FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYONE | Feminist Philosophy

“Who said she needs your permission to work? The mere fact that you said you’ve “allowed” her to work gives you the upper hand. When you think you have the right to control someone’s actions, you automatically put yourself in a superior position”- an excerpt from the Bollywood movie ‘Dil Dhadkne Do’. Farhan Akhtar’s dialogue resonated with a lot of women across the world. 

In very simple words, he described how men pretend to have overcome the divisive traditions of society when in reality they continue to consider themselves as the real rulers of the world.

 Feminism is meant to provide equal rights to women, since they have for long been deprived of basic human rights. Therefore, it is important to instil the spirit of feminism in every single being.

Feminism needs to be adopted by more than individuals. It needs acceptance from different segments of our society. Here are few such segments which can do a better job at promoting feminism.

The most powerful segment- media. Time and again, people have come out to speak against the reporting format of our media, but to no avail.

“A young girl alleges to have been sexually harassed”, is the headline you’re most likely to find. This, when reframed to “A young girl reports sexual harassment” puts lesser stress on the authenticity of the girl’s statement and more stress on the wrongdoings of the culprit.

The next segment is our beloved Bollywood.For ages, male dominated movies were the usual routine of bollywood. Even if a picture was to be women centric, it was necessary to bring in a male hero to save the day.

However, bollywood has taken a brighter turn. Women dominated pictures are being welcomed by the audience and even film industry is keen to further this stance. The impact that the film industry has on its audience is immense. Therefore, it becomes crucial for them to realise the responsibility in hand. 

Feminism only asserts the obvious- equal treatment for equals. Women should be given their rights neither because they are an incarnation of some goddess nor because they are someone’s daughter or sister or mother. 

Instead, women should be respected because they are equal taxpaying citizens of this country who deserve every ounce of fundamental rights. Feminism needs to be embraced in culture, religion, ritual, work space and every other sphere of life.

Author:Shreya Arya

Secretary,

Rotaract club of Mohali

RID 3080