10 Strong Women Who Refused To Comply With Societal Stereotypes

You need to be polite, you need to be obedient, no late nights, be more feminine, sit properly, get married, it’s about time you have kids, etc. If you are a woman you must have heard such phrases if you are from a conservative family. Everybody keeps on trying to impose what they believe is right for us women but what right do they have to instruct and question our choices and way of living?

Be it any woman we all have somehow been subjugated by this society. Indirectly we all have been asked to be submissive if not directly. But every woman has as much right to live freely as a man can.

Following are the well-known women who did not comply with such societal stereotypes and did not let society dictate them:

1. Neena Gupta became pregnant out of wedlock and got married at 42

Neena Gupta a well-known Indian personality is a brilliant actress and television director. She got pregnant out of wedlock at the age of 30. Society sure gave her ugly remarks for getting pregnant from a foreign man who was already married and had kids. But this did not let Neena give up.

She conceived her baby whom she later gave birth to and named Masaba. She was a single mother for quite a long time and strived to work hard for her film career. Eventually, at the age of 42, she found her love and got married in 2008. Her one solid remark was that a lot of people wanted her to get married so that her daughter would have a name, to this her reply was, “I can earn and look after my daughter very well, myself”.

2. Priyanka Chopra Jonas who got married to guy 10 years younger and became a mother at 39 through surrogacy

Winner of Miss Word 2000 Pageant PCJ is one of the most revered celebrities of all time. She got married out of love at the age of 36 to a very well-established American singer, songwriter, and actor named Nick Jonas who was 26 at that time.

Society, as always made quite awful comments about how could she marry a guy who is 10 years younger than her and said things like this marriage won’t last long but today it has been 3 years of them being happily married to each other.  A perfect example of love is not ruled by age.

3. Farah Khan who gave birth to triplets via the IVF method and talked openly about it

Filmmaker, actor, and choreographer Farah Khan is a mother to three beautiful children named Anya, Czar, and Dive whom she gave birth to via the IVF method. She proudly says that our choices make us and she is very proud to be a mother to her three lovely children to whom she became an IVF mother at the age of 43 by writing an open letter.

She says she became a mother when she was finally ready and wanted to have kids and not as per the diktats of society.

Farah Khan said,

Our choices make us. I became an IVF mom at 43 and I am glad I did so. I wish a great motherhood to all women out there who want to be mothers – naturally or otherwise. An open letter to all the women out there, reminding them that #ItsAWomansCall Are you with me ladies?

 

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4. Raveena Tandon becoming a mother to adopted kids at 21

Beautiful Indian actress, model, and producer Raveena Tandon has been born and raised in Mumbai. She became a mother at the mere age of 21 when she adopted two beautiful girls named Chhaya and Pooja. She says that these two little girls were the daughter of my cousin who passed away very early.

 

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She did not like the way the guardians of those two girls used to treat them and thus this prompted her to adopt them. She was often questioned about why are you being a single mom at such an early age and what if nobody marries her later. To which her response was this is the way I and my life is, take it or leave it.

5. Kareena Kapoor got married to a divorcee with two teen children

While shooting for the 2008 film Tashan Kareena Kapoor and Saif Ali Khan fell in love with each other. After dating for a few years they eventually decided to get married and for this Kareena Kapoor received so many ‘cautious remarks’ which were of course not pleasant. Everyone used to say her how can you marry a guy who is 10 years older than you, is divorced, and also have two kids?

People even used to say to her “your career might will get over”. For such remarks, she replies love and marriage aren’t a crime, let us do this and see what happens. Today she is a happy wife and mother of two kids.

In one of the episodes of Koffee with Karan, Kareena said,

I’m just glad that people are doing things now and talking more about their love. When I wanted to marry Saif, everyone was like, ‘He has two children, he has been divorced. Are you sure you want to do this?’ They were like, ‘Your career will be over.’ And I was like, ‘Such a big crime to be in love? Such a big crime to get married? Let’s do it, let’s see what happens.

6. Indian Badminton Player Jwala Gutta who froze her eggs

Professional badminton player Jwala Gutta said very proudly in an interview that how having children is a huge responsibility that one should have with great dedication. She says she does not want to have kids while she continues to play for her country.

She further adds that she has discussed things and the procedure with her physician to freeze her eggs and she was very much persuaded by the positive response of the doctor.

7. Suhasini Mulay who got married at the age of 62

As per reports, Suhasini Mulay used to live in a live-in relationship with her partner till the 1990s but eventually things did not work out that well and they both went on their separate ways. It was about till 2010 that Suhasini lived her life without any serious relationship.

She believes that one should get committed to somebody only when they are completely willing to and not because society demands us to. She got married on 16^th January 2011 after one and a half months of meeting with a physicist, Professor Atul Gurtu.

Suhasini Mulay told HT,

You are getting committed because you want to, not because society is pushing you. There is enough pressure from friends, country men, luckily not from my mother, who I wanted him to meet first. We got married within one and a half months of meeting each other on January 16, 2011. It’s been 10 years now

8. Former Miss Universe Sushmita Sen adopted 2 girls

Sushmita Sen became a single mother at the age of 24 when she adopted her first girl named Renee. She says that it was one of the wisest decisions that she made at the age of 24. Motherhood is the most beautiful thing in the world and society cannot tell you what is the right age to do so or if you need a man beside you to be able to be a perfect parent. It was an act of nothing but self-preservation for her.

9. Konkana Sen Sharma with her ex-husband chooses to co-parent their children

Indian actress, writer, and director Konkana Sen Sharma who got married to actor Ranvir Shorey recently went through a divorce in 2020. Them parting ways was a huge shock and it sure was sudden but they maturely decided to not let their separation affect their child Haroon in any way.

In a world where everyone questions every action of a certain being Konkana went ahead and chose to co-parent Haroon despite the split with her husband. These are the people that the world really needs.

10. At 39 Tanishaa Mukerji had her eggs frozen

Recently actress Tanisha Mukerji confesses that she froze her eggs at the age of 39 saying that it was a personal choice. Meanwhile, she also adds that I love pregnant women as they live the most beautiful phase of a woman’s life and the baby glow is just too enchanting but I too am happy about freezing my eggs. She says it is okay to not get married, not be in a relationship, you also don’t need a man to define your own self in this world.

Tanisha said,

Adopt, there’s enough in this world. More people need to go out and talk about this. It’s okay for women to not have children. That’s not the only calling in your life. It’s okay to not get married, not be in a relationship and not define yourself with a man beside you

These are a few inspirational women who for sure deserve huge respect and appreciation from every one of us.