Good morning, Feminism!

She is equal to him; just this simple line is qualified to be the definition of feminism. It is a theory that talks about equality of a woman with a man in all grounds of life be it social, political, economic, cultural or anything you name it, which is often misunderstood as the female superiority, misandry or separatism but the bottom line is the equality. Feminism is not confined to the equality of a woman with a man but also demands the same for people belonging to any color, country, community, race or religion. As a woman as far as I understand, feminism is a vibe embraced by a woman and repressed by a man, which might have been possible to do for a man because he has been naturally more physical sufficient, and I also take the same as the foundation of building the patriarchal society and since the patriarchy has formed, it became easier for men to subdue the feminism because now the lion is in his castle. If in today’s time we say that the matter of feminism is propagated or has created a hype, it won’t be justified because, what it claims in the society, has been suppressed since ages and needs the revival as that happens to be the fundamental way the society has to run in therefore rather propaganda of hype it must be taken as the “Rise of the phoenix” from its ashes. Blaming only men as a suppressor of the feminism will be wrong because nothing can be given to you until you take it and hence the credit will be shared equally with women who were happy to accept it and coward to reject it (suppression of woman rights). But the coward women were not brainless, they piled up and passed on the grudge of humiliation, rejections and breach of authority as well as the realization of being; no less, to the next generation and that gave a boom to the reincarnation of “The Feminism”, this boom is the product of the reaction of pent-up emotions of all the women throughout the world.

The equality in rights, in the quantum of payment, bringing concrete changes in the law to secure the vulnerability of women’s safety and often just the “Inclusion”; inclusion in work-force, in society, in competition or family decisions, when I say these things, don’t they sound right? They do! Because they are definitely so, but these have been twisted awry. Since such things are expected to happen naturally but not being so, are demanded and because the demand is being made by every woman, it becomes loud and proper and brings changes like- equal political rights, to be independent to choose the religion a woman wants to follow, making equal space in the law of inheritance, normalizing the cultural discrepancies, right to bearing and upbringing the child on her own, equal rights to health and education, right to marry and dissolving the same are few to count (Indian specific). Undoubtedly the equality is yet to mark; there have been examples in the history who were ahead of their time or per se true on the page of feminism and one such big name is former Indian Prime minister late Mrs Indira Gandhi. She was well educated, rightfully included and accepted in politics, inherited parental property and became the torchbearer of the family. Another name will be “Razia Sultan” who became the crown bearer despite having male heirs to the kingdom, adding to the list comes the name of writer and poetess Mahadevi Verma, who was never held back from pursuing her choices and enjoyed the liberty to bestow upon us the great literature of her kind, not to forget the queen of Jhansi, Rani Lakshmi Bai, who is an exemplary to the bravery and founder of the reviving concept of equal rights to a woman and bearing the child who is not biological and as a single parent, Gargi, the greatest intellectual who is praiseworthy and greatly included in the Indian classics, Dr Kadambini Ganguly to become first lady graduate in not only British India but whole British empire and contributed in the field of science. But many times I have heard people calling successful women as “Privileged”, and believe me if such tags stop getting stapled, if the achievements made by a woman becomes as common as a man’s and articles on feminism stopped being written, the feminism itself will become neutral when great things of today become common things of tomorrow the equilibrium is attained.

Saying that, feminism is accelerating over the odds these days and are the matter of females, will be a misleading statement to make because during and post-colonial period the movement has already risen heavily and commanded majorly by men like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Lokmanya Tilak, Jyotirao Phule, and Rashtakavi Rabindranath Tagore who made their major contributions in the burial of wretched customs as Sati paratha, Casteism, slavery, child marriage etc. and also brought in the cultures like widow remarriage and school to girls, whether by physical movements, ethical preaching or through literature. While in the present, evasion of triple talaq, the inclusion of one woman man-ship, Janani Suraksha Yojana for uplifting of health and care of mother and infant, bringing FastTrack verdict to the crimes related to woman etc. are fierce molds, the law and society are bringing in, irrespective of caste and community. And also on the contrary, after covering miles on the way of equality, gender-based feticide, poor safety laws and justice, marriage in the premature age, gender bias in education and sports are so many other taboos still being chased to conquer. Despite all this, if one says that feminism is hyped I would say, It is the matter of education and exposure a woman is getting in the present time. Women are becoming aware and experienced about their position and mandatory requirement in the society that makes them claim everything they are worthy of. Once a woman becomes aware of things like, what she wants, what she can and what she does not have to, she starts working on and according to her own set of rules and desires that results into facing many hurdles society has prejudicially set for her which she has to break and move further. It is great! that she can win the race but the feminism forces her to ask for removing the barriers and making the pitch same for all. And even now if “propagation and hype” are quoted for feminism, I would say that, “the repressed rage has turned his face scarlet and the truth has gone mad, to fix it, feminism has to work harder and a lot more”.