Before I start talking about the issues which have been bothering me lately, I want to know one thing.
Have you ever faced a situation where you are talking about women rights and people interrupts you and says, “Are you a feminist?” or “Feminist these days.”
Feminist or not – when we talk about the increasing rape cases or the issues regarding women people throws #notallmen on our faces or just call us feminist which seems like a slur to them.
Why are women rights a boring chapter of human rights for the people these days? Talk about #notallmen as a defence and I am not saying that everyone is the same. But what is the importance of a woman’s voice? Why still in some places education is still something which a woman needs only to feel the checklist of a matrimonial site?
When we talk about feminism we are not talking about women against a man or not because we want to smoke freely. Smoking is harmful to every person, not a particular gender. But we are seeking the rights.
We are seeking a society where the voice of women matters. Why?
Some Statistics.
“In 2019, 777 cases were captured in India of stalking, cyberbullying. [Source: Forbes]
“30% of the women worldwide are victims of some kind of violence.” [Source: WHO]
Attacks were most common on Facebook, where 39% of girls polled said they had been harassed, followed by Instagram (23%), WhatsApp (14%), Snapchat (10%), Twitter (9%) and TikTok (6%). [Source: Business Standard]
Not to blame but you can always see how women are being judged.
Our clothes, loud or minimal makeup, our skin, our choice of being a working woman or a homemaker, our choice of having children early or not at all, our choice for abortion or our choice of getting married, the thought that women do not know anything about politics or sports. You will find judgement in everything which is why feminism and knowledge of women rights are so important.
The individuality.
A right where we are free to express ourselves. Be it about the man or woman who molested someone or be it about talking about sexual pleasures without being slut-shamed.
If you think in the modern world people knows about women right – then I am sorry but you are wrong. Certain people still do not accept certain rules of society. For example, Like yesterday, I went to meet one of my neighbours and she was bitching about some women to me. I was not paying attention until she said, “A man can hit a woman only if they’re married.” I was astonished to hear that and then I was intrigued. I wanted to learn more about what my neighbour has to say. I am a 23-year-old millennial who always thinks that she does not fit in this society because people feel that everything is alright when there are so many wrong things going around.
We choose to be blind because it helps us in maintaining peace with our life.
Next, the woman said to me, “Multiple partners before marriage is not good for a woman. What will people think? As a woman, we should always understand that we are going to be a homemaker someday.”
Where my landlady mentions, “Beta, you should not wear shorts here. There are men in my home and they do not like it.”
These are a few examples which I have heard while staying in different cities all my life. Wherever I go, there are people out there who will judge me.
According to them, our coloured hair, tattoos, thoughts and actions represent our conditioning. If you are a woman who is carefree and knows the difference between right and wrong, understands the potential of your voice – you are on the radar of people.
Slut-shaming in the workplace is easy because a woman can please the boss in other ways, not because of her hard work. A woman who talks about the problem of our society gets the tag of feminists like some slur and people are like, “Don’t talk to her she is a feminist.”
Why are Women rights are not human rights?
We try to make marches or write blogs and try everything to create awareness just to hear one thing “Hey, calm down. This is not going to change.”
I clearly remember the Hathras case and I still do. It makes me shiver and my heart hurts when I think about that but “Hey, This is not going to change.”
This is why educating women and telling them the difference between right and wrong is important. Telling them that they can speak and inspire others because it is their right to talk about something.
In festivals like holi, people can come and put colour inside the cloth of a woman. Strangers. With or without their choice with a phrase “Bura na mano Holi hai” and I have seen it and when I argued their one statement was always there “not like she did not enjoy it if she had any problem she should say anything.”
We, women, choose silence to avoid drama because trust me, even if we say no – people are gonna push us or tell us that we can not take a joke seriously.
We do not understand our rights.
Where today our generation is so woke, there are still women who think domestic violence is okay because of their marriage, non-consensual sex is okay in marriage, talking about anything which is against the wish of their in-laws or husband wish is forbidden. And it’s not only women who are married. Some girls are abused by their boyfriend and they find that it is the way a man shows their love.
Some guy even does that because a woman should always stay below them and this is still there even if we ignore it, it is there.
As a woman, we should know the power of our voice. We should know about our rights, what we can do to our society, the strength which nurtures this society and the power we have inside us.
Tell people if you are feeling uncomfortable, tell them that you don’t need a child or marriage, Grow in your career, applaud the other women when they are achieving something because only we can stand for each other in need. Only we can tell the people that women rights are human rights.
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