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Feminism means giving women equal power and choice to do what they will with their lives, careers, and bodies.
If a woman chooses her career, it is a choice we must respect, even if it means aborting a child. If a woman chooses to be a housewife or start a family, it is a choice we must respect, even if it means giving up a promising career.
A woman should not be forced by her spouse or societal pressure to choose one or the other. She should do it out of her own volition and know that she will receive support for her decisions.
I understand why Aarfa can be problematic. India has a history of forcing women to choose family over career. Women who make family sacrifices for career are frowned upon, while men who do the same are lauded. There is strong social pressure to avoid abortion. So it is disappointing to see a woman who changes and sacrifices so easily for the sake of a man who does not do the same for her. It was her choice though. In the end it is a fiction that represents something real in India. There are plenty of other movies to show career women in a positive light.
What the feminist movement needs is not criticizing women for their choices but giving men the choice to choose family over career. It is about time it became acceptable for men to become child rearers, nurturing house husbands and homemakers instead of career. One of the biggest challenge career women face is that they have the burden of career and family because men who share the domestic burden are perceived as whipped or unmanly. Perceptions are changing, but a long way to go.
Udne Ki Aasha
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