In Defense Of Witches

The world should say sorry to women for many reasons.

They endure debilitating and life-threatening pregnancies and childbirths, yet they are called weak.

It’s a shame that it’s 2024, and the torture to her continues.

A woman can get pregnant as easily as a weed starting in a field, but they are forced to continue it.

Now I am a mother of two, and my kids are my priority, the product of trust and purpose.

But accidents happen, and one should not force a woman if she is not keen. Childcare is not for the faint of hearts. It needs immense courage.

If I did not have childcare responsibilities, I would write all day and pursue high-earning jobs. But since I have kids, I struggle to sit at my study nook. I have a provider spouse, so life is still good. Imagine the pressure on a single mother who has to juggle job and kids.

Nobody should force a woman for anything.

While the abortion ban is a recently-imposed Draconian law, shoved down the throat of women, it’s not the first!

Females have always been oppressed, and I feel sorry for them.

Let me give few examples.

1.

I had gone to a friend’s place for her grandfather’s funeral. She told me the man had married a woman who was into sorcery, so she was abandoned, and her sister was married off to the man. I find this fishy. Was it because the first woman could not bear a child, or did the man make her sister pregnant?

2.

I knew another old relative from close. She had two daughters, and her spouse died. The brothers of the deceased man split his share of land among themselves and decided to give some wages to the woman. It was very little. As decades passed and the cost of living increased, they still kept the wages stagnant. What a shame! The woman, once a landlord’s daughter, lived in penury and loneliness, through no fault of her own!

3.

A divorced teacher lives in a rental on our property. People say she is of loose character because she talks to men. What do they know how difficult is it to run a school, raise a little girl, and lead a life with dignity in a patriarchal world?

4.

We had an old neighbor woman who talked gibberish sometimes and had a Kali (a vicious form of goddess Durga) deity in her puja pedestal. She was called a witch! I remember sometimes she brought us cucumbers from her vine, and when our lonely rabbit escaped to her yard, she kept it for the rest of the rabbit’s life. She said she treated the rabbit as a daughter and buried it when it died.

“Witches are the ultimate rebels against a society that says it knows best.” — Unknown

So, when people say a woman is a witch or characterless, I refuse to believe it.

I am a woman, educated, a wife and mother. Though I may have escaped the barrage of accusations, I have still endured my share of sufferings. So, I have empathy for fellow females.

A man with magical powers, is called a wizard and a woman a witch. Both terms mean different things. The latter has a derogatory meaning.

In medieval times, witch hunts were rampant. I vaguely know about the Salem witch trials in 1692.

Let me tell you, the modern influencers persuading you to buy those dangerous endocrine-disrupting products are worse than those witches.

What do you have to say about this topic? Do you believe in witches, or do you feel sorry for those misunderstood women?

Note: This story was originally published in Medium.