Woman Empowerment; an “Omen” in the Stereotype Patriarchal Society

So, the last day was a special day for women of all ages, ethnicity, belief, and nationality. But, a certain class of women didn’t have the privilege to celebrate it with openness, with confidence— neither they will ever have in their entire life for their ignorance, their unwillingness to break free, their submissive attitude to be chained.

Photo by Lindsey LaMont on Unsplash

And there is another group, who don’t have any idea what does this day entails or its significance. It’s very obvious as not every woman has that opportunity to educate herself with the essence of such events; local or international.

What we can do for them is nothing but feel sorry and keep a sharp eye on our social setting so that they don’t get victimised by the male counterpart they live with— those who are blind by their boastfulness of masculinity.

Patriarchal influence is what we may call such behaviour or social norm. It’s not bad to be patriarchal— neither does it have to be minified to uphold women's empowerment. What I am trying to make clear is, everything should have its limitation. But being a social norm, how can we determine the degree to which ‘Patriarchal Limitation’ should be measured?

It’s a tough situation as I can see. Even though I am advocating this, I too don’t have a clue how to do that. But, I think there are some points to be taken into account if we are to adopt such a social phenomenon— minifying male dominance that has been more like a plague on women for centuries.

Create more women-centric job opportunities. This could be one of the potential solutions.

From my perspective, it’s the dependency of women on men that make them so vulnerable. If we look into our home, our relatives, there are many who are entirely dependent on their husbands. Even if they have something important to say in any family matter, in most cases, their voices are unheard as the ‘guardians’ think what can a ‘kitchen-lady’ come up with. I’m not saying it’s the majority, yet, it’s not too uncommon.

To understand the scenario, let’s assume you are on a public bus going somewhere. On your way, you see many women getting onboard and depart in different destinations. Suppose two women got on the bus from a spot who will go to different places. One of them is a job holder and can be understood for her formal appearance. The other woman is in plain dress and usual appearance.

Now, the job holder reaches her destination but failed to notice and so, she is ahead of her landing point and now asking the bus driver to stop it. This doesn’t create any chaotic situation— the driver simply looks back, the helper tries to raise his voice but stops in the middle and let her go without any excuses.

The other woman is also in the same situation, she has passed her landing point and now requests the driver to stop. She is an ordinary woman, remember? If any of you can relate, the situation will be different for her. The driver will start shouting at her asking if she were asleep the whole time— the helper will not cooperate, he will make excuses it’s the middle of the road; so, it cannot stop blah blah. In the meantime, the bus will travel a bit far from where she could’ve got down.

It’s not a fairy tale, it’s real. Everyone can relate to this incident. It’s happening every day. If you didn’t pay attention to such an incident so far, I bet you’ll notice if something close to this happens from now on.

If we compare the two different incidents, they are almost identical. But the difference is their social status. The driver knows the first woman earn her livelihood and so, has a voice to protect. On the other hand, the latter one doesn’t. It’s the social setting that has convinced him and his helper that women with no financial backup of their own can be considered a play-thing and that’s why he dared to act accordingly.

If you agree to this point of mine, then I’d say there is still hope. Compared to the ‘90s or even a decade later, women are now more career-centric. They are willing to fight for their rights. A big thanks to social media— spreading awareness is now so easy. But we must not forget that financial independence is not for making us go wild— rather, it should be a part of our support to the family we care for. Instead of boating of the solvency, we must show gratitude to our Almighty, comply with His discipline for that He has given us the opportunity to live with dignity, with respect, and with responsibility.

Thank you so much for taking your time to read this far. Much Love 🖤

[All content is mine unless otherwise stated]