Their slogans make you laugh. Their demands leave no room for excuses. Dr A. L. Sharada on young women who refuse to trade freedom for safety.
Dr A. L. Sharada
I tear up, my heart fills with hope, and I feel super proud watching young women challenge the world they have inherited. Their anger makes sense to me. So does their refusal to accept yet another explanation for why women must be careful while men carry on as usual. Their energy, passion and determination can shake even those watching from the sidelines out of their complacency.
They have had enough of people in power protecting rapists and harassers, of legal and administrative systems failing women, of men who think they can violate a woman because she chose whom to love or go out with.
This anger has a history. Women’s struggles in India have challenged child marriage, unequal access to education and property, dowry, sexual violence and discrimination at work. They have also questioned caste oppression and men’s authority within the family. Earlier feminists understood very well that changing laws would not, by itself, change women’s lives. Today, social media gives these struggles a speed and reach that earlier generations could hardly have imagined.
Our generation fought for our rights, but many of us also accepted and lived with harsh realities of a gendered world. Even while questioning restrictions, we accommodated some of them in our own lives. I see young women refusing to do that. Some would rather stay out of relationships than compromise their dignity, liberty and self-respect.
They are carrying earlier struggles forward and asking uncomfortable questions in public. What does equality mean if a father decides where his daughter can go, a boyfriend dictates what she wears, or a husband believes he has the final say? Having rights in law means little if exercising them requires permission.
What I especially love is their humour.
“Ek kachori, do samosa, in mardon ka kya bharosa.”
Tell me one woman who has not said that to herself at some point! We are constantly alert, cautious, sometimes scared. Is it any surprise that a slogan questioning men’s trustworthiness strikes a chord?
“Garam garam vada pav, mard jaat sudhar jao.”
It makes me smile, but there is nothing mild about the demand. There is no pleading. Men, mend your ways! Imagine thousands of women shouting it together. It becomes an ultimatum. Humour also makes male entitlement look ridiculous. The man accustomed to obedience finds himself being laughed at.
“Beti ki location nahi, bete ka intent check karo.”
Check your son’s intentions instead of tracking your daughter’s location. How apt! Why the hell should a girl’s freedom be the first casualty of concern for her safety? How often are sons questioned about their behaviour?
“Rapist ko andar karo, ladkiyon ko nahi.”
Lock up rapists, not girls. Such a fair demand. Yet we still need to fight for it.
Social media carries these arguments beyond the streets and into pop culture. Slogans become memes and reels; songs and poems are shared. Even women who disapprove of the protesters’ language may recognise their own experiences in what is being said.
Then comes “Not all men.”
Yes, not all men rape, harass or assault. But what about those who ogle, make sexist jokes, demean women or remain silent when others do? What about men who believe that being protectors and providers entitles them to control a woman’s body, choices and identity?
We have excused too much as “that is how society is.” Before saying “not all men”, can men examine their own part in keeping this system going? Can they co-create a world with women where dignity, respect, choice and agency are a given, not a favour?
I am proud of these young women for asking so loudly, so clearly, so fearlessly. I hope they get to live the freedom we fought for and are still waiting to enjoy fully.
