Dear patriarchy,

Why would you try to cover us? Cover us under norms, rules, views, biases, or veils of different kinds? Why would you not let us be?

We are women who want to walk around with confidence and independence, wanting to be free from societal norms and break all barriers. Why would you want to hold us back? If you curtail our freedom and force us to live in chains, why would we not want to challenge you? Of course we would, and of course we would emerge stronger, because we want to be free, free from all the things that hold us back and all the obstacles you think we can’t overcome.

Why would you not give us the equal opportunity we deserve? Why would you think of us as inferior? Why would we not have freedom to speak, express, wear what we want and how we want? Why would you not let us be as successful as men? Or as educated as them? Why can’t we earn more than our partner in a marriage or a relationship, thinking that it will hurt their ‘male ego’? If we can’t live up to your ‘standards’, why is it that the only option that we have available to us is to get married?

Why would you objectify us? Think of our purpose in life as only to serve you and your rules? Why would you want us to succumb? Why would you not teach your boys to respect us as equals rather than treating us as an ‘inferior’? Why do you fear our strength? Why do you fear our independence? Because maybe, you know that we can do wonders if we are given the freedom to do the same. We can oust every obstacle, every barrier that crosses our way, emerging unscathed and powerful.

Dear patriarchy, we don’t want to conquer the world or dominate over men. We want our own space to be. To feel free when we go out, to not have a fear of being oppressed or harassed, to be able to have the freedom to say and do what we like without any restrictions.

You worship us as goddesses, but demean us on the other by not letting us enter temples during our periods. What is this hypocrisy? You worship the goddesses for their strength and power, for their glory and wisdom. Why would you not do the same for women around you? Why would you do just the opposite by curtailing their rights, telling them how they should behave and how things should be done? Why would you not value their strength and power, their glory and wisdom?

Dear patriarchy value our potential as much as we want to and help us harness it to the fullest. Do away with the old norms and break through the barriers. See our strength and capacity, not our ‘inferiority’.

Hence dear patriarchy, for once, let us be.