This was written in Telugu.
What follows is my free translation of some parts of this essay.
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Liberty, equality, fraternity - was the slogan of the French revolution.
The three parts of this slogan are independent entities, but they are
sequential. Many don't seem to realize the difference between liberty
and equality. There are those who believe
that if equality is achieved, liberty will follow. One can achieve
liberty without achieving eqality, but equality without liberty is
meaningless. It won't last. To remove inequalities in the society,
and for the people to live with equal rights and opportunities, the
first thing to achieve is liberty. Liberty is not something we can get
from somebody nor is it something that can be offered to us by somebody.
Liberty is to recognize our needs, our existence and things that are most
essential for us. This is not easy to do. What we are talking about is
liberation from ourselves, from the traditions and thoughts we grew up with,
and from the beliefs we are attached to. When social changes become
inevitable, the desire for liberty rises in the people. Those
in search of liberty begin to ask questions about the society, their
existence in the society, their relationship with the society, and the
oppressive nature of these relationships. They start looking for answers.
This quest for answers could lead to distresses, but there is joy in
these struggles. If we don't understand the concept of liberty,
don't realize it and enjoy it, all the struggles in our lives are meaningless.
Every person should realize liberty -- liberty from the control by others.
In realizing this liberty, one understands that such liberty should not be
detrimental to others. The realization of this responsibility cannot be
achieved by those who don't have liberty. A person who achieves liberty
becomes responsible for himself and for the society. One with liberty
understands that it always comes with responsibility, and that conversely,
lack of responsibility reflects slavery to something or the other.
Women who don't question the roles the society placed them in, who don't
question the consequences of such roles for their existence, who don't
understand how meaningless their lives have become, are leading irresponsible
lives. Women who think that they are born just to get married, that they
get married to serve the husbands by cooking for them and raising their
children, that there is no better goal for them than that, that their peace
is tied to preserving the peace in the family, are leading irresponsible
lives. These women are neither actively interested in their lives nor in
the society. Even men who say that the society should change, strongly
believe that it is they who would bring about the change and that it would
be sufficient for the women to assist them when needed while taking
care of the families. The real danger for the patriarchal society comes
when the women realize that it is their lives and the attitudes of men
towards them that need to be changed.
Those who don't understand their responsibilities to themselves and to
the society cannot desire liberty. Some people have a serious problem with
the concept of these responsibilities. Some women would say that getting
married and raising children is their responsibility. We should ask if this
responsibility is a chosen one or one imposed on women by the patriarchal
society. If we pursue answers to this question, we will understand the very
foundations of the patriarchal society. We will understand the methods
of oppression of women and their history. We will enter the arena of
reproductive rights politics. We will come to the arena of control, power,
and sexual relationships. We will come to realize that sexuality and
reproductive roles have ruled the lives of women and weaved a social
structure around them. Once we realize this, it is not difficult to
understand that wife, mother, prostitute etc are roles imposed upon us and
not responsibilities chosen by us. We will cherish the liberty to choose
for ourselves what we want to be. For most women the realization that
traditional roles were imposed upon them comes through personal
experiences - experiences of oppression and experiences of violence that
threaten their very existence. Their lives become mired in
distress. When these women strongly desire to understand the social
mechanisms that control their lives, then we see the first indications of
their quest for liberty. There will always be a struggle between the
desires of such individuals for liberty and the traditional social controls.
This struggle is more intense in the case of women. But this is a very
valuable struggle. This struggle is very essential for the society to
become more democratic and for individuals to lead happier lives. There
will never be a mechanism acceptable to everyone. The special role of
feminism is in politicizing the struggle between individual rights and
what are believed to be the social responsibilities of women..
Sitaramayya Ari.