Indian Culture : India 's Economy And Cultural Change

Upper caste women may undergo dramatically different experiences than lower caste women. For example, lower caste women do not practice sati, because it is mostly prevalent among upper caste women. Thus, they may not comprehend how sati may function as a tool of control of female sexuality. On the other hand, upper caste women may not comprehend the experiences of widow-remarriage as practiced by lower caste women. Granted that, Mohanty makes a great point by asserting that it is impossible to analyze and treat Indian women as an ahistorical and monolithic group of people. Indian women are heterogeneous, and significant attention must be given to the components of race, class, imperialism. Furthermore, given their background, many of Western feminists in India were supporters of the colonial government and saw themselves as agents of the civilizing mission. They believed that Indian women were incapable of speaking for themselves, and thus were also incapable of liberating themselves. They disregarded that Indian women were victims of both British imperialism and the patriarchal Indian society, and thus the oppression they faced greatly differed from that of Western women. If anything, western women participated in their

As a result of these reviews, the ongoing reconstruction of the social status and roles of Hindu women has brought about many new changes in Hinduism. Some of these changes include changes in education, health measures, problems of early marriages, the positions of widows, and the representation of women in governing bodies (Desai, et al., 1995). For example, within Hinduism now,

In the typical Indian family, gender construction manifests itself especially in the roles of men and women in the household. As Judith Lorber so aptly put, “gender is a process of creating distinguishable social statuses for the assignment of rights and responsibilities” which in turn, creates the social differences that define a “man” and “woman” (Lorber). It is these differences that are used to construct and maintain an established gender order within the family. In the conventional Indian family, the order is such that the roles of the women in the household revolve around the roles of the men. This structure was something that I saw from an early age in my parents’ marriage. Though my parents defied the Indian norm of the arranged marriage, they still represented the quintessential model of an Indian couple in many other ways. My mother left her job to become a stay-at-home mom when I was about six years old. However, even before she left her job, she was implicitly expected by my father to shoulder most of the housework including cooking, cleaning, and caring for my older brother

Our society has created an identity for women since ancient days. Women are considered as an weaker sex and inferior to men. Though she plays a important role in her life, she is not found as an individual human being with all emotions and sufferings. She is supposed to live a life of dedication, surrendering and devotion. In Indian fiction, the women are modelled with the above qualities. Those qualities of women created a large impact on the Indian psyche and the expectation of society, and consciously or unconsciously

In small towns there are about 25,000 people living in about 4,800 households (Desai). Nonetheless, this is showing that it is well known that India’s types of household are joint family. After marriage, the son of the family does not move away and get his own home he continues to stay with his family. He has his wife and himself live at his parent’s household. In India it is not common for people to live in homes with just a wife, husband, and their children. The household of an Indian family consists of ten or more family members. Desai states, “A joint family has greater generation depth than any other type of family.” They usually have a grandmother, grandfather, son’s wife or children, aunts or uncles, any members of the family can live in their household (Desai). The law states to have a joint family they must have common

This joint family, like any social organization, must face problems such as acceptable division of work, relationships and specific family roles. These familial relationships are managed on the basis of a secular hierarchical principle. In fact, all Indians owe respect and obedience to the head of the family, who usually is the father or the oldest man of the family community. In The Gift of a Bride: A Tale of Anthropology, Matrimony and Murder by Nanda and Gregg, it is explained that, “females [are] placed under the perpetual guardianship of first their fathers and elder brothers, then their husbands.” (Nanda & Gregg 22) Thus, all the spending decisions, studies and profession, or marriage, are exclusively the responsibility of the father after the possible discussions with the other men of the family. Age and sex are the basic principles of this hierarchical system. The eldest sons enjoy greater unchallenged authority than their cadets. Of course men have more authority than women, but older married women have an important role within the family. In fact, the authority of a woman depends on the rank of her husband inside the group. Traditionally, the wife of the patriarch rules over domestic affairs and has considerable power over the other women in the community, especially her daughters- in-law.

Parent understand that their girls are a burden and their sons are a gift, and this is what their sons and daughters grow up believing. The dowry placed on girls plays greatly into the sex-selected abortion rate in India. Boys are plainly and simply a better financial investment. Boys will not cost the parents money for marriage, in fact, with a marriage, they are guaranteed to make the parents money. Parents forced with the decision to have a girl and deal with the financial consequences, or abort and hope and pray for better luck in the gender of their child next time around. Quite often they chose the

In the Hindu tradition, their texts give little to no attention to women and devote the dominance to the father, husband, or sons. Women who lived in the fifteenth century in Rajasthan rejected marriage, grew in their spiritual life, and tested the limits of the caste system. Meanwhile, in today’s world Hindu women are gaining leadership roles in India and are beginning to be inspiring spiritual teachers. Hindu women in South Asia and Southeast Asia are seen as the guardians of beliefs and rituals for their families (133).

In todays globalized world a lack in social welfare can affect the social function, and result in divorce. Marriage is an important social institution between two families and not just two individuals. Women play the passive and motherhood gender role while men primarily the dominant role. Although customs play a role in parents grooming and prepare their daughters for marriage, sometimes the benefits outweigh the costs. Some young women are too naïve thinking they will be compatible with their mate simply because their parents and grandparents did without realizing the good and bad that come with marriage. There is situation where women are forces into marriage due to economic prosperities through dowry payments. As wonderful a person may

Though the positions women held in the early Vedic period had been of high standards, the emergence of the Laws of Manu led to the restriction of women’s independence later in this period. The Laws of Manu is one of the most influential sacred writings and this Dharma Sastra is deeply embedded in this society. The Laws of Manu illustrates many roles women should have such as being a caretaker, having to obey her husband and being an object of either her father’s, husband’s or son’s possession. The Laws of Manu don’t encourage independent women, it clearly

A love match with a suitor outside of the family is possible, but the family must visit, negotiate and approve the suitor. Traditional marriages involve a formal contract drawn up by a priest. In the contract a series of payments are specified. (Haeri, 1989) The bride is traditionally responsible for bringing a dowry to the wedding. This will include her clothing, and household items for her new home. A specified amount is written into the contract as payment for the woman in the event of divorce. (Haeri, 1989) The wife after marriage belongs to her husband's household. If her husband does not approve, she may not visit any of her relatives.

Arranged marriages continue to be normative in many Asian cultures, such as Japan, India, Korea, and so on (Applbaum, 1995). Specifically, among Hindus in India, they continue to be the most popular form of organizing a marital relationship (Mullatti, 1995). Despite globalization, modernization, and urbanization, the number of arranged marriages continues to outnumber 'love ' or 'self-arranged ' marriages. In fact, an estimated 95% of all Hindu marriages in India are still arranged marriages (Chawla, 2004). My parents are Indian, my mother was born in the Islands of Fiji and my father was born in India, they both migrated to the US in Los Angeles, where they met though arranged marriage.

Daughters are considered to be an economic problem to her parents mainly because of the heavy dowry payment demanded by the groom's family, as well as the high cost of the wedding,

India is country known all over the world for its culture and tradition. It is a land with various cultures and traditions which are as vast as the subcontinent upon which they are located. This essay will focus on the Indian culture and highlight the different beliefs that Indians have on life processes. The essay will show the different methods Indians use to stay healthy and how the Indian culture can determine how healthcare services are provided to the people.

One of these complications was their Economic instability. Following the partition, the first consequence, was the uneven distribution of area and population. India was burdened with with 82% of the population and only procured 77% of the total area. The remaining 18% of population along with 23% of the total area went over to Pakistan. However, it is only when we look at the way in which the agricultural resources were distributed, that the real loss that India experiences become evident. Respective of the partition, 84% of the diffused area was handed to India, while the remaining 16% went to Pakistan. Although Pakistan got slightly less than what its population would demand, they more than made up for it, through the benefit of irrigation facilities. Out of the 70 million acres of irrigated land in the undivided country, 67% (48 million) went to India and 33% (22 million) went to Pakistan. Ergo, 45.2% of the total area Pakistan dominated, was made up of irrigation works, the reciprocal percentage in the Republic of India was only 18.9%. Pakistan, not only received a larger share of irrigated land, but also, India had the percentage of irrigated land that was only of protective nature (eg. they were only in place as last resort in times of famine conditions as opposed to feeding the entire population). This was especially so of the irrigation land in the South of India, notably in Bombay, Mysore and Madras. The partition, therefore, hauled India to have greater dependence on the whimsical of rainfall, reckoning for the their annual fluctuations in agricultural production. This was detrimental to India’s well being as even before the partition, India had a shortcoming in food, more specifically grains. This partition only further aggravated the problem. This can be seen through India having 82% of the population, but only producing 65% of the total crops. This was not so for the Pakistani population as they produced about one million tonnes of surplus food. The partition was therefore conducive in precipitating a net loss of 700,000 - 800,000 of annual supply in the Indian union. Additionally, the partition also initiated a severe shortage of raw cotton and raw-jute as well. This effected the Indian economy