“The thing women have yet to learn is
nobody gives you power. You just take it. ”
― Roseanne Barr (Actress)
Human beings
have been evolving from early times and they have faced many obstacles like
slavery, racism, caste differences and many more, which have been slowly
eradicated from the society. Even now some of these obstacles can be seen in
some parts of the world. One among the obstacles is feminism. Feminism has many
definitions on books and on internet which varies from each other but they all
have one basic instinct which refers “equality among the male and female race
of humanity”. Among the many definition that I found, I preferred a definition
which is quoted from “Ain't I A Woman” by Bell Hooks, “Feminism is a commitment
to eradicating the ideology of domination that permeates western culture on
various levels of sex, race, and class, to name a few and a commitment to reorganizing
society, so that the self-development of people can take precedence over
imperialism, economic expansion, and material desires”. The feminism movement
has its own long historical background from the 19th century which
had many famous writers. The two topics that I would be highlighting in this
essay would be of “education” and “religion”.
One among
the few early feminist that started the movement in the world was Mary
Wollstonecraft with her “A Vindication of the Rights of Woman “. Wollstonecraft in her work has
mainly highlighted about the rights to be given for the education of women. One
cannot deny that in modern era that the education has helped women in our
society of the world in many ways. For example, I tried taking a survey of the
students of Central University of Karnataka and some of my friends in internet
about their understandings of feminism and the way they perceive the opposite
sex “female”, most of them explained and thought of them as an equal being that
should get equal rights. I had to stop the survey in the middle since most of
them had the same ideas and ideals. One could clearly put the reason for the
improvement of women conditions in modern era on “education”. J.S. Mill works
has also highlighted about education. In both Mills and Wollstonecraft work
have quoted that ,”You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman;
you educate a generation.”
We can see
the topic of religion in Mary Wollstonecraft, J.S.Mill and many other feminist
works. In my belief, religion is the main cause for the inequality among male
and female beings of humanity. For atheists
like me, the issue is very simple. Religion has been used as an instrument
of gender inequality, specifically, in the oppression of women. Removing
religion from the picture removes religious and theological justifications
for patriarchy.
It
is impossible to argue against faith and belief, so I do not venture much
into such debates. I prefer not challenging other people’s beliefs as long
as they do not interfere with my life. What I find perplexing is how even
emancipated women prefer to remain within their religious faiths and struggle
against oppression, rather than choosing to discard religion.. For example,
developed countries like United States Of America, England, Canada, Australia,
Japan etc. , the society in these countries have changed in many ways which
also includes the presumption of a female in their society. In most of these
countries the ratio of people believing in religion is low thus I can say that
religion blocks or restrains women freedom in this world. But at the end the
freedom of choice and thoughts also play here, so I won’t say whether it’s
wrong or right decision. Many of the critics have said that, in the absence of
religion, men will find other ways to oppress women; hence religion as such
is not an obstacle. Again at the end without any unified solution for a
problem one cannot resolve it.
Reference:
1. J.S.Mill – Subjugation of women
2. Mary Wollstonecraft – A Vindication of rights of women
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