| Helping Women Rise |
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Posted By: Roohani
[First and foremost - I am NOT a radical feminist or an extremist, I do not hate men, I do not believe women are superior to men. Most people who misunderstand "feminists" on this site now wud be looking for ways to insult me or mock me because I'm apparently some overbearing woman who thinks women rule and all men should be killed, or something. I am a "true, real, actual" feminist, i.e. I am a supporter of human equality in all respects; I am someone who strives for a society where there are no barriers on any person just because of their gender and people care enough to be in sync with basic human values.] Centuries after Raja Ram Mohan Roy began a movement for Indian Women's Emancipation, Indian woman is far from emancipated, or a woman of any other nationality as well. Her freedom and liberty continue to be plagued by a number of problems. No matter how much the anti-feminists deny it, women aren't being given more rights or power than men, it's still the other way round. Being a woman today is being an unpaid thankless service-provider, because women are not "equal" to men. After ages of struggling, women now have the "right" to be equal in terms of citizenship. On social level, they have the right to be treated as humans and not as subhuman, subordinate or inferior. But merely "having" these rights doesn't equate with actually having them - such demands are still not fulfilled in our society; let's not pretend to be above them. A woman is a human being of different nature. Some women, for some obstinate reason, want to prove to themselves, and to others, that they are not different, they are just like men, equal to them. This raises the question: why exactly would a woman want to have the same status and treatment as a man? Is a man that priviledged? Well he is, let's be honest about it. In our society, he is; it is called "patriarchy"; a term you hear frequently but you never comprehend. A patriarch does not refer to specific men - it is a situation where men are treated as inherently superior to women, where a woman's biggest dream is to stay with one so that she can have all the power he has. Historically, certain practices became social norms, which included various moral values taught to every child. Women in our society are still entrapped in male values. Unconsciously they praise them, and, because of their upbringing and the dominant norms in the society, they want to have the status and the lifestyle of a man. They know, and they are right, that a man is more privileged than a woman. But, here's where they go wrong: they don't give up their feminine role. On one hand, they want to work and get equal pay in the workplace. On the other hand, they choose to take up all the housework on their shoulders, because of which they work for less hours and clean the house / cook / raise the children the rest of the time. On one hand women ask for equality, on the other hand they continue to be entrapped in male values. Of course, some women prefer it that way, to stay at home. But for the ones who don't - these double standards often pose barriers for them. At the very least there is no denying that oppression is gender related. It is not perpetuated by some all powerful ruling clique. It is naturalised and bread into everday activity. Men were probably more likely to oppress women than women oppressing women. Gender oppression of course worked against women more than it did men and men were more complicity in the oppresion of women than the other way around. Women were portrayed in discourse as weak. Importantly housework was undervalued to labour outside the home. When a woman says she has more male friends than female, she feels somehow liberated and exceptional. Being "one of the guys" or like a man gives a woman temporary honour. A feeling of pride, a feeling of liberation. Because as long as women are thought of inferior, as long as women are bound by traditional gender roles and male values, there will always be a difference and gender bias, there will always be debates about women's "place in the world", there will always be feminists (NOT extreme radical ones) who wud ask for justice, and there will always be sites like this asking for equality and promoting the idea of what feminism orignally was.
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