Womanhood is bigger than Feminism

It is that time of the year, when we all celebrate the International Women’s day, exchange greetings, enjoy the offers out on the market and feel good about being a woman. We also lament about how much more needs to be done and distance that needs to be covered and that is a good reminder to have as we celebrate being a woman.

One pattern that I have noticed in most writings, messages and chatter on the “International Women’s day” is the seeming similarities drawn between Feminism and celebrating Womanhood. While Feminism started as a response towards unjust repression of women across the globe, over the years the dominant or popular version of Feminism, in urban side, has been about artificial equivalence with men combined with a rebellious streak.

So, all the good stuff is about how women are more of equals, entering all male bastions like Army, and politics, and sports and so on. When we talk of all the not so good stuff, there is also this undercurrent about women being much more than a homemaker, a sister, a mother and a wife. It is as if the traditional roles are basic hygiene, not deserving of the respect and all the respect comes only when you go beyond the traditional roles which a woman does.

That seems to be a trend now which is disturbing, dangerous and at variance not just with basic nature of what being a woman is but also with the overall configuration of how nature works.

If God (or Nature if you are an atheist) wanted only one sex he could have created only male or only female species. So, Nature has created and sustained the difference in gender for a specific reason.

A man is endowed with certain qualities, is wired in a certain way and fulfills certain responsibilities. A woman is endowed with certain qualities, is wired in a different way, and has natural responsibilities for different kind.

We must embrace the natural role of what being a woman, being a mother, being a sister means and feel proud about it. Of course, there are women who go beyond this, who push envelopes and boundaries when they excel at work, when they excel at social causes, and so on and is an icing on the cake. The vast majority of women are busy coping with life, with what life throws at them, and navigating the difficult but gratifying journey of being a woman in a way that all the responsibilities are fulfilled the way they should be.

An insistence on women fighting for equality with Men in trying to do everything that a man can do is sometimes artificial, especially when it is not natural and is done only to prove a point and while ignoring the women’s responsibilities.

The feminists always celebrate well to do women who are doing good at workplace but a large majority of women who are from blue collar class globally, in villages, are women who play all the roles that they are supposed to play and share a huge burden of earning for their families. They go unsung as their stories are not glamorous enough for newspaper pages.

In some cases, they are the sole breadwinners. It is interesting that I have rarely seen feminists extoll the case of such women but it is always about the well-healed, well educated women who have had all the privileges and access to education, and who have managed to break boundaries at work place who find mention and all the applause.

The women who work at labor level are as much or probably more of women than the feminists who reduce essence of womanhood to feminism.

When we take those roles for granted, and celebrate only certain aspects like feminists do, and subtly brush aside the important roles they are playing, we are doing a huge injustice to them, and to ourselves and to the society.

A version of feminism which demands that men take more role in bringing up children, that women get equal share in opportunities and demands an equivalence in every aspect ignores the fact that women is designed to play a critical role as a mother which men cannot replicate.

As we celebrate the feminists (who are in minority) and create a discourse which looks down upon “only mothers, only wives, only this and only that” we are doing a huge disservice and inhibiting the emotional energies of all the women which if unleashed can be a strong positive force.

The globalized and interconnected world is increasingly getting more complex with the sheer noise of information and opinions. This noise is confusing men and women alike on what is the right thing to do, and to be and what is the “cool” thing to do.

How each woman goes about her journey of womanhood, how she finds peace and fulfillment is her choice. It is never easy and while she is capable of giving a lot, she needs all the support that she can from her loved ones and society. Let us remember that Women’s Day is a celebration of being a woman which is a gift, a privilege, and a responsibility and not confuse this with subset movements and jargon as feminism.