It is one of the most misused and misinterpreted term today.
Feminism is not about superiority over Men. Feminism means Equality of gender. Men and women are different -but we are equals. Feminism does not mean that women should have a separate queue, it means standing in the same queue and fighting it out shoulder to shoulder along with men with same rights and privileges. Feminism does not mean that women have to learn authority or beg for it to be given to her.
In a country like India where women in metros are employed in large numbers in technical fields unlike so many other countries in the world, being preached that Indian women should learn to handle authority sounds very flimsy and outlandish.
Today, Indian women also get the same respect from men in technical fields and Indian women also enjoy positions of authority and high stature. Of course, the basis of all this is competence – if you are incompetent weather you are a woman or a man, you can never demand (or beg) to be given authority and responsibility. In Indian scenario (I am talking of metros here) women choose their own field of work according to their own purposes and premises in the same manner as men do.
So, in my belief, feminism means to fight ,live, survive alongside men. Men who are our partners, our equals, not enemy. Feminism means fighting for your man, just as a man would fight for his woman. Feminism means being who you are and be the best in what you do. Feminism means not being a “second hander”.
A woman who does not demand to be treated differently on the basis of gender is a feminist. A woman who stands her ground in any gathering be it that of men or of women is a feminist. Even a saree clad woman who brings up her son to be a *Man* is a feminist.
It is the women who are insecure and have little self worth, who need a crutch to fight their own battles, are the ones that pull down true feminists. It is the women with low self esteem and hidden agenda that are enemy of their own gender. It is the women who take young women and make prostitutes (of mind or otherwise) out of them are enemy of feminism. It is such women of no moral values who would go any extent to malign people who are enemy of feminism. It is these repressed women who may have loud voices and big political speeches but no substance of their own who are enemy of feminism. It is the women who can not contribute positively and pull the contributing women down are the enemy of feminism. It is such people regardless of gender, who portray themselves to be saviors of women kind that one needs to be vary of. Enemy of feminism and women all over is that woman (or man) who picks up some fragments of truth and inserts several prejudices along with it to make it appear as truth.
Yes. I am a feminist – I am an individualist. I don’t need crutches. I stand my ground. I fight my own battle and I am certain my men will fight alongside me.
P.S. The Indian head of the state *is* a woman.