BE THE CHANGE

“A feminist is someone who believes in social, political, and economic equality of the sexes.”-Sheryl Sandberg, LeanIn

The women’s suffragist movement was started in the 1840s. The women’s liberation movement emerged in the 1960s. We are living in 2019.

And yet.

We live in a world where women have great jobs and careers but quit them in the long run in order to be more ‘socially acceptable.’ This is a society that applauds fiercely independent women but, only ‘up to a certain age.’ This is a world where women are ‘allowed’ to follow their passions but they should be ‘good home-makers’ first. These are not instances of legal injustice that can be fought for corrections. These are examples of conscious decisions by individuals that shape the societal norms.

Our foremothers fought a very hard and long battle to win us the current political and economic freedom. This freedom is still inadequate when the laws in many countries are still stacked against the female population. However, winning at social equality is in our hands. We need to be socially responsible to achieve it.

Societal laws are not documented and executed with a legal sanctity. They evolve on the principle of majorities. What does that mean?

Consider one female graduate scholar leaving the workforce to “settle down” (surprisingly, that term, almost, never, applies to men). Consider one woman ‘compromising’ her career for her family. Multiply this behavior to over 70% of the female population. What do you get? You get a society that looks down on working women. A society that shuns independent, career-oriented women as ‘bad home-makers.’ A society where ‘an ambitious woman’ is a derogatory phrase. You also get workplaces with very few female leaders. Workplaces that have sparse examples of what a woman might achieve there. Women might have been denied basic rights in the past by virtue of external circumstances- laws, economic opportunities, and the likes. But today, we are denying the right to equality to ourselves.

Each decision counts.

This is the power of being the change. You might be taking a decision as an individual but you are setting the tone for the society at large. Each individual’s decision determines the way forward for the whole gender. Hence, taking a ‘socially responsible’ decision is a concept very relevant to feminism today than ever before. It is our responsibility to choose what we would have chosen if we weren’t afraid of the social backlash. It is our responsibility to encourage women who do that.

When it comes to other major issues like saving the environment or electing a political representative; every decision counts!! We are bombarded by messages on all forms of media to take ‘socially responsible’ decisions. If only everyone recycles, we can save the planet. If only everyone votes, we can have better governance. So, if only every woman ‘chose’ and not ‘compromised,’ we will have social equality.

An individual’s right to choose irrespective of gender is what we are fighting for. But our choices of today will determine if others would be presented with the same choices in the future.

To ensure sustainability, we need to make environmentally conscious decisions every day. Similarly, to have social equality, we need to Lean In every day.

We need to ‘be the change.’

Each one of us has the power to do it. Take charge. Take responsibility. Understand the consequences and be the guiding light. Just as Sheryl Sandberg said, “We are not going to close the achievement gap until we close the ambition gap.”