My take on Deepika’s “My choice”

Since long we have been talking about women equality, empowerment, Nirbhaya and a lot of organizations have been creeping up only for the same. But have we done something which can actually make each and every woman feel secure of doing whatever she wants to do? We still have parents who tell their daughters not to pursue a career in fashion designing, acting, mechanical engineering etc. There are husbands who prevent their wives from having a career. The hooligans in the streets have made it the most unsafe place for a woman. The society still blames the woman for being there. 

More than half of Indians came together to protest against the rapists in the Nirbhaya case but has there been any effect? Have we been able to prevent rapes or at least have we been able to bring the government to take adequate steps to prevent such crimes? We all know the truth. The culprits of Nirbhaya rape case are still languishing in jail giving interviews to news channels at the cost of the Indian tax payer. When the Potus Mr.Obama visited India, the police installed 15000 CCTV cameras in Delhi. They didn’t have an answer when the Delhi high court questioned them why the same was not done for the safety of women in Delhi.

Deepika Padukone’s video on women empowerment, not sure if it was a marketing tactic for her next  movie Piku, but a  video that has notched 73.18 lakh views and is still trending. “My choice” to do whatever I like is the message conveyed. There are a lot of issues where a woman needs freedom to say it was “My Choice” in her life. But Deepika was more focused on having more sex. Is it the sole issue for women empowerment? In a county which is competing for the top spot with the largest number of people with HIV, is this truly women empowerment? Is the right to education or right to safety any less important than having more sex? But then Deepika’s intention was not actually women empowerment, was it? Guess it was rather to storm up a controversy for the free publicity it would create for her movie. The same is with most of our celebrities and various organizations. True women empowerment is the heart of the Indian society. If we don’t address this issue in its true sense, the very founding pillars of the Indian society would fall.

As women we need to understand what is best for us. We are not to be swayed by such videos which are not the true reflection of women empowerment. Let us fight for the right to education for women, right to safety, right to free speech, right to live and right to excel. We have to make ourselves confident enough to take decision for ourselves – a decision that leads us for "complete physical, mental and social well-being”.

This article is written by Sandhya Ravi Bhat. Follow her on Facebook here.