Friday, March 10, 2017

She - A Human Being

With the recently concluded "International Women's Day" and the numerous videos that have been going viral, there were hardly any that actually captured the very essence of a woman. As a woman, I feel that the term woman and feminism are highly over rated. By saying this, does this make me any less of a woman or feminist? I hope not.

Today, a woman is at par with her male counterparts. Trust me when I say, gone are the days when women waited and sobbed to seek attention from their partners. A woman today is well dressed because SHE wants to; a woman grooms herself because SHE wants to; a woman chooses to live alone because SHE wants to and not because SHE wasn't "found to be suitable". Yes even today we read heart-wrenching atrocities that a woman is subjected to but I also know of men who are at the receiving end too. It never comes out in the open because men are expected to be stronger among the two and they are expected to deal with it and not be "woman". The term itself is used in such derogatory statements by other women, i.e. "Don't be such a woman, man up". What does that even mean? Where is the celebration of being a woman when another woman thinks low of herself?

Its about time that the term "victim" is not associated with a woman alone. Abuse to anybody, be it male or female, remains as an abuse; Name-calling is bad enough, it does not matter where it is channeled at a male or female. I think it is about time "she" is treated as a human first; it is about time "she" is given the freedom to live by her choices; it is about time "she" is not stereotyped to a particular verb.

I was told by a graceful woman herself - "If a woman feels complete in whatever choices she has made, that is a woman you celebrate". To this, I agree. Like we do not need a particular day to celebrate love, we should ideally not be having a particular day to celebrate women. And, if you really insist on celebrating "us", then do us a favour and let us be - no judgments, no accusations, no derogation.

Until the next year when people suddenly realise how great we are, the "sacrifices" we make, how "worthy" we are and how nobody can live without us, more power to all you lovely women who have against all odds, persisted!