Of late, there are Indian advertisements that target women with their pseudo empowerment tactics - they superficially appear to propagate feminist principles but end up being exactly the opposite.
Women in India have been confined to the households for many hundred years now, citing age old traditions and fallacious inveterate beliefs that the society imposes. Only in the past hundred years, there have been reformists who voiced out for the freedom of women. With women still fighting to free themselves from the clutches of the household, Indian advertisements have started targeting them with themes of women empowerment only to sell household articles.
An ad that promotes a dish washing bar starts off with a kid filling one of his school forms. He writes down his father’s occupation as a bank manager. When he reads out the next field as mother’s occupation, he quips “Nothing?”. With visible disappointment in her face, his mother continues to wash dishes. The husband approaches her with sympathy and tells her that he knows about her ambition to start a bakery. The woman responds that she can create an identity for herself only when she is relieved from all the household chores.
She wipes a stainless steel plate with the dish washing bar and it shines like a mirror only to show her reflection. On seeing her reflection in the plate, she says to herself “Identity” as if realising something. She realises that she has finished washing all dishes. Her husband adds “so soon?”. The woman has got ample time to think about her startup now - a bakery at her doorstep. The final scene portrays her in a new makeover working at her bakery and her son brimming with pride.
Does this ad stay grounded to a genuine belief in gender equality?
The answer is No.
Why does the woman need to finish off her household chores and only then start off with her ambition? Why does she have to hold on to the household chores as her primary responsibility?
Why does her choice of profession be related to cooking? Why can’t the ad show her as a politician or a wrestler or a pilot? Why can’t the ad portray her to do something that is nowhere related to a household chore?
The ad endorses a dish washing bar and tactically attracts women with this pseudo-feminist agenda. There are women who fall for it. Some women accept this as their way of life as society influences them with age old beliefs. The ad cannot have a man holding a dish washing bar, that defeats the purpose of their campaign with the current regressive state of Indian societies.
There are men who post on Women’s day and Mother’s Day about the sacrifices of women in their home to bring up a child, to manage the household work, to cook for them on time and help them find misplaced items at home. Let us not glorify the self sacrificing women, instead let us celebrate the women who broke free out of their households chasing their dreams.
Happy women’s day to all such women !!!
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