Art Of Teaching

What is Feminism

Feminism in easy language means equality amongst the genders. What does not put up with the patriarchal construct is Feminism. Sex is biological but gender is social. It is not just about women but also men. We have to take into account that not all women are feminists and not all men are patriarchs.

Feminism is an Ideology

The ideology of feminism is that women are equal to men in every aspect and there cannot be superiority – inferiority relation between men and women. The basic premise is that women should not have lower status than men. Women are discriminated against socially, economically and politically .This state of affairs is unjustified and needs to be changed. Feminism as a movement of women emancipation can be successful only when the prevalent society will sustain mutual respect and understanding as the basis of women emancipation.

I can present this with an example as a whatsapp message forwarded by my ex colleague where she forwarded the picture of  Flt Lt Shivangi Singh who epitomized feminism by becoming the face of women empowerment on becoming the first female in the country to fly Rafale fighter jets.

Thus we can say that the Ideology of feminism  questions, with the help of social evidences, ‘logic’ and ‘scientific claims’ which have traditionally brought about women’s intimidation and has given women a pathetic and dependent position.

The Current Situation Regarding Women In India:

In this context we need to talk about Status and Equality.

Status of a woman cannot happen in isolation. It is derived from a pattern of relationship with men and other women. How do men look upon women and how do women perceive themselves? There is no absolute index of Status .It is always with reference to some group or persons.

For example if the role of a mother and a home maker is not given importance then the status of women fulfilling those roles will be low. In Indian society today, economic activities especially outside the home are highly regarded and therefore the women in those roles will have higher status.

Equality too cannot be assessed in a void. It is with reference to the “significant other”. In this case it would naturally be men. But then the questions arise, are women equal to men in all respects or are they equal but different?

Are there women against Feminism?

We should acknowledge that as there have been women fighting for equality in some form, there have been women against it. Feminism isn’t just about Women. It is a movement intended at changing society.

Even in a patriarchy, there are women who yield from it.

What about women who have internalized the ridiculous traditions and culture and force other women to follow it even today?

That about women who have learned to hang out by indulging to existing social expectations?

When women wanted the vote some women fought against it, including the great Queen Victoria of England.

When black women wanted the vote, white suffragettes were against it, satirically.

When in the 60s/70s women fought against the idea of homemakers, other women rallied against the working women and termed them as rebels.

When women rallied for equal pay, some women rallied against it for their own selfish gains.

When some women felt beauty pageants were oppressive, others disagreed and carried on as judges and advertisers.

There will always be opposition on either side of the feminist debate.

It is very funny that even today some feminists believe you aren’t a true feminist if you eat any animal produce. Veganism is the only way to be a full feminist due to cows and chickens being used for milk and eggs, but other feminists disagree.

Thus feminism is not one collective idea. It’s an umbrella term for a collection of economic, societal and political ideals based on the equality of women. As equality can mean a number of things there will always be a disagreement, like women who want to be housewives, is it their choice as a feminist or not.

The Male Gaze –

It is nothing but various forms of media, like cinema and TV shows, and it refers to the way any story is structured and characters portrayed. When solely or principally men are drawn in creative decisions for the media, they usually make decisions that mirror their own perceptions.

This leads to women being portrayed as weak, helpless, or sexualized when compared to men in the same piece of media. The general effect of the male gaze occurs when men dominate the entertainment industries, and it leads to themes like the damsel in distress, and justifiable methodical inaccuracies based on common sexist myths. Basically, men generate representations of women that are intended to entertain other men.

Western Feminism: A general view-

The purpose of the western feminism movement is dedicated to accepting and humanizing the situation of women. The spirit of western feminism is its ideas about the individual and the private sphere, its persistence on the legality of women’s experience, and its disagreement that an understanding of women’s expression can be gained only through accepting and analyzing women in everyday life, where coercion as well as everything else is grounded.

African Feminism:

Feminism is still seen as a western introduce by most female Africans. Feminist struggles had taken origin in the African continent, as far back as the 1910s. The confines of this in-country feminist agenda are the general outlook of those that lead the charge. Most of this movement is restricted to social media. Feminist groups hardly ever have major presence at the grassroots where they are most needed. These groups sometimes get over-zealous in their description of feminism. They try to counterbalance the traditional African society and ethnicity bordering on “male leadership”.

Indian Feminism:

The heterogeneity of the Indian experience reveals that there are manifold patriarchies, contributing to the existence of numerous feminism. Therefore feminism in India is not a singular hypothetical point of reference. It has changed from time to time in relation to historical and cultural realities, levels of awareness, perceptions and dealings of individual women and women as a group.

Indian Feminism – My point of view:

Whilst a coworker was happy with a son and me with a second daughter, we were congratulated in similar way by our colleagues. When we were not questioned about the gender of the child but about the overall health of the babies that is feminism for me. Whether son or daughter, the child gets equal love at home…. Both parents in either case had planned for kids, not a boy or girl specially, its feminism for me.

When the child goes to school, the parents select whatever education they can afford best irrespective of the gender of the child. That’s what my approach towards feminism is. I have talked to parents who told me that they wanted their son to study in an English medium school as he was a boy and had a future whereas the daughters were put in Municipal schools because they would ultimately marry and move on as housewives .

When the time comes for marriage, both the boy and girl have a say in their selection of partners without any force or emotional blackmail, that’s feminism for me. 

When in a family, especially in this Covid scenario or otherwise, the couples decide to split their work outside the home and inside amicably understanding each other’s strong point and caring about each other’s comforts, giving equal importance and care to each other’s parents; that’s what I mean by feminism.

When in the work front you are not subjected to insubordination by your staff because of you being a woman in the power seat, or not being sidelined by the dominant male management in decision making is what true feminism for me is.

For me Indian Feminism is equality, right for opportunities in life and respect for human beings irrespective of gender that is feminism for me.