“Hi, Amma! Are you a feminist? Do you believe women are superior?” Avantika was amused by her 12 yr old daughter, Sara’s question. “ What makes you ask, Sara?” she questioned. “Today is Women’s Day and the word was mentioned often  in school today.” Avantika pondered on how best to answer the question. “Yes, Sara. I’m a feminist in the broadest and truest sense. But no to the second part. I believe in gender equality passionately. Women are not only capable of doing whatever they set their mind to, but they also do it with sincerity and single-minded determination. Besides which they never lose sight of the fact that have a family which needs to be nurtured. Unfortunately, the most productive years of a woman’s life also coincide with the years she needs to spend time with her children. So there’s a lot of multitasking involved. At times this is taken as a weakness rather than strength by the world.” “I see,” said Sara, as she tried to assimilate all of it. “But in no way does it make women superior,” continued Avantika. “There’s something called Yin and Yang in the Universe. Two parts of a whole that fit together. Each one is incomplete without the other. Women and men. They complement each other and do not need to compete with each other to decide who is superior.” “Life would be a drag if the world was populated by only one gender. To me, life is as much about the women as the men in my life, Sara. The world is such a beautiful place because both sexes exist. No fixed roles as such but together, they make the world go round. To quote Gloria Steiman,

“A feminist is anyone who recognises the equality and full humanity of women and men.”

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