So I was basically sitting in my room listening to some music when the song “Run the World, Girls” by Beyonce came on shuffle. I found it quite ironic as to how the title of the song somewhat completely opposed the current situation of women.Well, I’m not going to proceed with this article as some sort of formal essay on inequality and violence suffered by women. I’m not going to chant the same old slogans on women’s rights. I’m, however, going to talk about the reality of the situation, the way I see it.[break]
First things first. Men and women are equals. Period! I mean, just the fact that women have to actually fight for their rights to be considered equal to men is ridiculous in itself. If nature wanted women to be slaves of the male species or something, then females should’ve been born with less intellect or should’ve been less evolved than their male counterparts. However, that’s not the case here, and in fact, far from it, because we’ve been created as equals.
And I still don’t get it as to why men consider themselves as superior beings. Who in the world gave them the right to think that they could look down upon us? Because nature surely didn’t.
I’m just 17 years old and yet I’ve faced harassments that I doubt boys of my age will ever have to face in their lives. I can’t walk a distance of 10 minutes from my house without being whistled at or teased. I’m also somebody’s daughter, somebody’s sister. Why do I have to go through these unpleasant experiences? Just because I’m a girl doesn’t give the right to anyone to harass me. Teenage girls’ self-esteems are already on the lows as it is and if you add street and sexual harassment to it; you can just imagine how less confident and insecure they are going to feel.
Then there are also cases of domestic violence. It’s just tragic how low a person can get to violate their own family members.
We humans have developed by leaps and bounds in the last 50 years alone. From socioeconomic revolutions to technological advancements, you name it, we’ve done it all. We’ve been able to send spaceships to other planets! And yet issues like violence against women (VAW) still exists. What’s the use of all of these last thousand years of evolution and development if we’re still going to behave in the same old barbaric ways?
Women have been underestimated for a long time now. We’ve always been treated as second-class citizens. However, times are changing. I can almost taste the hope of a new beginning, for us women, because there’s only so much as one can take. It’s about time that all the pent-up anger and frustration of all these years of oppression came bubbling to the surface, and I feel that the time is finally here.
The writer is a student at St Mary’s School in Jawalakhel, Lalitpur.
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