Why new feminism should really mean a new humanism

Like a river with many bends, the idea of feminism has changed course, depth, and width, but flown relentlessly forward.

If the early 20th century saw feminism as the freedom to vote, and later to dress as one pleased, the latter half was about women coming out of their homes, and taking the education and jobs that they wanted.

In the 21st century, much of the thought on feminism is about equality with men, of women "breaking the glass ceiling" to do everything that men do, and enjoying the freedom accorded to them. Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead theorised this thinking of modern feminism.

So what is new feminism and how is it different from modern feminism?

By definition, new feminism means women don’t have to do all that men do, but that there is a "complementarity" in what they can do.

Let’s face it. Despite the progress of all kinds of technology, men aren’t going to bear children in the foreseeable future. That doesn’t make them lesser parents, but different ones. New feminism explores how best men and women can work together, not just to raise children but to strengthen each other and their respective careers.

I come from a second generation of working women: My mother and all my aunts were women with professional careers, married to men who supported them in every way. In that sense, many of my battles had been fought for me.

I wasn’t killed in the womb or at birth. I never had to fight to finish my education or drop out of my career because of marriage. Nor did I have to face family pressure to "have a son".

I married out of choice, and my husband and I raised our daughters while holding down careers. Given all the help that parents, aunts, and uncles give you in India, I did all that I wished to, when I wished to, and don’t regret the choices I made; even the mistakes I made were my own.

I wasn’t alone. When I look around the world, I think my generation had many of those advantages, and examples of women who have "had it all". Global CEOs, world leaders, women at the top of practically every profession. I am speaking, of course, of a privileged, urban reality, but change is apparent across the globe.

However, even as I have taken these blessings for granted, I want my daughters to take much more for granted: The ability to stay home to raise their children if they so wish with the support of their partners, the ability to have their housework accounted for, the ability to move freely, anywhere, anytime without the fear of sexual violence in the home or outside, and the companionship of men and women who are brought up to believe in the same values.

The next bend in the river, I hope, is not just this new feminism, but a new humanism.

Also read: Why feminism is about the collective