The Indian History And The Status Of Women

Reviews the amendments of the 1868 Indian Act, highlighting the conflicts of superiority of rights to Indian men over women. Discusses the avoidance of violence and discrimination against women within communities and the need for an equal relationship between genders

In current times in America, the role of women and the role of men is about equal. When it comes to home life, it’s just as common for women to go out and work as it is for a man to do it. Women have even run for President. However, in the Harappan society in ancient India, and in Sumerian times in ancient Mesopotamia, the equality and respect of women weren’t as strong as it is today. Regardless, women were respected to a certain level. Overall, the respect of women in ancient India was similar to the respect of women in Mesopotamia because goddesses were seen as powerful, young women were admired, and women were highly regarded for being able to give birth.

This was a very sharp contrast to the Europeans, whom had for centuries, been the top of their social hierarchy. In Europe, the women had a very relatively primitive, limited role in society. They were not allowed to attend or partake in political affairs, with very few exceptions. Now, on the other hand, in Indian society there was a council of chiefs, whom was all male, but they were appointed by an elder women. Also, during their deliberation over issues, the males made the final decision, but would be expelled from the council, if they didn't conclude to the same decision that the elder woman came to. The women's main job in Indian society, was being in charge of cultivation of, harvest of, and distribution of food. When the men left to go hunting, women were left to run society. The Europeans simply believed that the males were far superior to the family, which is why women could not have jobs, and were left to only clean, cook, and various other household chores.

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,

Women had some control in their homes, but in public the male of the house had the last word. The gender distinctions in India were largely based on the caste system and the varna hierarchy India had.

Sexism. Misogyny. Gender discrimination. You know this atrocity by many names but here is the naked truth of it’s real face. The unjust neglect towards the feelings and ideas of women is not something that could be considered as a problem of the modern age, in contrast, it’s something that has been going on since there era of the Lord Rama. It could perhaps be argued as the start of this suffocating, judgemental society we live in today.

The voluntary practice of Sati, meaning “good women”, was originally linked to Hinduism in 908 CE. Although Sati was not required, about a hundred women a year practiced this custom. Women who burned themselves to death on their husband’s funeral pyres were seen as brave. Furthermore, Sati was said to bring redemption to the dead husband even end the cycle of death and rebirth for the families. Sati represented the traditional repression of women in Hindu India as well as the difficult lives and decisions widows had to face. Although the sacrifice of widows was at its height in the 6th century, it continued through the 14th century and was only abolished in the mid 1800’s (Sati). The caste system in India was the source for societal divides that dominated India. The caste system developed along with Hinduism and it controls everything from who can marry who, what work Indians can do and

In the Hindu religion women play a bigger role than many other women do in their own religion. In the Hindu religion women are seen to make good inputs on the earth, dharma, and sensual pleasure. They are viewed as initiating men’s spiritualizing life forces. When a man and women get married in this religion they are supposed to be spiritual partners and complement one another. Husbands take the task of being the women’s god and teacher.

Based on the findings of Veena Das it can be argued that they used imagery to symbolize violence that was portrayed against women of India. In which men of the Muslim Hindu and Sikh religions captured each others woman in order to violate them sexually. This caused much sorrow for the women of the land. For instance, women were seen as impure once they are dishonored by their family. As a result, the use of sexual violation triggered a sense of territory of the women. These men used the need surrounding countries as of choosing women as the outlet to gain physical territories. Therefore, their main goal was to dishonor the women by terrorizing them. However, the women were kept quiet as to not dishonor the families again as to also protect

Traditionally, an Indian woman had only four roles and those were; Her role as a daughter, wife, sister, and lastly, a mother. The women in today’s time however are experiencing far reaching changes and are entering into new fields that were unknown to them. They are actively participating in social, economic and political activities. Unlike the older times, women today have received higher education.

An often controversial issue within politics is how woman are viewed and treated in the Hindu religion. The role of woman in Hinduism is often disputed and positions range from quite reasonable to highly antagonistic. An often overlooked aspect is that, Hinduism is more of a way of life then a Religion. This is because Hinduism requires that we see the same reality in all the diversity of creation; that we see the same Self in all beings. Hindu women within this religion would view themselves as an important part of the family, but this is not shown through the contents of the Manusmriti. The Manusmriti directly translated is “Laws of Manu,” or “Institutions of Manu,” is regarded as the foundational

Indian culture before the transformation of globalization was a male dominated society with very little respect or regard for females. According to India’s constitution, women are legal citizens of the country and have equal rights with men (Indian Parliament), however due to lack of acceptance from the male dominated society; Indian women have suffered immensely prior to globalization (Tripod, n.d.). Indian culture after the transformation of globalization has had an innervation of mass media, most prominent being satellite television bringing images and dialogue from countless other cultures. This global influence has started to turn the tables in the marked sexist roles in Indian culture prior to globalization.

Official documents have little say about women and children of the Partition as they were viewed as a collective. Earlier reports on the abduction of women only gave the reader the statistics and brief statements that glorified community nationalism rather than the victims itself. Many failed to dwell into the individual trauma of this particular group (Menon & Bhasin, 1998, p.11). Rani’s testimony was significant in that not only it opened us to another outlook from a witness point of view; it also revealed that people who were not physically involved were also affected psychologically. This was also the only part in the testimony where Rani displayed sympathy and grievance. Her sensitivity and deep connection with these victims correlated with age and gender. Her emphasis on the words ‘young’ and ‘girl’ throughout her testimony evoked our sense of disbelief that people would do such inhumane things to each other (cited in Butalia, 2000, p.271). Her hesitant manner, evident

Feminism in India is a set of movements which defining, establishing and defending equal political, economic and social rights and equal opportunities for Indian women. Feminist criticism was not inaugurated until late in the 1960s.Behind it, however lie two centuries of struggle for the recognition of women’s cultural roles and achievements and for women’s social and political rights marked by such books as Mary Wollstone Craft’s A Vindication Of The Rights Of Women (1792), John Stuart Mill’s The Subjection Of Women (1869), and the American Margaret Fuller’s Women in The Nineteenth Century

She makes an important point when trying to go beyond the female (otherness), by paying careful attention to differences among women themselves, and by putting emphasize on the multiple realties that women faces, and by that trying to uncover universalist interpretations (Parpart and Marchand 1995:6). She reveals the inadequacy of binary categories by showing us how power is defined in binary terms, between the people who have (men) and the people who do not (women). This is a consequence of seeing women as a homogenous group, and contributes to the reinforcement of the binary division between men and women (Mohanty 1991:64). By assuming that women are a already constituted group with the same experiences and interests, gender is looked upon as something that can be applied cross cultures (Mohanty 1991:54), and it also produces an assumption about the “average third world woman” as poor and uneducated, in contrast to the educated, modern Western women (Mohanty 1991:56). Implicit in the binary analytic lies the assumption that the third world woman only can be liberated through western rationality. Mohanty is making an important point when emphasising the need to challenge these objectifications (Udayagiri 1995:163).