This Republic Day, we are urging women to ask for their #RightToBe. While the Indian Constitution guarantees us a lot of rights for our safety and protection, there are certain unsaid prejudices that keep us from being treated as equal citizens.
So, in a bid for equality and a better quality of life, we are asking for a society free from inequality. We are raising our voice, fighting our fight, and asking for our #RightToBe.
#RightToBe vocal about our mental health
We are asking for the right to claim our mental health as our own. Being tired, being exhausted, asking for help, and not feeling ourselves on some days – it's all okay.
We want to be our best version on some days, and cut ourselves a whole lot of slack and on others. We want the world to know we don't have it together every day; anxiousness takes us over at times. We're asking for the stigma associated with mental health to be removed, and we're asking not to be judged for catering to our minds' and bodies' needs.
We can be tired, and still winning. We can be not in control, and still be okay.
#RightToBe single
We are asking for the right to decide our relationship status. That includes being alone but not lonely, being independent and happy. Let us go on dating apps and look for love if we want, and let us love ourselves if that's what our hearts yearn.
That also means we can stay unmarried or without a man for as long as we want, and have a child without ever marrying at all. We're asking that society stops forcing us to get mingled. We're happy being single!
#RightToBe in a relationship
We are asking for the right to be in whatever relationship we see fit– whether with a man or with another woman. We're asking not to be judged for our choices, to be married early or married late, or not be married at all.
Whether we live-in with our girlfriend, or live separately from our husband, the decision is ours. We are also asking for financial independence or dependence as we see fit – I can be a housewife and I can be the breadwinner; I can be it all.
#RightToBe appreciated in the workplace
We are asking for the right to be seen in the workplace. That includes being bossy and assertive on some days without being asked if we're PMS-ing. It also means getting equally paid, beings equally treated, and having an equal shot at that promotion.
We're also asking for the world to stop discriminating against new mothers or wives. We're asking to be safe in the office space that's mine.
#RightToBe independent
We are asking for the right to be happy on our own. Whether as married women or unmarried women, whether as mothers or bosses or colleagues or friends, we are just asking to be us without society telling us what it would rather see us as.
We want to stop being told to "behave as women." We want to be loud and quiet, happy and sad, we want to express our heart's content and even our miseries. We want to be crazy and courageous, and slightly dumb but very smart. We want to be all we can be.
#RightToBe me
We are asking for the right to fight our fights, without being called hysterical. Don't tell us we live in an equal world; don't even support us if you wouldn't; but let us fight our fights. Because even if we're stopped, we'll rally on.
We are asking for the right to be me – anything, everything, or nothing at all, but me.
