I am a proud Feminist

I have been guilty of thinking I am not a feminist until a couple years ago. For me a feminist typically meant a bra burning, rolling-pin hurling woman who doesn’t embrace her feminism. On the contrary feminist is every woman who is demanding that her ‘human-right’ is to be treated as an equal to her male counterpart. A feminist is every woman who steps out and works shoulder to shoulder in this male dominated world, fighting for her place and beseeching equal respect, equal pay and equal opportunity.

Yes, we are wonderful beings where we can create life and bring up the next generation. We should carry that strength with pride.

I am a feminist. I am not the bra burning and rolling-pin hurling feminist. I am the kind of feminist who knows the differences between a man and woman, yet I want to be just treated as a human. An asexual being; An equal human.

Both sexes have their strengths and weaknesses, but that doesn’t make one superior and the other inferior. We should celebrate the differences and be each others equals.

I am fighting for not being judged when I come home at 11 pm or 2 am after a back breaking working day. I don’t want to be pointed fingers by other men and women with innuendos about my ‘work’. I want to work in this life because I love to work and I have more to give to this world than procreation. I have a beautiful mind and I want to use it for earning my own living, to create works of art that would live on beyond my lifetime.

I am a mother and a very dotting one at that. But don’t judge me if I am not there for his exam studies, because that day his father is. Why do I get asked at an interview, “who would take care of your child when you are at work”? I am sure men don’t get asked that question. Why do people judge my commitment as a mother when I am a successful professional? A man a applauded as a provider, then why can’t a successful woman be applauded rather than be judged.

Why is it that asking permission from your husband for a ‘drinks with friends’ night’ is natural and mandatory? When a man does the same, he is sissy and ‘hen-pecked’. Why is it also that a man earns for the family and when a woman earns its for herself? Why is it that a Man’s parents are naturally the woman’s responsibility and woman’s parents are on their own?

I am a feminist because I also question when the men are assumed to take complete financial responsibility of the home without any mutual discussion. I question it when men are assumed to be the provider when maybe they don’t want to be, and they would be less of a man if they choose to stay at home. I question the judgmental outlook.

I am a feminist because I believe that it should be the Human’s choice to be what they desire and shouldn’t be judged by the gender they are born in. I am a feminist because I wouldn’t just stand for the apathy towards women; I also have the strength of speaking for apathy towards men.

I am a feminist because I am fighting for equality and not for patriarchy or matriarchy, because either one of them is bad for the society.

Image used in the article is a work of art of Srushti Mandar Rao from her collection “Objectify”.