Feminism - Cultures, Stories & Change

Feminism is a word we often misunderstand.

It is often confused with man-hating but it isn’t about hating man. It is about gender equality. It is about equal rights of both men and women. What we think is that feminism means that men and women are not different, but it actually means that they are different in many ways but it doesn’t affect the fact that men and women are equal.

I deserve to get equal education rights as any boy and I deserve to get equal wages as my male counterparts. It is about receiving equal status and social respect as any other fellow. Sadly, many women in different parts of the world aren’t getting those rights. Feminism isn’t about man-hating, and if you think “why do we need feminism?”, then look at our community where girls are sexually harassed, a three year old girl is getting raped, a wife is suffering acid attacks from her husband because he didn’t like her face.

It’s not only about women but also about men. We live in society where men prefer to commit suicide than to admit that they are mentally ill because they think that admitting that they are humans and they can be weak makes them less of a man. A boy who takes care of his personal hygiene would be considered less masculine and would be made fun of. Gender equality is what we all need.

Men and women both should be free to be weak and strong. Both should be free to feel and express their feelings and both should be free to be who they truly are. Another big misunderstanding is that we think that feminism is anti to our religious beliefs but the thing we need to understand is nowhere in the Quran does ALLAH say that he judges or loves his people based on their gender or races. Before the rise of Islam, people used to bury their daughters alive. They used to shame women, kill their honor mercilessly, used to treat them like animals but when Prophet Muhammad came he taught the people to love and respect their wives and daughters and to be kind to women. Didn’t the Prophet say ‘Heaven lies underneath the feet of your mother’? And ]yet] if we ask men to respect women, it affects their masculinity.

Another thing is that people hate the word feminism. If after reading much about it, you still don’t like the word, then look at the ideas and ambitions behind it. One thing that our Muslim families need to know is that we are not telling girls to take of their hijabs and dupattas. That thing is totally cultural and varies from house to house. The problem is in thinking that a girl wears hijab or dupatta because she is weak and if she doesn’t wear hijab or dupatta then she is a slut or whore. Stop saying those bad words to respectable women of your  society. Each woman has the right to be respected.

In our state, a woman is considered an enemy of another woman; however, we must know that real queens fix each other’s crowns and in our state it is truly happening. A mother-in-law is killing her daughter-in-law and vice versa. One wife is murdering the other due to nothing but domestic fights and jealousy. This needs to change. Just because it is done that doesn’t mean that it should be done, and if today, women start to love each other, we will become a stronger community.

Women should raise their voices. They need to be strong, strong women empower women, and not only women, but men too. Together we should make a CHANGE and make this world stronger and better.

#Iamafeminist