She is a lady, coated with politeness,
She is a woman, loaded with expectations, in silence.
Her confidence, they termed it bossy,
She was carved from wifman, the female human, softly.
She is stereotyped, romanticized,
Elevated, yet diminished, disguised.
Language seems to empower her name,
But restricts her softly, all the same.
Funny, isn’t it? To feel the power,
Yet stand so powerless every hour.
Her emotions were coined as a drama queen,
Unmarried? An old maid, unseen.
But if she had desires, burning, unforgiving,
They called her a gold digger, just for living.
Lady Macbeth, mad, never blessed,
Ophelia, fire in her chest,
Jane Austen couldn’t rest,
She’s dangerous, fearless and yet suppressed.
She’s fragile as her femininity, they say,
She’s intellectual, the heroine anyway.
In headlines they credit her face,
Her talent? It’s hidden, no trace.
Her marital status makes the news,
But her achievements? Always lose.
But she rebels, again, again,
Independent, resilient, she bears the pain.
A trailblazer, empowered, visionary,
Breaking stigma, rewriting history.
Malala’s fearlessness lights the way,
Michelle Obama leads each day.
She is not other, not defined by men,
She writes her story with her own pen.
Her power turns relentless, proud,
She speaks her truth, fierce and loud.
She was once a word, forgotten, unheard,
Now she’s a sentence reshaping the world.
She is a woman, strong and clear,
She is power, she is here.
Bhumicka Addalti
Apeejay School, Greater Noida
Class: 12-A