‘The future is female’- this slogan rising out of lesbian separatist movements has not only stirred pop culture but gained sufficient momentum in the political field as well. From attire to tattoos, ‘the future is female’ has sensationalized the world and the youth culture symbolising the rebellious nature of youth against authority, religion and tradition.
Amidst all these, one can look at the chaos that was created by the seeming proposition when Hillary Clinton in the MAKERS conference, 2017 declared, “ Despite all the challenges we face, I remain convinced that, yes, the future is female.” However, contrary responses leveled that the slogan itself was against the idea of gender equality.
It is noteworthy that the slogan emerges out time and again occupying a significant discursive space – political and social, unable to be subdued. In fact, the slogan has become a tool for any political party to attract women and youth culture along with the changing social consciousness of gender across societies.
‘The future is female’ slogan can also be seen as a metaphor at one level looking at the term emblematic of negating unidimensional masculinities, caste structure, and racism. It is important to look at oppression in their definite specificities simultaneously connecting at the broader structure. One such area that can be analyzed in the Indian context is the intertwining of caste and gender. When one looks at the way both these areas are treated, it is problematic to see scholars focussing on caste, looking at caste as an alienated problem surpassing gender discrimination.
Frankly, this idea of prioritising one above the other has harmed the cause splitting the very basic idea –‘oppression’. In the Indian context, hence, gender and caste should be seen as constituting the category ‘female’- ‘the future is female’. The turbulence that is created in making the slogan should be understood to incorporate wider dimensions of injustice and marginalized sections taking charge of the future and problematise the concept of being ‘female’ to being assertive and active.
Let us look at the female Nobel Prize winners of 2020- Andrea Ghez in physics, Jennifer Doudna and Emanuelle Charpentier in chemistry, Louis Gluck in literature. Emmanuelle Charpentier after receiving the prize said,“I think it’s very important for women to see a clear path. I think the fact that Jennifer Doudna and I were awarded this prize today can provide a very strong message for young girls. A similar statement was shared by Jennifer Doudna, “I’m proud of my gender. I think it’s great, especially for younger women, to see this and to see that women’s work can be recognized as much as men’s.”
This shows that women once who had to fight for voting rights, publish books with pseudonyms have taken the charge, very aptly justified winning almost all the categories of the Nobel Prize. It will be an injustice to use ‘female’ as a metaphor completely in this context since their distinctive individualities were fundamental in fetching them the most coveted honour and justifying in one sense, given a chance, women have the capabilities to achieve anything in the universe.
This shows that, in fact, the future is female. As a metaphor, what we can learn is the power of the marginalized and the oppressed who are fighting the grandiose jargon thrown in the name of caste justifying traditional social structures through which knowledge was seen fundamental only to a particular caste and gender. We should hence, make the future female since female is the apt metaphor to represent the unprivileged and the marginalized.
The dynamics of caste and gender shows unlike the common representation of the periphery/centre model, the idea of periphery and centre can be constructed within the same space, the same household, the same society, and the same civilization eventually justifying the traditional model structured around the values transcending the immediate world almost into metaphysical absolutes which furnishes power only to the topmost layers of the society. It is very important to break this hegemony since it is through the hegemony of religion and religious leaders that the ‘female’ was/is rendered voiceless. It is hence, important to take power by reason and arguments and make the future female.
(Written by Santu Neog, Assistant Professor, Shyama Prasad Mukherji College, Delhi University. The views expressed are the author’s own. Headline 8 neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)