StopLabellingWomen
Even if we leave man and woman aside for a moment- has anyone ever witnessed equality?
A: Embrace gender equality.
B: But how do I embrace the non-existing? A: Isn’t life difficult already? Not all men are same #notallmen.
Look at the glass half full!
B: But how do you see the glass half full without noticing the glass is half empty?
While Embracing equity- to be fair if not too real-- we need to look at both sides; don't we?
So, I embrace,
I embrace I am not missing - because today I am not daughter of a poor person
I embrace being educated- because today I am not in a small village
I embrace I can walk without a chaperon- because I am not in Afghanistan
I embrace being alive- because I was not aborted like my unborn sister
I embrace being loved as a kid - they always played with me the touching game.
I embrace I am not pregnant- because I am not in the US fighting for abortion rights.
I embrace I am pregnant - because my husband wouldn't abandon me
I embrace that I can choose to remain unmarried - because constant questions and induced guilt isn't making me give in yet.
I embrace that I can at least work - don't worry, I am not unrealistic to expect equal pay.
I embrace that I can write or publish- because my work is not burned by some men.
I embrace I can dress “within certain range” - because I am not in Iran
I embrace that I can go out once a week- because that way there are less chances of my family’s “respect” falling out of my pocket.
I embrace that I get to travel with my friends occasionally - so what if it is a huge debt to be reminded of every now and then.
I embrace that I can donate or get blood- because I am not a trans-woman.
I embrace I am not raped till now- because I was raised to not cat-call the men.
I embrace I am not ugly- because that is the prominent quality for women to live a happy life.
I embrace that I can drive- because I don't have a brother to default that right first.
I embrace that I can cook - because that is what saves relationships.
I embrace that I do not have to pay dowry- because I am in denial
What more would I want to embrace?
I embrace that I can open a bank account
I embrace that I can vote
I embrace that I have my own passport
I embrace that I can participate in Olympics
I embrace that I can own a property
I embrace that women are given the space to perform today.
I truly am grateful to the women before me who gave me this life.
While there is so much to embrace about my glass half full and glass half empty.
Being a woman, any woman- that might not be privileged as me or even more privileged; womanhood is all about having a glass.
They threaten us- Just be grateful that you have a glass!
So, we walk with this glass all our lives- carrying a fragile glass.
We keep holding it since we are born- we are “girl child” – we are constantly protecting the glass.
Always carrying our cracked, scratched, and bruised glasses.
They are like a voodoo doll which can take away our whole life in one instant.
We live with this constant anxiety and fear and indignation – Even as simple as walking on a road, at work, at home- sleeping- awake-
We breathe the anxiety and pain of being a woman- ALL THE TIME.
Why hate us for having a voice if all we are doing is overacting?
Why judge us for having dreams and choices and courage at our own expense?
While we embrace having this glass- do not moral police us because we have managed to fill a little water in it.
Do not call your daughter what you wouldn’t call your son
Don’t disrespect your mother when you would think ten times before disrespecting your father
Do not contribute or condition yourself to see your wife, female colleagues, sisters, or female friends as less intelligent, more vulnerable, or designated responsible caretakers than your male counterparts.
Do not control or disregard them.
I would want to not be hated for embracing the “benefits of being a woman” stated above.
Do not fill the glass if you can’t- but then leave it to be.
Do not create more labels or invent new names for these “spoiled non-marriage material women”— There are already enough labels for us that we are trying to wash off our skin.
There are more labels for us than there are bones in our body.
To watch the video performance of the above text, please visit https://youtu.be/mK23S1Bw1K8