I am a Feminist and proud of it: So say these famous Indian Men

“I call myself a feminist. Isn’t that what you call people who fight for women’s rights?” These were the words of the Dalai Lama. And there are more like him.  In a world that treats different genders differently, we need not only women to speak up for themselves, but men too need to embrace feminism.  Today we bring you some of the well-known men in the public eye, who are feminists and proud of it!

Comic and Author: Saurabh Pant (Picture Credit: Femina)

• Sorabh Pant- He is an Indian comic stand-up artist who started the famous East India Company. What makes Sorabh stand apart from other men is his ability to understand women and fight for their rights. He has written two books on women vigilante- The Wednesday Soul and Under Delhi. The books had their share of humour, but they also raised critical women-related issues.

Standing up for women's rights: Rahul Bose (Picture Credit:  ScoopWhoop)

• Rahul Bose- An actor and a professional rugby player, Rahul Bose is also one amongst the few famous male feminists in the country. Apart from voicing his opinions in the public events, he takes part in many campaigns related to women. One such year-long campaign was ‘Ring a Bell’ by an NGO called Breakthrough. It was launched to mobilize one million men around the world in order to end violence against women.  "It's important that men join in this fight to stand up for women's rights. A woman doesn't need a man to stand in front of her as a shield. Her man has to stand beside her. As a rock," he said in an interview with TOI.

Also read: Start of something new: Feminist movement in Pakistan

Feminist and Humanist: Farhan Akhtar (Picture Credit: Siasat)

• Farhan Akhtar- The popular campaign MARD- Men Against Rape and Discrimination was started by our very own bollywood actor and musician Farhan Akhtar in 2013. According to him, he doesn’t fight for a specific gender but for humanity. “Gender violence and gender inequality is not just a women's issue. It's also a man's issue. It's not just because we have mothers, wives, sisters and daughters. We're here because it's a human rights issue and we are all human beings,” said Farhan at an event, as reported by the Vogue.

UN Ambassador for the girl child: Amitabh Bachchan (Picture Credit: contactphonenumbersaddress)

• Amitabh Bachchan- Apart from being a legendary actor, at the age of 72, Amitabh Bachchan is vocal about social causes close to his heart. Currently a UN ambassador for the girl child, Amitabh is all for women empowerment. His focus is on feminism majorly these days, even his last movie Piku had a woman as a central character, wherein Deepika Padukone who played his daughter and sole caretaker.

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Improving work environment for women: Amit Agarwal (Picture Credit:Livemint)

• Amit Agarwal- The Country head and vice president of the Indian branch of Amazon, Amit Agarwal strives to make Amazon a better work place for women in all over the country. He was an active participant of Vogue India’s social awareness campaign, Vogue Empower and contributed in it as a male feminist working towards an equal world for men and women.

Indian male feminist- Ashmin Mushran (Picture Credit: Ashwin Mushran)

• Ashwin Mushran- He is just that guy from that TV show, that Ad and that film you watched going by his Twitter description of himself. But really an incredible actor Mushran supports feminism too. His Tweets highlighting the issue about abuse against women is evidence of that. Here are a few examples-

That's right India...Carry on filing FIR's against Comedy shows while this is the real problem you should be tackling http://t.co/0qektUAmCr

— Ashwin Mushran (@ashwinmushran) February 7, 2015

Indian male feminist-Harrish Iyer (Picture Credit: NDTV)

Also read: The Feminist writers who ignited the flame

• Harrish Iyer- An equal rights activist, Harrish has often times lent his views on feminism publically. “Personally for me, feminism is about equality and not about priority. It’s not about saying women are any greater or lesser than men,” Harrish told SheThePeople.TV. He further added, “A woman is a baby, a woman is a whore and everything in between. An equal is what she is.” A fighter for LGBT rights as well, he feels that most people think that feminism is about being anti-men but we need to distinguish between feminism and misandry. “To live in an equal and a just world all genders need to be treated equally,” Harrish signs off.

We sure need more men like these to join the debate!

Feature Image Credit: Everydayfeminism.com