Roya Saberzada
As women, we are fed beautiful slogans and poetic platitudes about womanhood and motherhood on a daily basis. My hope is that we will be able to think beyond these superficial notions of womanness and work for equality. These quotes and slogan that appear to praise us are often sexist and I hope we will not believe them. I want us to respect ourselves as full human beings even if others don’t. I want us to spend time getting to know ourselves. I want us to know our powers and strengths.
I want us not to see being called “an angel” as praise but rather seek to be recognized as humans. We must be human and not afraid of making mistakes. Whether in public or private, people makes mistakes. We do not have to be the faultless guardians of heaven. What we must do is work, try, learn, fight for equality and make something for ourselves, not be the owners of a heaven that wasn’t made for us in the first place.
We must work tirelessly to be economically independent. We must remember that economic self-sufficiency is at the heart of achieving our individual freedoms and being recognized as full human beings.
Let us not forget our identity as independent beings. We have a right to be ourselves, to define femininity for ourselves, to not allow anyone to call us “black headed”* or praise us for being “manly.”
I want us to forgo the notion that we are dainty beings. We have been trained to be and act dainty. From childhood, they gave us dolls and our brothers gun toys and trucks. We were trained to be dainty and breakable. They were trained to be brave and strong. They told us not to exercise. From the day they took away opportunities for our physical strengthening they intended to make us physically weak.
Most Importantly, I want us to remember solidarity. Let’s come together and support one another. The best way to fight misogyny is by practicing solidarity. Let’s begin by enlightening our own minds and believing in our own ability to bring change.
Read this piece in Persian here.