Ever Wondered How 'Anti-Feminists' Celebrate Women's Day? Here's What The Day Means To Them

If you have an active social life on the internet, or simply if you scroll through all possible social media platforms multiples times a day and have a little interest in what¡¯s going around the world, you must be aware of the fight for gender equality. Simply known as ¡®Feminism¡¯.

In the ocean of women and men pouring out support for women empowerment in the form of comments and videos, one can easily notice a few contrarians. There are a handful of them and because of their views, they are also easy to notice.

Talking about women¡¯s rights, there are some female activists out there, who fight against women for men. Well, this in no way means to undermine the support women need in India. Just that, they have chosen a different path and a different cause.

The abstract approach and perception towards male rights activists mostly states that these women are anti-women and in practice, anti-feminists. They are often viewed as the enemy of the biggest movement in the history of movements across the world. More often than not they are frowned upon and neglected too for choosing to support the other gender.

Two such noted female male rights activists in India are Deepika Bhardwaj and Barkha Trehan. Often branded as ¡®anti-feminists¡¯, we asked them some tough questions that often cross the minds of most feminists and you would be surprised to read what they have to say.

What do female male rights activists think of Women¡¯s Day?

Deepika Bhardwaj: ¡°Meaning of women's day for me is the same as anyone else who celebrates this day in the spirit of women, womanhood and it's contribution towards society. Being a male rights activist doesn't change my opinion of this day unlike women rights activists who see men's day as some sort of a joke. I absolutely respect women who work hard, take responsibilities and contribute towards growth of their family and society while growing in life themselves. I absolutely adore women who take on challenges and prove on a daily basis that women are not less capable in doing anything and I also adore women who understand that everything isn't a gender battle.

She has been fighting for the men who are falsely implicated in cases of dowry by their wives and there is hardly protection that the law provides them. Over the course of time, Deepika has argued that Section 498A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) favours women and must be made gender-neutral.

What¡¯s women empowerment to you?

Barkha Trehan: Empowerment is ability to self-sustain and excel in every walk of life, says Barkha.

#MeToo

Deepika Bhardwaj: ¡°I have always said that #MeToo was , is and will always remain a very important movement. Every movement has its downfalls and so does this. It doesn't mean we can reject it outright. Sexual harassment at workplace and also this give and take of sexual benefits has seeped deep down in various industry majorly in art. It was time to call it out. I am glad it's been called out. However, I am a strong believer that it's not just the men who are responsible for compromising equations but women too. None should contribute to this toxic culture of sexual benefits at workplace, none victimised because of the same be it women or men.

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As voices around the #MeToo movement gain momentum, activists have called for making it gender neutral. Of course, the primary victims of sexual harassment are women, it can¡¯t be outrightly ignored that men face it too. And that¡¯s exactly what these activists are fighting for.

¡°While we have come a long way in building structures and systems around justice for women, I strongly feel we have done nothing to ensure men get justice too. Under no gender based law are they considered as victims, their choice or privacy doesn't matter when pitched against a woman and they have little recourse available in case of false accusations.¡±

Barkha Trehan: ¡°By comparing men's right vs women right we are trying to draw parallel between two. Two parallel lines do not meet. So knowingly or unknowingly by comparing men's right to women's right we are doing grave injustice to both the genders. In terms of empowerment be it freedom of speech or privileges under law like protection from domestic violence, mental & physical cruelty or sexual violations women are privileged and protected. Under the similar circumstances men are don¡¯t even have right to be recognised as victims.¡±

We constantly dismantling stereotypes around women and say working women are also good mothers, men by factor of their gender are being pushed constantly into their stereotypes and judged because of those, for example, a father cannot be a great carer for a child. These stereotypes impact them in homes as well in legal system but if men are judged no one bats an eye.

It¡¯s imperative that the society and law gives a listening to all genders and have faith in reform than lynching and treat women and women at par with each other. Because, isn¡¯t feminism equality?