Femina
I’m sure you must have furtively ruffled through its pages in your school library or on the roadside bookstands, not once but umpteen times during your adolescence. Its glossy pages were as much an invitation to your teen years as the glamorous women who adorned them.
And if you were someone like me, the magazines must have accompanied you in your early adulthood with only a significant shift in the content preference.
Yesterday, a friend shared the cover page of Femina August 2025 issue in a group, and all I can say is that I was overwhelmed, to say the least. To me, it vociferously spoke of Freedom! Women’s freedom from the shackles of the preconceived notions of beauty, boldness and behaviour. In fact, the English magazine had always stood out for its offbeat outlook but this particular cover seemed phenomenal.

The August 2025 cover pays an impressive tribute to ‘Women Warriors‘. The ten Women officers of the Indian Army, from Colonels to Lance Naiks, who are on the page, in my opinion, spell out a freedom that perhaps took rather too long to achieve. No longer is it the face of an actor or a model in nude shades or novel silhouettes, flaunting attire and attitude. It is a powerful presentation of grit and glamour through the coming together of distinguished Indian women officers in their olive-green uniforms and black boots.
And that indeed boasts of a latitude in embracing a more inclusive and intentional image of a Woman.
Freedom, sure it is, in accepting that a Woman is not only about looks and lifestyle but also equally about brain and brawn. Women have been shattering the glass ceilings since ages but this shift in narrative will project an unexplored side of the gender – the charm that lies in courage and the relatability that exudes from the rawness of the real. And, now, more than ever before, such an emancipated portrayal of women needs to emerge for the upcoming generations to espouse and embrace.
In the words of Lucy Maude Montgomery
“We must have ideals and try to live up to them, even if we never quite succeed. Life would be a sorry business without them. With them it’s grand and great.”
So, SHE needs to be free from how society perceives her and even how she is accustomed to see herself. She has to be free from the regressive notions of fairness and prettiness and reject any relationship that leads to abuse and alienation. She has to hold the reins of her own life and resolve to turn her own fairytale into reality. She has to be resolute enough to become a force to reckon with. She has to stand up to be counted and wear her preferences with passion and panache. She has to be herself before others make a beautiful bonsai of her.
She is the princess and the warrior, the mother and the martyr, the champion and the cause!

I came across this advertisement in one of the city’s leading newspapers today. It’s not a usual one. The woman flaunting the jewellery wears a close-cropped hair, which certainly speaks of choice and candour over curb and constraints. Today, we may not be wrong to assert that beauty lies in the perspective of the participant. And, therefore, we have models with Down Syndrome, with vitiligo, with conditions causing hair loss, with wrinkles and white hair, with dusky skin and plus-sized bodies and of course, with non-binary identities. For the first time in more than 75 years of freedom, a woman is free to live her “Self” by smashing the stereotypes and celebrating her own version of beauty.

But while I bask in the buoyancy of the change that pertains to the visual beholding of the woman, doubt and despair keep burgeoning in my mind about her limitations, even at this moment. Women have been subject to mindless violence and appalling brutality since ages and last year was no exception. Rather, in 2024 the entire nation was left bruised and bleeding to see her women exposed to such abominable experiences.
True that it challenged the existence of Her Being but then it also carved the way for rigorous reforms and remarkable resilience. Here, however, I must abashedly admit that while there is no guarantee of the safety and security of a girl even when I write this down, yet every change is worth it. No matter how small it seems, it will have a seminal impact in the days to come.
It is no longer equality but equity that every woman demands and “My courage always rises at every attempt to intimidate me.” (Jane Austen) After all, SHE is the Devi, whom we endearingly call our Mother and also the Mahishasura Mardini, who exterminates evil and fortifies fairness in every field.

Having invoked the Devi, let us remind ourselves that there is a Durga in each one of us. May the image of the ‘Women Warriors’ arouse within us a unique and uncompromising form of Maa Durga – the Katyayani Devi or the Warrior Goddess. The sixth manifestation of Durga, she is venerated for her vision and her valour as she rides a lion and holds her fourth hand in the ‘Abhaya mudra‘. Armoured with a sword and symbols of power, she is the fiercest form of the Devi and the one created to vanquish the demon. She represents wrath, a necessary evil, which arises when Adharma (injustice) abounds and inhumanity reigns.
And it is precisely then that every She experiences the free will to manifest ‘Her’ and restore righteousness and reflection in a society that is destined for evolution and empathy.

By Promita Banerjee Nag
An avid word enthusiast and content-churner, Promita is fuelled by novel writings, ideas and light-hearted banter. A teacher by passion, she treads the path of unequivocal learning with and through her students. Mother, music and ‘mishti’ mostly convince her. If you wish for a tête-à-tête, feel free to reach out to her at promita033@gmail.com.
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