Women’s march- An opposition to social circumstances

Women’s march- An opposition to social circumstances

The global march encouraged people, who believed in equality, diversity, and inclusion, to come forward and epitomize the rights and voices of dynamic people. The motive of the march was to safeguard rights and shield well-being, recognizing that the vibrant and diverse communities have the robustness to overcome adverse situations of the society. In the history of democracy, protests seem to have been crucial for change, particularly where there is a storm of discomfort and agitation. Seldom, the world has witnessed a movement that embraced such wide-ranging goals of empowering women with an impressive level of solidarity. Accoutred with a message of empowerment and resistance, millions of people paraded through the streets and conveyed a strong message to the world that concord can bring in the revolution. The women’s march made a history where emphatic, passionate women marched forward and channelled their outrage in a peaceful manner with vehement and ingenious quotes.

A similar instance, concurrent to the women’s mass protest in various parts of the world, was witnessed in India where a squad of women gathered to march for the #iwillgoout campaign and voiced their exigency to reclaim public places. The campaign was a rostrum for a gathering of women to exhibit their anger, resentment, an outrage against the large-scale sexual molestation incidents and to protest in opposition to the unfair restrictions imposed by the ill mind-set of the society. The protest though unveiled the accumulated outrage, indignation, vexation and wrath for being objected as a mere material to be manipulated and controlled by the unfavourable ideologies, but the protest did not garner much impetus. Particularly, in the patriarchal societies as in India, the protests for rights of women are seldom encouraged and supported by the opposite sex and even if they accompany, the figure is insignificant. The Dec 2012 incident led the countrymen to erupt into masses and protest against the gruesome incident, severe laws were attempted to put a stop to such horrendous deeds but we stand where we were then. The assault and rape continue to thrive.

Although the repeated blatant act of the US President by accepting sexism and misogyny has been like a thunderbolt to the world, but such humbug is not new to India. Repeatedly the hypocrite leaders have exhibited similar expression of male chauvinism and it is rarely opposed or challenged, except in the social platforms. Predominantly, feminism suffers from misinterpretation and ethnocentrism in the patriarchal cage. Despite being a country with exceptional diversity, women and the concept of gender equality are often filled with refutations and nuance. Feminism in India is very much complicated, as there exists a wide range of cultural paradoxes where primarily they worship Goddesses and then bar women from entering into to the same temple. Regardless of all the inequalities that persist, women who thrive in every aspect of their life to succeed are often criticized by the men who claim that feminism is a women supremacist movement.

Patriarchy is severely entrenched in our society, where generally, a woman is restricted in every aspect where she attempts to reach out while a man has all the freedom and such men, in turn, treat women as their objects to play with. Protests voicing the disapproval and objection are expected to find a loud voice and form a firmly rooted bigotry wherein their rights would be equally protected and guaranteed but there is an extreme need of transformation of mentality in every house to bring out an effective change in the society.

Author || Shringar Bhattarai, Law Student