What women want...

With Women’s Day around the corner, Nasrin Modak Siddiqi asks a few power women what it means to be a woman & more...

Daughter, sister, wife, mother and more… every woman has it in her to play these roles beautifully and make a difference to the world, even when at all times, she is being treated differently. As we spoke to women about their challenges and strengths, we noticed that across the country, they share the same tests and have the same superpowers to overcome any obstacles that come their way. More power to you girls: continue to be an inspiration and rock the world!

Taapsee Pannu, actor

Taapsee Pannu

Challenging point: To convince my family and people around that I can make my own personal and career decisions and succeed in it. I need not be handheld and hoarded around all the time.

The best part of being a woman: It is the ability to multitask and play so many different roles equally well at the same time.

What would you like to change in the world: I feel we need just a little more love and tolerance towards each other, towards different races, different religions and different genders.

Sathya Saran

Sathya Saran, author, former editor, Femina

Challenging point: It was making my parents realise that if they had brought me up right and taught me the ways to take the decisions I felt were right for me even if they flouted convention, I should be allowed to take those decisions and abide by them. Perhaps, this is something all or most children face and it has nothing to do with gender. But I did feel they were more wary because I was a girl.

The best part of being a woman: It is the ability to feel deeply and the gentleness that comes naturally, especially if one learns to combine it with firmness and strength when it is needed. Of course, at another level, dressing up and feeling beautiful are also wonderful parts of womanhood.

What would you like to change in the world: I would wave a magic wand and make the world forget it invented class, caste and religion. I would have all people worship God in one another and in nature. Tolerance would follow. War would cease to be.

Devita Saraf, CEO, VU Technologies

Devita Saraf

Challenging point: Unlike men, for whom the provider roles have been chalked out for eons, women have a harder challenge in planning their life’s narrative even when they have choices. Deciding our professional and personal life, our motivations and purpose, being a provider or caretaker or both are questions we are asking ourselves every day. Simply defining what is a woman isn’t as straightforward anymore, and the most challenging point is making these conscious choices every day to be what society expects of you while being true to yourself and your aspirations.

The best part of being a woman: Women have an opportunity to be beautiful – in aesthetics, in their outlook, and in their heart. To be a source of positivity and abundance is within every woman, and the world needs feminine power to bring balance and beauty to it.

What would you like to change in the world: Gender roles. There are more women who want to be financially independent and more men who want to be involved parents. We shouldn’t bifurcate roles anymore. Each person should be allowed to have a job, a family, friends, etc and really be their best individual self, be it a man or a woman.

Aahana Kumra

Aahana Kumra, actor

Challenging point: There isn’t one. In any woman’s life, there are millions of them that make life complete. Like the point going from a girl to a woman or when you enter the professional world after a comfortable college and school life, and you are treated unequally. There is a pay gap and you are treated differently because you are a woman – coming to terms with that is a big challenge.

The best part of being a woman: The best part is to be able to feel you are a superwoman. A woman does so much for her family to work. She can give life to another human being, run the whole house by herself, take care of her children, husband and parents. She is one person who is connected to everybody. It’s fantastic to be a woman.

What would you like to change in the world: It would be interesting to see an equal world - in all professions. I’ve seen women being treated differently when they’d be going on maternity leaves or that on a film set there aren’t too many women as there are men – I would like to see an equal world very soon.

Jenny Bhatt, artist

Jenny Bhatt

Challenging point: It’s tough to make people accept that being single is a choice women can make.

The best part of being a woman: Having a girl gang to share laughs with, about women’s experiences. I also have a comic strip on Instagram, @twogirlstalking, that talks about the prejudices women face in their daily lives.

What would you like to change in the world: I wish I could somehow change the world’s tendency to be prescriptive about women’s lives and choices. It is very disheartening.

Dr Swati Popat Vats, educationist, president, Early Childhood Association

Challenging point: Opting for a career over marriage. While most of my friends were getting married and having babies, I was quite comfortable focusing on my career. I had a late marriage. I was waiting for the right person, I didn’t settle for an arranged setup just because it was the right age to marry. I faced a lot of stress from the community and society. Thankfully, my parents were very supportive in making me feel happy in that phase. However, you can’t be completely happy when you are being constantly judged by others. The society is very judgmental of women who want to pursue a career and don’t want to opt for a comfortable family life that society feels is necessary at a particular age.

The best part of being a woman: It’s our ability to care deeply and multitask. I enjoy women’s love for shopping and how we learn to pamper ourselves, spend on ourselves. You learn to just be you and care at the same time about family, children, and the partner. That whole combination of being sensitive, caring and multitasker is what I think is the best part of being a woman.

What would you like to change in the world: I’d like to change society’s perception of what a woman should do, and at what age. A lot of women are not able to actually become what they want or choose the kind of life they want because they are judged. Somewhere that leads to a lot of depression in women. I wish we stop making demands on women which we are not making on men; only then can we say we are a society that cares equally for both genders.