Why Women Empowerment Is A Farce

-Rudrangshi Saha

8th March—Women’s Day. 

11th May—Mother’s Day. 

24th September—Daughter’s Day. 

11th October—International Girl Child Day. 

Are you exhausted yet? Because I am. Exhausted from the performative charade that masquerades as 'empowerment.' These conveniently labelled days, dripping in pseudo-feminist rhetoric, aim to celebrate women, or so we are told. But ask yourself: What’s the point? What’s the point of it all when every other day of the year, women’s cries of injustice are reduced to just another statistic in the ceaseless cycle of gender-based violence, oppression, and systemic disregard? Do these violent headlines even pinch anymore? Or have we finally become numb to the routine brutality?

A Gimmick, Not Progress 

Let’s start with this: 'empowering' women. The very word reeks of condescension. If you must empower someone, it implies they lack power to begin with. Are women such secondary characters that require a saviour to grant them strength? This is the heart of the issue: the notion that power is bestowed upon women by others—men, governments, organisations, or woke movements. Gender equality is about equality of opportunities and rights, not the implication that one gender is weaker. Yet, the narrative of 'empowerment' is precisely what reinforces this flawed dynamic.

And what’s the use of celebrating women on a single day when the other days are spent disrespecting, undervaluing, and tarnishing them? What’s the use of the sudden reverence for women on Women’s Day or Girl Child’s Day when, let’s face it, the other 364 days remain saturated with microaggressions, objectification, and institutional neglect? Mere show-biz.

This is not a new thought, nor is it radical. Virginia Woolf, in her book A Room of One’s Own (1929), already questioned this idea when she argued that women need space and autonomy, not empowerment granted by the societal gatekeepers. Even Faye D'Souza, the bold and unapologetic Indian journalist, once said, "Women don't need protection, we need safety." A sentiment that powerfully dismantles the flawed mainstream narrative of 'empowerment.'

Now, why am I writing about something that I’m certain has already filled hundreds of articles? Because, despite the ocean of words, the real message remains unheard. The truth is buried beneath layers of rhetoric, ignored, discarded, and dismissed. Everything that needs to be said has already been said, yet the urgency of it drowns in complacency. I’m writing this because it must be repeated—over and over again—until the deaf ears finally listen, until the apathetic eyes finally open to see.

The Rise of the 'Woke' Preachers 

Isn’t it ironic how suddenly everyone becomes a champion of women’s safety when a headline screams rape or assault? Yet, on a regular day, when the friend ogles a woman, cracks a derogatory joke, or casually tosses out a sexist comment in a group chat, where does that 'wokeness' evaporate to? Does it morph into a superficial ‘dankness’ where every “dark” joke is nothing but a thinly veiled excuse for inherent misogyny? Is this feminism reserved solely for the public eye, or does it extend to calling out the rot within one’s inner circle? The reality is, 'wokeness' and ‘feminism’ have become a trend, where the latter has lost its true identity and the former is just a tool to self-aggrandize and project an image of moral superiority without ever engaging in real, uncomfortable change. It’s cool to preach women’s safety, but it’s not so cool to hold your own accountable, is it?

This hypocrisy is ingrained in literature too—Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid's Tale paints a dystopian picture where superficial respect for women masks a deeply entrenched, oppressive system. Atwood herself has stated that her book was inspired by real events, real societies, where the ‘empowerment’ of women was nothing more than a political tool.

Moreover, this culture of performative feminism extends far beyond the hashtags and social media posts. It's woven into the ethos of societal norms. Women are 'empowered' to carry pepper spray, to learn karate, to take self-defence classes. And sure, learning self-defence is a great skill—if you choose to. But why is it obligatory? Why is it that women need to arm themselves for a world that refuses to deal with the real culprits—the men who make them feel unsafe in the first place? Why must the onus always be on women to protect themselves, rather than addressing the roots of the violence?

Misandry ≠ Misogyny 

Here’s another jest: the rise of misandry disguised as feminism. Some people today, in their quest for 'empowerment,' have started equating male bashing with progress. As if degrading men somehow uplifts women. This distorted version of feminism isn’t equality—it’s simply the flip side of misogyny, and it’s every bit as toxic. A Pew Research Report from 2023 found that online misandry has seen a sharp rise in recent years, often disguised as ‘progressive’ or ‘feminist’ rhetoric.

And to these so-called feminists who post heartfelt pictures with their mothers or daughters on social media—are you really respectful of women, or are you simply desperate for clout? Respect doesn't need an audience. If you genuinely respect women, you don’t need to prove it with selfies and slogans.

Blame the Patriarchy? Sure, But That's Not the Point 

Yes, patriarchy is a problem, but it's not the entirety of the problem. The issue isn’t about the prevalence of one sex over the other; it’s about true equality, about dismantling the systems that perpetuate inequality across the board. In her famous TED Talk, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses how women are conditioned from an early age to accept inferiority. Yet, this conditioning isn’t only a product of ‘patriarchy’—it’s also supported by the women who internalize and perpetuate these ideas.

So, blaming everything on the big bad 'patriarchy' might be a convenient scapegoat, but it’s lazy. It’s far easier to point fingers at an abstract societal structure than to hold ourselves accountable for our daily complicity in the very systems we claim to despise.

The Elaborate, Consumerist Trap 

All these 'special' days—Women's Day, Daughter’s Day, Mother's Day—are nothing more than a marketing gimmick. It’s a capitalist ploy designed to package respect for women into a neatly consumable product, sold in pink wrapping paper, dripping in snobbery. A day of flowers and cards to mask countless days of disrespect. In 2019, a study by Harvard Business Review pointed out that companies that plaster social media with Women's Day messages have gender pay gaps that remain largely unaddressed. A quick post on Twitter doesn’t change that women still earn 77 cents for every dollar a man earns, on average, according to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report. Doesn’t that say enough?

It’s easier to pretend to care for a day than to actually advocate for real, systemic change. And those preaching women’s safety only when it’s trending? They are complicit in this thespian ride as well. The problem is not that women need more safety protocols; the problem is that they need a world where they don’t need those protocols in the first place.

Conclusion (Or, Is It?)

So here’s my question—if we’re aware of these, why do we keep playing along with this charade? Why do we continue to pretend that 'empowerment' means anything when it’s built on the foundation of a society that insists women are weak, incapable, and in need of saving? The problem isn’t that women need to be given power—it’s that they already have it, it’s the society that refuses to recognize it. We don’t need more days to 'celebrate' women; we need fewer days of treating them like second-class citizens. If true empowerment means anything, it means dismantling the systems that make these days necessary in the first place.

Hence, stop giving women flowers and start giving them the world they deserve. Because until that happens, these 'special' days remain nothing more than a joke—a show put on for the benefit of those too blind to see the cracks on the very podium they’re standing.