Sanju Maharjan

When they hear the term ‘feminism’, a lot of people think of it as an idea to take revenge against men or gain some kind of unreasonable benefit in the name of being a woman. I also used to think of it like that. It is because of the pseudo feminists who care about no one but just females. Being unreasonable for others yet reasonable for women is what they make feminism about. But that's not exactly what feminism is.

The real feminists understand the concept of feminism better than the ones who act like a feminist based on the little knowledge about the whole concept. These so-called feminists often go off board standing on the concept. They support females no matter how they twist the facts of the issue into the female's side even if the wrong person is a female. This is the reason why most people dislike the term ‘feminism’ or anything related to it.

Now, what exactly is feminism? Feminism is nothing but a word synonymous to equality. It is just a term coined to bring gender, political, cultural, personal and social equality in the society that has operated on the norms of patriarchy for a very long time. It seeks to ensure equity in the society so that the females’ status will be as equal as male. By this I do not mean that females should be allowed to do manual work like a male or anything like that. The respect and to be treated as a human being regardless of their gender is all what feminism is about.

We can take an example of Malala Yousafzai, who recently got married. She is fighting for equal educational rights for every girl around the globe. She is a feminist but is it bad to speak to have something that boys get as a birthright? The voices raised by real feminists are about equality not priority. The equality talk has been going on for a long time now and we can see many changes in people who have actually grasped the idea of it but there still exists people who find it difficult to view everyone as an equal. The reason behind it can be their religious background, their upbringing or their own philosophy.

It is easy to say that society is now equal and feminism should not exist, by being in the shoe of a man and vice versa. There are some situations where men are dominated by women, which is also not at all the motive of feminism. Speaking against women when they are wrong does not make a person less of a feminist either. But when the men think that asking for equal rights is wrong then that is a major issue.

For some women in the world, feminism/equality is asking to be treated as a human which is not something to be asked for. Hence, the concept has been abused by some frauds but it is not a bad concept as it sounds due to them and is still a necessity. And everyone who believes in equality is a feminist.