Song | Hijab, Abortion, Marital Rape: I'm a Woman and I Will Exercise My CHOICE

Written and performed by: Mekhala Saran and Prateek Lidhoo

Camera, Direction, Editing: Puneet Bhatia

Camera Assistant: Ribhu Chatterjee

Music: Prateek Lidhoo

Senior Editor: Rohit Khanna

In Iran, women are seeking their right to not wear the Hijab.

In Karnataka, school and college-going girls are seeking their right to wear the Hijab.

In several states of America, women are seeking a reaffirmation of their right to safe abortion.

In India, we are fighting in courts to criminalise marital rape.

And these are just some of the battles that women have embarked upon in India, as well as across the world. But all these battles have one key underlying message in common: ultimately all we are asking for is CHOICE.

I'm a woman of this century

I will exercise my choice

I'm a woman of this century

I will exercise my choice

I have seen buildings

fold before they crumble

So how can mere men

Stop me from wearing what I want

Or tell me to wear what I don’t want to

I have seen men

Tumble, fumble, and tremble

So how can they

Strip me

Of my choice

Steal my agency

Crush my voice

I will cover up

As is my right

I will shed layers

And I will fight

You can cover your eyes

And you can hide

No one has asked you to look

If you’re terrified

I'm a woman of this century

I will exercise my choice

I'm a woman of this century

I will exercise my choice

But I won’t go gentle into the good night

I will fight with all my might

And you, bless your heart,

You can keep trying to gaslight

But my choice is my right

Your arguments for its repression

are hackneyed and trite

So, spare me the spite,

Climb down the high horse, take a flight

The truth is bare, there in plain sight

The shiniest silverware can start to rust

Dawn follows even the darkest night

I have watched buildings crumble to dust

And I have history to write

I have seen empires crumble

I have seen these tyrants cry

Don't you question my decisions

Don't you regulate my life

You don't know what I have been through

You don't get to mute my voice

I'm a woman of this century

And I'mma exercise my choice