There’s an essay entitled ‘The Modern Girl’ that has been doing the rounds on the internet recently. There are some very hurtful sentiments expressed in this essay for all women and girls in the 21st century. It is extremely disheartening to find out that such sub par writing and negative views are reaching the impressionable minds of students as they explore creative writing.
I felt that this topic needed to be revisited and drafted in a manner that might actually be applicable to women today.
Who is the modern girl? How does one even define the term modern? Is it the career girl, the city girl or the western civilisation girl? The only answer to this question is that there is no one answer. How can there be when there is the possibility of so many different personalities, backgrounds, inspirations and inclinations.
If we were to talk about the girls or the women of today then I would say that they are empowered. They are fighting to earn equal respect and to establish the fact that their voices matter as much as anybody else’s. They are exploring the freedom of being whoever they want to be whether it is a political leader, an artist, a homemaker, a mother, a philosopher or all these things at the same time.
Today girls and women are shattering the glass ceiling in every field by governing their lives by their own set of rules instead of some pre-conceived social standards. This in turn does not just empower them and improve their lives but it also improves the lives of everyone around them.
Today we are raising our girls to be the best version of themselves and as a society we are working towards providing the same set of opportunities and avenues to everyone irrespective of gender, caste or creed. So let’s not get shocked if a girl decides that she likes video games better than Barbie dolls, or if a boy likes to play dress up more than toy cars. These man made boundaries should not restrict anyone from following their heart’s desire.
