I am Women

Women were encouraged to change and break the shackles of society and this movement got
a renewed boost in the 70s from many songs like ‘I am Women’. Many Feminists adopted ‘I
am Women’ as their personal anthems which encouraged them to make each day a notch
better for themselves, from the previous day. Pop-culture in the 70s was seen as yet another
site for the propagation of gendered inequalities and false feminine notions but songs like ‘ I
am Women’ changed that. In a way, it made feminists more powerful by enabling them with
the power of pop-culture.
The reason why ‘I am Women’ was more impactful compared to other pieces of art and
literature was because how it reached a broader audience and was not limited to certain
sections of the society. Common middle-class women heard the song in their radios and
strived for their equality in the household. It also made the mainstream audiences aware of
women’s rights, who were accustomed to the gendered inequalities existing in pop-culture
and thus bringing a permanent change. The lines “And I’ve been down there on the floor No
one’s ever gonna keep me down again” imply that how women were perceived weaker and
more dependent in society, restricted to household chores and asks women to change this. It
guarantees women that if they bring about the change for themselves, no one can stop them.
The lines “I am strong, I am invincible, I am women” gave women the assurance that they
were not dependent on anyone and encouraged them to take up jobs which were reserved
only for men.
‘I am Women’ was included in many modern history textbooks of the 2000s as a case study
for feminism during the 70s. The song proved that a movement does not require a celebrity to
endorse it and instead can make anyone a celebrity.