Patriarch or Feminism

 

Nowadays we come across lot of divorce cases, women living separated etc. And most of us including we women call them feminist, career focused etc. But have we ever thought of what they are going through or why were they forced to live in a situation that they have chosen today? I see most of our elder generation women including my mother, mother in law etc. tolerating all bullying (physical /mental), accusations. They chose/choose to keep quiet thinking that is all part of their life. This can even include lack of education, or some of old generation thoughts like

1. Her marital house is everything once she is married off. So, no matter what she can’t chose to go back to her own parental home.
2. Men are superior to us. They are capable & have right to do anything as they wish. Women are supposed to forgive their men even if it includes cheating on their wives.
3. Women considering themselves weak and they need support of a man for their wellbeing.

A home maker is the one who works selflessly. She is available 24x7. She has time for everyone & everything except for her own. She is not given salary. When she is hurt by other family members, she chooses to keep quiet or rather cry in some corner of the house whenever she is alone. The important decisions of the family are taken in her absence even if it is about her own children. She is the person who comes to know at last. But everyone in the family expects her to be best daughter, best daughter in law, best mother. But nobody considers her as a best friend or sometimes fail to consider that she too is a human being with soft heart. And even when she tries to speak up once in her lifetime she is labelled as feminist.

But women today are very well educated & are financially independent. They speak up for their rights. That’s why they choose to divorce/live separately. Now because of the impact of social media, we all come to know and when we look around, it seems there are a lot of similar cases. Is that the reason why they are called feminist?

I’m not a person who believe that men & women are equal. Each gender has its own importance & significance. Both are required to maintain the balance. A man can only build a house, but it is the woman who make it a home. A man is strong physically, but a woman is strong emotionally. I don’t demand for equal rights, but I just expect her to be respected for who & whatever she is. Nature itself shows the respect towards the gender. It moves forward on reproduction. And for reproduction man & woman are equally required.

My belief is that the reason for all the suffering of a woman is because of the age-old system of patriarchy. The patriarchal system has made us to believe that male is superior. Even most of the crimes against women happening all over India especially northern parts is due to this belief.