"...the world embroiled in bloody wars fought by men and cared for by women..."
This writer wouldn’t hesitate in saying, that the one concept every soul on earth would have heard about, is feminism. Either we were taught about it, or we understood through social media, current affairs, groundbreaking achievements of women, or we, unfortunately, experienced the harsh end of life and grew towards the movement.
Feminism was born as a result of the massive oppression of women the world over. Society had chained women to a particular definition of what a female is and what her purpose in life is. One driving force of partiality has been religion, its beliefs, and practices that have curbed women’s right to exercise their will. Another has been the lifestyle of people during the past centuries, with the world embroiled in bloody wars fought by men and cared for by women. To be a woman was to live in perpetual obligation, first under the father and then under the husband.
Feminism is a belief in the social, economic, and political equality of the sexes. This movement’s endeavor is to elevate women to the same pedestal as men and create a world where women wouldn’t have to fight the undue discrimination that comes along with their gender. While the first wave of feminism was seen at the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848 when three hundred men and women rallied to the cause of equality for women, in 2017 feminism was the most searched word of the year as per Merriam Webster's online dictionary, which proved to be a silver lining amidst the dark clouds of patriarchy and made it the 'Word of the Year'.
Today crime knows no boundaries, and feminism not only fights male-female ratio imbalance. Horrifying misdeeds like sexual harassment of the workplace, dowry demand and domestic violence, acid attacks, rape, obscenity, and pornography have only shot up recently. Feminism challenges the roots of false patriarchy which is dangerous for any human being who can be dominated easily. Feminism in today’s world is needed to uplift every person from the darkness of oppression that surfaces due to toxic masculinity. The fact is that even after all of the advancement, we see a lack of basic decency and proper equality within our homes, schools, workplaces and anywhere we go.
The 21st-century world is a maze where everything exists, from scarcely acknowledged human rights to internationally acclaimed terrorism, social media empowerment to online trolling, the spread of education yet no changes in mentality.
Moreover, feminism is the elixir needed for changing the mentality fight sexism. Many sitcoms have portrayed women as dumb and incompetent. Women are to dress beautifully to come across as having brains. A bold woman can easily be equated to being ill-mouthed and un-lady like. Women must be slim and fair-skinned to qualify for basic respect. A working woman is a bad mother, or a full-time mother is something less than a working woman. There is a huge disparity in wage payment to women. Women’s sexual desires and needs are unimportant. Women must marry and must bear children. The rules for both sexes are still different. To identify as a feminist is to acknowledge that women are people, and, as such, women deserve the same social, economic, and political rights and opportunities as men. It is also to acknowledge equal rights for everyone irrespective of their skin color, background, sexuality, weight, etc.
Although achieving all goals of feminism would take a long fight ahead, the world has evolved into a better place to some extent. The women liberation movement has effected change in society, including women's suffrage; greater access to education; more equitable pay with men; the right to initiate divorce proceedings; the right of women to make individual decisions regarding pregnancy (including access to contraceptives and abortion). Women are and will excel in all fields in life, setting a high bar, be it in politics, sports, defense forces, business and trade, medicine, etc.
The crux of the matter is that even in such an unfair world, it is feminism that protects individuals from losing their sense of individuality and acquire a life worth living.
There are endless examples of women who’ve contributed to women empowerment like Mary Kom, Lt. Gen. Punita Arora, Kiren Bedi, Arundhati Roy, etc. who’ve changed the face of the earth and inspired millions of girls to break the shackles of patriarchy. There are multiple campaigns for reforms on issues such as reproductive rights, domestic violence, maternity leave, equal pay, women's suffrage, sexual harassment, and sexual violence. The fact that the concept is thriving and saving some parts of the world is a relief in itself and an assurance that one day we might achieve complete equality of the sexes.
This evoking piece has been heartfully contributed by Ms. Jyotika Aggarwal, a fourth-year law student from the Army Institute of Law, Mohali.