Women empowerment :

Beyond short clothes, adultery

by Gayatri Sankar

Ever since the video meant for creating awareness about 'women empowerment', featuring Deepika Padukone was published on YouTube, an avalanche of responses started pouring in on social media from all quarters - some hailed the makers and the actress for their 'courageous' stance, while several others begged to differ.

As a woman, when I think of women empowerment, the things that come to my mind are - right to life, right to education, right to inheritance, right to top posts at work, right to fair treatment and other significant issues.

At a time when women across the world are being subjected to discrimination, despite this being 21st century, we have a video that superficially talks about "women empowerment" by focusing on issues that are nothing but amateurish, for there are bigger issues that women deal with every single day.

I wonder if wearing short clothes, returning home late at night and having sex outside of marriage, will empower women. If that is what they are trying to sell, then I am sorry, I am no buyer.

To me, right to education, equal opportunity at work and respect at home and elsewhere matters more than 'my choice' of clothing.

Be it a man or a woman, cheating on the spouse is in no way acceptable. Both men and women indulging in adultery will always be on the wrong side of the fence, for their "choice" to indulge in sex outside of marriage dilutes and belittles the very fundamental principles of the respectable institution called 'matrimony'.

Having a child or not having one is not an individual's choice, but a decision that a married couple takes jointly. Yes, of course, it becomes a woman's choice if she decides to have or not have a baby out of wedlock! But a woman duly married has no authority to deny fatherhood to her husband just because she isn't keen to reproduce.

"...to be a size zero or a size 15...my choice... they don't have a size for my spirit and never will".

Deepika mouthing these words sound preposterous as the lady herself features in an ad which talks about reducing flab to look gorgeous during wedding seasons. If Ms Padukone truly believes that her spirit has no size, then what really made her endorse the eat-this-for-slim-frame cornflakes brand?

"To love temporarily or lust forever...my choice".... Imagine how women would have reacted had men said so? Feminist activists would have staged a dharna across the country and called men chauvinist pigs!

And what message is Adajania trying to communicate by showing Deepika hooking her bra? Was that visual even needed? Does that qualify as a tool for empowering women?

If Ms Padukone truly believes in empowering women, she must first ask members from the film fraternity to stop objectifying women sexually.

Are women in Bollywood paid at par with the men in the business? How many films have women as their protagonists? Will she make a loud noise against her own colleagues who endorse fairness creams? Ironically, Deepika herself campaigns for a brand that sells the idea of fairness?

Are dark women not worthy of being called beautiful? What about magazines, films and commercials that sell fabricated beauty and perfection?

This video is nothing but an attempt to show that in order to walk shoulder-to-shoulder with men, women can outdo them by picking up stereotypical characteristics of the so-called 'stronger sex'

- Zee News