Oppression.

The society, as we know it, is said to be plagued by oppression. Oppression of the poor. Oppression of the illiterate. Oppression of the underprivileged. Oppression of women. Oppression is spoken of at almost every major platform of communication, but I believe that the true meaning of oppression has been lost somewhere along the way. Oppression, in its most basic sense is misuse of power to deny one of one's rights - including the right to free will. Oppression of free will is the most prevalent form of oppression that exists in the world on this day. Oppression of women is but a form of oppression of free will itself.

Women are denied their rights in most parts of the world under the farce of tradition or religion. Before I elaborate on that, let us look at the female section of the society as consisting of three major parts : The Believers, The Aye-Sayers , The Naive.

The Believer is the woman who actually believes in everything she does - whether it is an age old tradition or a modern world ideal, this woman believes in her actions, rationally. For example, if a Believer is wearing a burkha, it is solely because she believes that it makes sense for her to do so. She does so, not because she is told she must, not because she thinks it is a sin not to, and not because she is afraid of anyone. She does it out of her own free will. The Believer is not oppressed.

The Aye-Sayer is the woman who does not believe in what she does; the woman who knows that she deserves better; the woman who knows that she is being treated unjustly, but is forced to do so out of fear. This woman is coerced by physical force, or the more effective, emotional trauma to do what is preached to be right. This woman does not know her strength, does not have any confidence in herself and does not know that she can change her life. The Aye-Sayer is oppressed and know that she is, but thinks that she has no power to do anything about it.

The Naive is the woman who only knows a life which has restrictions. A life in which she is not allowed to have a life. This woman believes that she is inferior to men, and that her right place is beneath men. The Naive is very often misconstrued to be a Believer because she may seem to believe in everything she does. But in reality, she just does not know any different. The Naive is the woman who is oppressed to the extreme without being aware of the oppression.

While I was drawing out this structure of the female sect of the society, it dawned upon me that this is how the entire society was once structured - when it was plagued by slavery. This turned out to be a very depressing parallel. It is true though, that the Believers may not exist in this parallel, since there is no way of rationalizing slavery, but the fact that oppression of women can be aligned with slavery, is disturbing enough.

There have been far too many discussions and talks on women empowerment. When all is said and done, what is it that we need, at the end of the day? I do not have an answer to that yet, but I think we can start with applauding the Believers, empowering the Aye-Sayers and educating the Naive. Perhaps, that would be the first step to a better world - a world of free women.