Celebrity Nutritionist Rujuta Diwekar has stirred up controversy after she said on social media that she feels grinding chutney with hand to be liberating as a woman.
Diwekar said on Twitter, “When you grow up around women, who worry about how finely the chutney is crushed and not how tiny they can get to squeeze into a dress, you grow up to be a liberated woman. This tweet has been trolled badly and it was not taken in good spirit by many women followers.
Several Twitter users criticised her by saying that connecting women's liberation with chutney-making was a regressive move.
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One of her followers on Twitter says, “What has women liberation got to do with chutney making business? I never ever made a chutney like this or even tried to. Is it time for me to reassess my liberation now? This post does nothing, but reinforce some dumb stereotypes that should be log left behind.”
There were many who were offended by the dietician's remark and found it demeaning and insulting for women.
Another person tweeted, “This is Sadguru mode… where you dress smart, take a piece out of some old Indian practice and glorify it using some incomprehensible analogy or assertion. And keep your fingers crossed that your audience is too stupid to even question or think on that.”
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However, the dietician also drew some support from a section of followers. One of the followers said, “All those who are offended should look at it like this… This conveys a deeper meaning. Work on your skills rather than looks. Invest in things that benefit you in the long term rather than short term delusions.”
One person replies to this justification of Diwaker's comment by pointing out her role behind getting actor Kareena Kapoor to size zero.
Many women also argued that if making a chutney makes Diwekar liberated in contrast to women with dreams of fitting into a certain dress, isn’t it re-imposing of the same stereotypes that shackle women?
"Today’s world hails many women leaders, diplomats, scientists and doctors, homemakers and educationists. A remark which relates chutney grinding to women liberation is demeaning," says Kavita Ashok, a women's rights activist.
"It astonishes me, irks me that a dietician so reputed and senior would make a comment such as this," she said, adding, "Women are much beyond kitchen chores -- let us get this straight! Let no one define our freedom, our ability to think and express, our adventurous soul to limited societal norms!"
