What Does Feminism Mean to You? (2nd Prize)

In this day and age where technology and social media has taken over the world, the world’s crazily genius species, we, the Homo Sapiens took pride on our capabilities and innovations. Yet, we are still on page one in fighting for freedom, debating and judging over the rights and opportunities on promoting feminism. For the record, feminism, by definition is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities and a feminist is anyone who recognizes the equality and full humanity of women and men, but still, it’s an easily misunderstood and stereotyped word which advocates berating of men by women.

As a woman myself, I don’t believe that men and women are same, they are physiologically very different but, when we speak about gender equality we should pen down to a single term, cerebral equality as a human. If men are given opportunities even if they are father of two children, why not being a mother, a women can’t do the same? Why are we always a secondary option? Why men and women who studied same course and equally experienced are not given same salary? Why women always have got a rule book with dos and don’ts? Why women should always be pretty, lady like, well-mannered rather than being themselves? Who wrote these guidelines for us, when there isn’t even a single question mark in their book? Or does a book even exist for men?

For me feminism, is a motion which gives women the joy or ability to make their own decisions without being judged with the freedom the men had all these years. The root of the problem is the lack of opportunity for females, the more opportunity we create for each other, the women representatives will sprout. As fifty percentage of the world’s population, we need to be represented to every field, just like anyone else. But we still need reservations to be elected to the top tier of the society. Why does it need to be that way? Why can’t we get in there without reservations? Why are there less women leaders? Why women need to make others realize their worth and potential for an opportunity? Why there is ‘n’ no. of hurdles to go through before even given a chance?

Feminism does not just benefit women. It strives for equality of the sexes, not the superiority of women. Feminism takes the gender roles which have been around for many years and tries to deconstruct them. This allows people to live freely and empower lives without getting tied down by traditional restrictions. In other words, it benefits women as well as men. For instance, while it advocates that women must be free to earn, it also raises the question that why should men be the sole breadwinner of the family. It tries to give freedom to all. Most importantly, it is essential for young people to get involved in the feminist movement. This way, we can achieve faster results. Thus, we must all look at our own cultures and communities for making this dream a reality. We have not yet reached the result but we are on the journey, so we must continue on this mission to achieve successful results.

The key message of feminism must be to highlight the choice in bringing personal meaning to feminism. It is to recognize other’s right for doing the same thing. The sad part is that despite feminism being a strong movement, there are still parts of the world where inequality and exploitation of women take places. Thus, we must all try to practice intersectional feminism. Time is the answer, may time heal the wounds of many, may time destroy the selfishness, may time bring prosperity and opportunities. It’s not far away, a world where everyone can take their freedom for granted, where we don’t have to fight for basic human rights, where women aren’t always on guard. Let’s dream for a world rejoicing hand to hand where feminism is just common sense.

Devika Gokul
3rd Year BDS
MES Dental College, Perinthalmanna