“Come what may be and we will fight. Oh no, I see we are women so we are weak. Oh, God! I am a trans so I don’t fit in. We all need the strengthening potion of gender equality to be strong and have a voice. Our throats have been choked both by the environmental and social pollution. It is sad that humans are responsible for both of these phenomenon. I request scientists to discover a potion of gender equality so that our voices are heard by the hetero-normative society, dominated by powerful men.”
I must articulate that we are in need of a potion which is capable of healing the wounds inflicted upon our secondary identities. I cannot define the pain of insecurity which we face as women but we get some recognition as compared to other genders. Social structures, based on power hierarchies are creating inequalities based on our temporary existence. To address situations by using philosophy is next to impossible because we simply do not interact with the universe. It is a fact that we are constantly in a dilemma about what society will think and we are anxious about our social acceptance.
Gender discrimination is equivalent to a heinous crime which kills the essence of humanity and leads to a lot of treachery over identities where conflicts over identity politics and body politics. There is a need to re-define sociological interactions happening across various larger social institutions including, family, marriage, and education system from gender lens. Gender equality is not a topic which should be only discussed inside the conference rooms or research papers. It needs to be discussed at larger platforms so as to introduce reforms in policies. There is a need to understand gender conflict theory and refine the definitions of feminism accordingly so that we can fight against gender based violence without getting defined as man-haters.
Although feminism is about promoting gender equality but somehow, feminists must widen the scope of definitions and include essence of humanity in a broader way so that we are able to move beyond our bodily identities. Gender equality is not just about reforming minds but it is also about transforming minds and only revolutionized minds can bring radical changes. We are in a need of revolution wherein every individual exercises their agency to assert their capacities and capabilities.
Anupreeta Chatterjee, a keen feminist poet from Chhattisgarh has pursued her post graduation in Women’s Studies from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Hyderabad. Her poems have been published in Ink Drift, an International Magazine. She is an apprehender of humanity, peace, and solidarity. Her interest lies in gender and education. She has extensively worked on several issues including, child sexual abuse, education of adolescent girls, and gender in pedagogy of natural sciences.
