“Ritu, could you please check if Harsh has done his homework and then cook some snacks, I am very hungry!”, her husband asked her as he just reached home after spending the same amount of time as she did at her office.
“But Beta, Ritu has just come few minutes ago. Let her relax a bit.”, her father-in-law tells his son.
“Don’t worry Papa, Ritu is a superwoman. She can do this and much more!”
Ritu just smiles as she feels blessed to have a husband who feels proud of her and values her. Even though she was very tired, without wasting a second, she goes directly into the kitchen to cook some snacks.
But, this isn’t just Ritu’s story. It is the story of many of us, who have fallen into the trap of being a superwoman or ‘perfect woman.’ We put ourselves under so much pressure to be the perfect wife, perfect mom, perfect daughter, perfect care-taker much more.
We are raised to believe that we as women can’t be anything less than a perfect woman. While many of us take pride in being called a superwoman, it is heartbreaking that this isn’t a compliment. It’s rather a curse. It’s an excuse to make women do a lot of work without complaining about it.
So, doesn’t matter how tired we are or how ill we are, we hold ourselves accountable to be there for others. And, sadly most of our chores that we indulge ourselves in often go unnoticed and are unpaid This superwoman concept stems from the rudimentary thought of how women are still expected to do most of the work to fulfill the unending family expectations.
The glorification of the concept of being a superwoman has deprived many women of a lot of things and gave them just one thing – UNHAPPINESS.
Doesn’t matter how well we do, we always feel less. We always feel inadequate. We become captive of the “Being a superwoman” concept so much that we start putting others over our own self. We tend to forget own self and start sacrificing ourselves for others.
So, here’s a small request to our society:
Dear Society, Do women a favor and stop labeling us as Superwomen!
Your Superwomen tag has done more harm than good. Every year on Women’s Day or Mother’s day, please stop celebrating women with multiple arms doing thousands of chores. Stop feeding our brains with the stories of how society expects women to be a multi-tasker; how we need to serve others without caring about ourselves! Stop putting the pressure on women to live up to your expectations as the perfect woman.
Dear Women, You are not superwoman.
And you shouldn’t be. Because we are not born with superpowers. No one is. Don’t let society fool you. Because in the end, being a superwoman isn’t a compliment or a thing to be proud of. Rather, it’s a society’s bad trick to push us to do more work for others at the cost of our own happiness, peace, and health.