Author: Anchal Verma, II Year of B.a.,LL.B from University Of Lucknow, Faculty Of Law.
Women, one of the essential pillars of the foundation of a successful society have always been on a back foot to achieve their goals. Going into the ancient period there used to be a time of Gargi when women were not only given respect but also the requisite opportunities to grow and develop. But unfortunately, as time passed by, they witnessed a tragic shift in the position among the people of the society in the later Vedic period. Draupadi being disrobed by Dussahan is a bitter truth of this ugly reality. From then onwards, there has always been a need to support, promote and love this pillar of society. Social workers including Ramabai Ranade and Tarabai Shinde, who is also known as the Father of Feminism in India worked enormously for their upliftment and bringing a new era of feminism.
Feminism means a million things to a million people. In the simplest words, it is about all sexes imparted with equal rights, opportunities and obligations. It is about representing and respecting varied women’s experiences, identities, knowledge, and strengths, and attempting to empower all women to realize their utmost potential. It is a belief in the political, social and economic equality of the genders. Feminism is the thought of female’s liberation since intrinsic in all its approaches is the belief that women suffer injustice because of our gender and are thus deprived of their opportunities to grow and sustain. It is an amusement saving the establishment of which one has been underprivileged since ages. It aims at elimination of all the atrocities and discrimination which have posed women to be treated as secondary. Not only securing legislative or institutional reforms but also the society changes for the same because the latter is of more importance than the former. No doubt women have benefited from it to God the courage motivation to achieve new reasons of justice opportunity and acknowledgment then you lost being implemented in the new schemes being and forced like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao Yojana have furnished new feathers to the extremely injured Bird. As G.D. Anderson has aptly said Feminism is not about making women stronger. Women are already strong; it's about changing the way the world perceives that strength."
Post-independent India has witnessed Captain Durba Banerjee as her first commercial pilot. It has witnessed Arunima Sinha who despite being physically challenged climbed the heights of Mount Everest and became the first Indian woman to do so. But unfortunately, feminism is not devoid of ailments in it.
The wife returns home drunk and the husband cannot change this habit of hers.
Is it feminism?
Have you ever wondered how exactly will burning bras and walking naked on the roads earn you women empowerment? How does exposing your nipples and body make you the stronger or equal sex, I ask? And, if at all, it does empower you then maybe you should stand and start peeing in public too to be equal to men. Is it justified for Deepika Padukone to talk about ‘My body My choice’? And if it is “My body, My choice.” then why do we go back to forcing our boyfriends and husbands to have a particular physique? Why do we ask men to ‘man up’ every time they cry? Is slapping a cab driver in Lucknow, the capital city of Uttar Pradesh justified? It is argued that feminism celebrates freedom of choice and life. However, it must be remembered that Feminism is not about not having to shave your legs, not having the girls’ section dominantly pink in a toy store, or not wearing high heels or bras or not having to be an epitome of beauty or getting a tattoo without being a slut.
Data reveals that there has been an increase in the number of domestic violence cases against women. But a report suggests that 2% to 10% of the reported cases turn out to be falsely alleged. Moreover, it has been observed that in most cases the people being charged with domestic violence are just relatives of the wife's husband and have nothing to do with the issue. Studies have also found misuse using the dowry prohibition act in a similar way. Considering the gravity of the issue the additional sessions judge, Kamini Lau, in Sushil Kumar Sharma v. Union of India termed such provisions as a mode of spreading legal terrorism in India. It will not be incorrect to state that feminism is now being used in the country to scale up the female population to take undue advantage of the privileges being given to them for their upliftment. No one stood up when a girl slapped a cab driver over 20 times in Lucknow but if a man would have slapped a girl the news would have become of national interest and several charges would have been against him. Also, a woman in Noida slapping an e-rickshaw driver 17 times in 90 seconds and another video from Noida went viral on social media showing a woman verbally abusing and physically assaulting a security guard are all the tragic and unfortunate results of the feminist movement you all have been supporting since long. There has been an incident in Delhi metro depicting a girl slapping boy because he disagreed with the girl claiming that the Zara T-shirt is not more than 150 rupees which the girl bought for 1000 rupees. This is the level of feminism a society has attained.
This incident makes us ponder over this critical issue which if left untouched could lead to unpredictable disharmony among different genders in society. It is not true that men do not have any grievances. In fact, they too could start a #MeToo movement in order to show this world what sufferings they have been subjected to. Isn't it true that men are scared by females in the name of dowry allegations? If a minute general touch on a woman’s body is considered an offense, then political leader, Suvendu Adhikari is also justified when he said “Do not touch my body. You are female and I am male.” to a female police officer trying to stop him during a political protest in West Bengal.
The question arises has the feminist movement reached its peak? If it is so then a downfall is sure to be recorded as per the laws of science. Atrocities caused by Kansa were put to an end by Lord Krishna and of Ravan by Lord Ram. The feminist ideology which was a boon to the women society is now being contaminated by their own act. It has become like a pandemic spread across the country for whose elimination, vaccines have become a necessity. Women Empowerment needs to be differentiated from the feminist movement. Empower is to make the women stand on their own feet but feminist ideology may lead to women taking undue advantage of the same. Giving women an equal right to education is justified but if girls are meant to occupy the front seats merely based on gender, it is arbitrary. Women being allowed for reservation is correct but the men being subjected to fear of fake allegations to be brought against then in unjustified. As Michelle Obama has aptly said that “There is no limit to what we, as women, can accomplish”. But the need for the hours is to realize the problems that even the men faced. The feminist ideology has gained attention in the case of Chandigarh University as well. Men don’t usually wear their hearts on their sleeves, but they are still humans with feelings. As Sallust has said that “A good man would prefer to be defeated than to injustice by evil means.” This is what word has seen in case of Lucknow and Noida.
The wave of feminism, thus, needs to be controlled and we all cannot be simply live having the tag of being a feminist. Don’t let the concept of Equality enshrined under Article 14 of the Indian Constitution being depleted by fake feminism.
We hope that in the near future, the situation will improve and feminism will ne understood as a mode for upliftment of women but not for suppressing males. It is just a hope… Just a hope… It’s hope that sustains…