The women’s liberation movement started, formally, in 1848, with the Seneca Falls Convention.
Writer such as Virginia Woolf expounded on the subject – they didn’t ask why women weren’t being given freedom, they said, very definitely, that women weren’t being given freedom.
The question might have come down to ‘why’ at some point during the movement, but the main point that was being contested was not why: it was ‘please give us the freedom to think’.
That phrase has gone through changes in a hundred and fifty years. Today, it has become ‘please give us equal status with men’.
Does anyone see anything wrong with that statement, apart from the ‘please’, which admittedly and thank God, women don’t use when asking?
Asking. There’s the point, isn’t it? Why’re they – why’re we still asking? What do we have to ask for? Freedom?
And who’re we asking? Who’s going to give it to us? This isn’t like when the countries fought for freedom. We don’t want anything tangible that the men are refusing to give us. So where does the question of asking arise?
Freedom is not something that you grab from someone; freedom is definitely not something someone can give you. Freedom is how you feel. On the inside. People like Kalpana Chawla and Saina Nehwal didn’t ask for freedom. They wanted to do something, and then they went ahead and did it. Of course there were barriers – but who doesn’t face barriers these days? If a man wants to be a receptionist, he will seriously have to contend with the natural beauty and probably grace of a female receptionist. Same goes with an air hostess. Men are not the natural choice for secretaries, teachers, even modelling is mostly woman-centred.
Some might say women are chosen for those jobs only for their beauty and not their brains, but face it – men aren’t preferred in the army for their superior intelligence, are they? Or as plumbers, or swimming-pool diggers or, well, the list is very limited. Most of the ‘intelligent’ jobs are open to both men and women. Gender bias there is a personal problem, like racism.
As for what was traditionally called gender bias – there will always be an inherent difference between men and women. Women are different, and that is not in any way a demeaning statement. It’s the truth.
I’m not saying women are lesser than men – they’re different. They think differently, they react differently. It’s quite a lot more demeaning to womanhood, as it is, to try to behave like a man in the hope that you will be accepted in what you, and no one else, calls a ‘man’s world’.
It’s a relief to see women who have moved out of the ‘feminist’ rut and are starting to accept their femininity rather than fight it. It also is quite a relief to see men accept women as intelligent counterparts, rather than sex objects that cook well.
Which is why the women’s reservation bill took me by surprise. Which is why the debate over the women’s reservation bill took me by surprise. Which is why, every time I read about horrible hate crimes against women – this definitely includes taking dowry – I get surprised, to put it mildly.
Which is why I still wonder what it is that’s keeping scores of women from breaking out of their underdog psyche and actually look at themselves as human beings. And why there are scores of other women who demand ‘equal’ rights.
Stop demanding, please. Stop pleading with the men to give you something that is, frankly, not theirs to give. Teach other women to accept themselves, if you really want to make a change.
The world has changed since it was said of women that ‘they must be seen and not heard’. Today, it is a lot harder to ignore or belittle women, and anyone who tries it is widely accepted to seriously need psychiatric analysis. We’re being heard today. So why’re we still shouting?
Just go out there and grab your freedom by the horns. And then you can put pink ribbons on it, if you want.
The world is your oyster. Go ahead and decorate it.
