Women's oppression survives not only through external control but also through the internal acceptance of identities imposed by society. Freedom cannot be permanently granted from outside; it must arise from an individual's own sense of dignity, agency, and responsibility. While laws, institutions, and support systems matter, lasting liberation begins when people stop defining themselves through inherited limitations and choose to assert their own consciousness, freedom, and self-worth.
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Questioner: Namaste Acharya Ji. So I was going through your article that got published today in The Pioneer. It's titled “New Regimes, Ancient Hunger: Women as First Casualty.”
Acharya Prashant: Women as first casualty. Yes.
Questioner: So apart from talking in depth about women in conservative societies in general, the main issue that has come to note in the news is the recent law in Afghanistan, where now men can even beat up their wives. As long as the bones are not broken or the wounds are not visible, they cannot do anything; they’re legally allowed to do that now. I just want to ask you: what do you make of this? But what should we make of this?
Acharya Prashant: See, the women have to make sense of this. The women have to decide what it means for them. They are the ones who have to take control of their lives. What can it mean to me or to you? We are men sitting far away from their places, their borders, their cultures, their contexts. Whatever we say will fall short of resonating with their lived experience. So even our deepest empathies will be a bit like lip service. It’s the women who will have to come forward.
