A Negotiation by Smriti Chaudhary

Artwork: Tête de Femme (Head of a Woman) by Pablo Picasso (1962).

I am angry, because not all of us

Have mastered the art of negotiation.

And negotiating with a patriarchal society

Is like walking into an open mouth

Of a very hungry lion.

You know it isn’t possible to walk out.

I am angry, because not all of us

Have the freedoms to exchange for independence.

Women are born empty handed. Everything

That we have, our education, and jobs, and

Love, all of it is given, and can be

Taken away any moment as they please.

I am angry, because not all of us

Win negotiations. Some of us are just a part of

These negotiations: I give you my daughter

And in return, she stores and saves our honour.

Deal? Negotiations on us and for us by

Husbands, fathers, brothers, they never stop.

I am angry, because not all of us

Have the energy for negotiations.

We will birth and raise your kids, in return

You let us keep our job, and act as if

We are superwomen? No, thank you.

We are humans, and want to be treated like one.

I am angry, because not all of us

Are permitted to love, but the ones who fight

And marry for love, end up being puppets

Of ridicule in a foreign home

An unwanted alien who must be bended

To follow the laws of land.

I am angry, because not all of us

Care to satisfy the male ego in your

Patriarchal set up. We don’t want to

Look like a lady, act like a lady, despite

Personalities that are very different from your

Idea of ladylike, just for your admiration. 

I am angry, because not all of us

Can tolerate the façade you people hide

Behind. We recognise the misogynist in you

When your educated and empowered

Sisters and daughters are asked to change when

Your friends come home.

I am angry, because not all of us

Can exchange our individualities

For acceptance in your world. Don’t ask us

To adjust, to make sacrifices, where men

Move around scot-free, and then pretend

To be on our side. Your empathy is not real, we know.

I am angry, because not all of us

Can lead a life of negotiations. You give me freedom

In return for a control over it.

You decide how free I will be, then let me be free.

You choose definitions for my freedom, and then boast

About how you let me be.

I am angry, because none of us

Are free.