courage to shout their words at society and lend a voice to millions of women who don’t have one. If this isn’t women empowerment, I don’t know what is!
Undoubtedly, women performing in the Republic Day parade make India proud. But, how does that make the creative work of another woman invalid? It literally takes a lot of creativity, patience and time to scribble that piece on paper, and a lot of guts to go on a stage and push those words out of their mouth. If after listening to a piece like that changes a person and stops them from doing something wrong or changes their way of thinking – the hard work behind pouring each and every word is paid off! And if even one woman in this big wide world decides to raise her voice against the wrong happening to her, the intention behind the whole poetry is met.
Undoubtedly, this world needs women from all over the world to come forward and pursue their dreams. But, not just in the army or the bank or the civil services but in every single field. All women and men, around the world need to come and join hands for the women empowerment. This is what feminism is!
Feminism isn’t about comparing two segments of women who are involved in two entirely different professions. Feminism isn’t about making a meme of two women in order to degrade one of them. And feminism isn’t also about sharing such memes with an intention to demean the work of a woman. So, if you are doing any of these things, you sure aren’t a feminist and let me burst the bubble that you are the one who isn’t contributing even a bit to improve the condition of women in India.