What it is to be a Feminist!
What it is to be a Feminist!
Our Director and COO, Supreet K Singh, was one of the speakers at an event called ‘Feminist Rani’ organised by SheThePeople in partnership with SheSays and RN Podar School on 4th August, 2016 at Santacruz West.
The discussion began with the topic of gender stereotyping and the many ways in which it affects our lives. Supreet spoke of the need to realise and be thankful that while some of us are privileged enough to speak up for ourselves, there are many who are not as lucky to be educated or even have access to information. Their fights for their rights to voice their opinions is much different from ours. It is of utmost importance to bridge this gap in the current wave of feminism.
Talking about some of our on-ground work in Delhi and Mumbai, Supreet explained the many difficulties girls and women go through due to inaccessibility to public toilets. These women reduce their water intake or drink no water at all to avoid going out to the toilets. They are able to avail these facilities only early morning or late at night to avoid harassment from men along the way. If they do venture out during the day, lonely lanes, bad streetlights, men in groups make the experience even more frightening.
Disparity is not only seen in the ability to voice their opinions but in daily life where women are unable to safely and freely access public spaces. Many girls are restricted from accessing public spaces after puberty in the attempt to keep them safe. Places to just hang out with friends are practically non-existent because they are unable to afford places like cafes. Supreet explained how she was subjected to being stereotyped for her gender when she had to face uncomfortable stares from men all the way from Lokhandwala to Bandra when she rode her Harley. Unsafe public transport, bad urban planning and infrastructure are other factors amongst many that restrict women from accessing public spaces.
Feminism is a word being thrown rather loosely these days and Supreet explained the need to actually be informed and aware of the struggle women have faced to achieve equality and respect in different spheres of life. “Due to negative discourse through conversation or media people dislike being bracketed in controversies and terms that are negatively perceived or that they are unsure of.” Some of the issues in feminism is that people hesitate from being called feminists because they do not know the actual meaning of it due to lack of standardised fights for rights or lack of access to information about it though they may be fighting for women’s rights.
At the end of the session she was asked if she felt a dearth of role models in feminism in India which is declined most assertively. “Everyone has some strengths and is fighting for equality and rights in some form or the other. My father taught me to ride a bike when I was just in the 7th standard. So I was never treated any differently from my brother or the other boys in the neighbourhood. In fact, I was the first in my group of friends to ride a bike. My Mom always insisted that I complete my post-graduation so that I could chose my own career fully informed and you can see where that has got me today!” Supreet’s role models in feminism were simple but great, her own parents, even though they never called themselves feminists. “We need to talk about such stories of leaders and role models because they exist all around us. For example, we have women fighter pilots in India, we have the largest number of women in the banking industry across the world. If each of us decides to contribute their bit we can definitely make a difference.”
If you would like us to host a workshop on awareness of rights against sexual harassment, please do drop us a call and get in touch.
