THE OTHER SIDE OF FEMINISM

THE OTHER SIDE OF FEMINISM

Feminism... A cause to stand up for... A word that might be every young girl's lips like me, who wishes to see a change in the way a woman, is brought up in this male dominated society.... I've heard people saying that girls are better than boys in all the aspect... But i would say, this thing holds true if she is given a chance to prove herself... There might have been cases where a girl has proved to reach further than a man... Cases where she has proved man to be unsuccessful... There are so many examples to prove this point of mine....

But is this situation the same everywhere??? 

People say, a change has been brought!! "Change"....Changing a society which is so narrow minded and very hollow... A society which has all the doors open for male but none open for female.... There might be countable number of chances for a young girl to make her name, but an infinite number of chances given to a man to stand on his own two feet.... Why is a girl kept in cages? Why is she chained? Why is she not free to all that her heart desires? If a girl does "activities" that go against her society's wellbeing, she is termed as a girl having a loose moral character! Is this fair? Is this what feminism means?

On the other hand, a guy is free.. Free to do anything... He might have some restrictions, but these restrictions are just nothing if compared to that of a girl... How is it possible that a man never has a loose moral character? 

If we go back in time and flip the pages of our history books, we can see that women have been a victim of an evil circumstance... Take sati and widow for example... Why were women forced to burn herself alive in her husband's pyre? But on the other hand, no such compulsion were put up on a man whose wife had died... When a woman became a widow, why was she denied all the basic rights? Why was her needs suppressed? But on the other hand, a widower had to go no such social crimes... Why couldn't a widow remarry but a widower could happily do so? Why does polygamy exist?? Why is a female blamed for everything?? Can’t we find any fault or flaws in a male?

When a girl gets married, why do her in-laws demand for dowry? Isn’t that an offence? A father is already giving her daughter.. He is parting with his much loved part of his life... Then now, why does he have to give dowry?? Is this just??

If the girl fails to meet the dowry demands of her in-laws, she is treated horribly.. And i know many of you agree here... instead of making her warm and comfortable in the new house, (the house she is married into) she becomes a victim of social evils and faces criticism everywhere...

Years have passed.. But the status of a female still is the same in some rural areas... if i was wrong in saying this, then there shouldn't have been any cases of female feticide or female infanticide would not have been in practice... 

In some places, a girl is denied even her basic education...People have the mentality that a girl has to get married and go away.. So why waste money on her?  Is she really not worth investing even a penny?? Doesn’t she have any rights? 

Is she a burden on parents?? Looking at all these, i feel so blessed to be born in a house where a girl has a status equal to or probably higher than that of a boy... 

When will the social situation change? How long do girls have to function under the domination of her father or brother or husband or anyone else?? 

Is this equality?? is this feminism?? is this what a 21st century society should actually be?? 

ojasvini baral

29th jan, 2011