Are We Women Tea Bags: That We Have To Be Everyone’s Cup?

March is a very busy month for most of us – exams, annual reports, wedding season, planning for the upcoming summer vacations, and the list goes on. Amidst all this, finding innovative ways to beat the heat keeps our neurons occupied (as if they were idle, to begin with)!

Just when you think that you are all caught up, your phone lights up with a new message, ‘Happy Women’s Day!’ You quickly scoot off a reply too (you’re in the zone, remember?),

‘Oh, to you too! Women rock!’

The tiring messages!

Here are a few common messages that still get propagated, every woman’s day.

• Women = Superhumans:  No, we are not. I do not manage my work and my home and my hobbies and any other thing you may wish to add. I do my best each day and that’s all I can, really.
• Women = Mothers: Every time I see this, I feel like weeping my heart out! Why is this the only role that supposedly fulfils a woman? Why is it prized over other human achievements like career growth or financial growth? I truly fail to understand.
• Women = Selfless:  No, not in a million years. I probably speak for myself, but there are many like me, who do put themselves first on many an occasion. Yes, sometimes it may even be before their children, hush!
• Women = Macho Men: This is a pet peeve of mine. Why do I have to act like a testosterone-driven man and bash up people Vijay Shanthi style, to be taken seriously? Women (and men) have the right to adopt any personality of their choice and still be treated with respect. Like all humans (or animals) you know.

Women and their rights have been on the back burner of history for a while now. It’s important to honour and promote their rights. However, it is also important to stop forwarding stereotypical notions and over-simplistic generalizations.

I don’t want to see another image of Ma Kali with a laptop and baby!

I would be happy to read an article on women who have changed the world, or even one about a woman who tried something ridiculously foolish and failed.

But if it’s another image of a woman as Ma Kali with various arms holding a baby, a pen, a laptop, a ladle, and everything else you can imagine, it’s a hard pass.

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Image source: rvimages, via Getty Images free and edited on CanvaPro

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