Today is the Women’s Day. And I have been flooded with Whatsapp forwards talking about how women are divine and powerful.
The whole world celebrates the International Women’s Day on 8th March every year. The day is dedicated to all the women of the world and is meant to recognize their achievements and contributions.
The day also aims to highlight the challenges that women face and how they can be overcome. A day that celebrates womanhood, commemorating the movement for women’s rights.
Today seems to be like the perfect day to eat and shop as there are umpteen offers on various stores and brands.
But I just couldn’t keep the thought unsaid that I have never felt so detached from the concept as a whole. I don’t see my identity solely defined by this one day.
Here is why…
Here’s Why 8th March The Women’s Day Does Not Define Me
I am so much more than just my gender. There are countless other aspects that make up who I am – my ethnicity, religion, political views, etc.
8th of March came, and with it came the regular flurry of woman-centric messages.
“She is special; She is a mother, a sister, a daughter, a wife, a professional. Respect the woman who gave birth to you”.
This sort of message has not changed since the past decade or so. And neither has the attitude of people who forward this message.
The women were going around feeling like a descendant of some royal blood wherever they could and the men were wishing the pretty ladies the day and then turning to their buddies to joke, “
Why just one day, our wives control our lives every day”. Ha-Ha-Fucking-Ha
I woke up on the morning of the “special day” to the messages stating truer than true truth about how women are amazing, but hold on for a second, we were not amazing on that one day, we have been amazing since the day we were born, and before that too.
It just hit me that celebrating that one day has been so pointless. With our stronger than ever fight to get equal rights as men, somehow hearing the words “Dear, you are special!” felt like a slap across the face.
I’m not saying that The Women’s Day isn’t important. It is an important day to celebrate the progress that has been made and to continue working towards gender equality.
But it is just one day out of the 365 days in a year. We should be striving for gender equality every day, not just on one specific day.
I know I am special, amazing, awesome, amusing, badass, and many more things. I am not sitting here waiting for your validation.
What I am waiting for is for you to get over your male ego and stop asking me where am I going?
With whom was I out and about?
Why am I going out on a lunch date?
Who the hell do I think I am to question your decisions?
Why am I such a drama queen (because I am crying)?
To be very frank I do not really care what you think of me, whoever you are. The problem that really irritates me is that there are so many of you.
And you have been around for so long that I was almost conditioned to listen to you since childhood. But now that I realize that I am my own person, it isn’t going down very well with you.
You can have your opinions, or give me advice but don’t you ever impose your decision on me.
The day that women’s rights will finally reach their true expression will be when every woman feels that she has full control over her own body and is never made to feel ashamed for how she chooses to live. That day will be when the ‘F’ word finally becomes obsolete.
Despite the horrific news of violence against women in the headlines, we still think of today as the “Women’s Day”.
It’s easy to forget that in the past, women didn’t have much of an opportunity to lead or even hold jobs. They weren’t given the same rights and privileges as men, and there were many instances in which they were denied the right to vote.
In this age of modern women, we still fight for equality and rights on a daily basis.
We have come far in the past few decades. We have learned to keep our priorities right. We have learned that finding a man is not always the goal.
Having children is not necessarily the next step. We have realized that guns are not only for boys.
We, too, can have our independent decisions. And making it evident that I find a stranger walking down the street interesting/hot/weird doesn’t make me uncultured.
When it comes to career or marriage, I should be the first and last person making decisions about the same. Whether I succeed or fail, it would be my responsibility.
I am a free person and most of all, it’s alright to be self-reliant. My career is important too. And what others think of me is not my problem.
I feel that we should celebrate our growth as women, instead of just congratulating each other for sticking to our responsibilities and then opening the shopping app to look for special discounts for the day.
As women, let’s rather stick to each other, help one another to not let society decide for us, and praise each other for the support.
I’m a woman, and I won’t have a single day define me.
Penned by an opinionwali!