Having been a literature student, one is bound to be a part of discussions on the much debated term ‘feminism.’ With the growing perspectives into the feminist movement, there have been some theories that have resonated with my beliefs about why women were regarded as the ‘weaker sex’ in the first place for a movement like feminism to come in being. No, they’re not the weaker sex that needs any kind of empowerment. In fact this was one of the arguments I had with a fellow expedition mate on my International Antarctica Expedition 2018 (yes, feminism reached the corners of Antarctica too!)

The very idea of viewing women as the weaker one in the social dynamics was a strategy of the male dominant patriarchy because if they wouldn’t have conditioned us women as the weaker one, the life giving force we have to ourselves would have made us rule the world. Exactly! This was one of the feminist theories I have grown up with as an individual. The gender roles are clearly defined because if women begin to exercise their agency to conceive or not to conceive, that indeed will have a direct impact on the survival of the human race (No wonder the patriarchs can’t accept homosexuality! Connecting the dots here?)

My expedition to Antarctica was an enlightening one. We are expanding our carbon footprint in even the simple choices we are making every day, like buying imported apples as opposed to the local produce. While I was getting sensitized in Antarctica about the issues of climate change and the effects over population has in relation to each individual’s carbon footprint in the world, it dawned on me that we as women do have this agency ‘to conceive or not to conceive’ to put in perspective and move out of the patriarchal defined structures of ‘women as natural nurturers!’

‘You’re just 24 and you’re sure that you’re ‘never’ going to have a child?’ said one of my expedition mates in utter surprise, a happy father of three boys (if I remember it correctly).

The carbon emissions, per country, for every person born in India were 1.8 million metric tonnes of carbon dioxide as per the latest World Bank’s country wise per capita emissions report. An ecosystem which is becoming a threat to its own inhabitants as consequence of their reckless choices, you tell me if it is a wise choice to get a life into being. It’s time to remove your ‘my child, my inheritance’ glasses because it doesn’t go with the circumstances of what’s happening in the world today. Gone are the days when humans were procreating just to keep their species alive.  We live in a world that is bearing the consequences of overpopulation in so many negative ways, will we make an informed decision about our life giving choice a thought?

Everyone has been asking me, since I’m back from my Climate Force International Antarctica Expedition, what am I doing in preserving the environment. And when I tell them that I have decided never to conceive, they scoff it away in ignorance. Rigid patriarchal structures have a tendency to do so to the deviations in its system.

While I am not against motherhood over here, the point is being aware of the kind of contribution we women can make and have a right to make in not negatively contributing to climate change. We do have alternatives to this. Adoption is a wise option if one wants to live the desired parenting life.

Give it a thought. Internalize, maybe? Recognize womanhood in the making of a choice.

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