The Role And Status Of Women In Ancient India

According to Hinduism the female was created by Brahman as part of the duality in creation, to provide company to men and facilitate procreation, progeny and continuation of family linage. The Vedas suggest that a woman’s primary duty is to help her husband in performing obligatory duties and enable him to continue his family tradition. Her primary duty is to give birth to his children and take care of them. Hinduism is a predominantly male dominated religion. Woman play a secondary role. The situation is gradually changing. It is difficult to draw generalizations about the status of present day Hindu women because of society is complex. In general, life in cities is much different from life in the rural areas. Those who live abroad live in different conditions than those who live in the country. Yet, we have ample indications that women are still subject to many restrictions and disabilities in rural area as well as urban areas. The financial independence of woman and the education levels of the family play an important role in this regard. Women in urban areas face numerous challenges in their professions and personal lives. But overall, life is better for them compared to the past. Love marriage outside of the caste or community are scorned and sometimes the couples are killed or excommunicated by the elders in the family or village. Widows can now have a life of their own and even remarry. They draw a lot of sympathy. But

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.

The role of women in Hinduism is also a very contentious topic in the world today. Although women are gaining some freedom in society in India, it is known that females have a history of being oppressed in India. Women of the Hindu faith in particular have been viewed as the minority sex as Hinduism is predominantly a male dominated religion. As Hinduism has no set sacred text Hindus are free to follow whatever text they want and each text or set of teachings have different views about women. For the purpose of this essay, I will be discussing the view of women according to the Vedas. As young children girls are under the protection of their fathers and when they get married they are under the protection of their husbands. The Vedas, which

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,

A major part of our world today is women wanting a voice and to be treated just as equal as men. Women’s fighting for their rights has been going on since early as the 1900s and still currently in 2014. Although we have had made improvements the issue still arises everyday in the workplace, household, etc. Between different movements, powerful people standing up, or drastic matters being taken, women were fed up and for once were finally standing up for themselves. From wanting the right to vote, civil rights in the United States between same sex couples, and outside the household work, the list would just begin to grow and grow everyday as women became more powerful and began speaking up for not only themselves but everyone else who is effected

Since the beginning of the world woman has been considered or viewed as objects of man. Our place has always been at home cleaning, cooking, taking care of the children, and as sexual slaves of man. Comparing the situation of woman in the Ancient India with the one in the Inkan society, it is notable that even though years passed or culture changed women’s role was always the same, one more male chauvinist than the other but still the same repression with us. In the Ancient India, as in many traditional civilizations, males had superiority about females. According to the men of that society and many others, women were considered an economic burden, since women were viewed as being unable to do work outside the home.

It is worth mentioning that the world is full of different women who may take the higher and the superior positions in the society such as president, judge and head of the company. It is notable that women may manage to do a lot of tasks in life today. Moreover, women can neglect can overlook the effective role of the women in the society in order to develop and improve the society effectively and

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

As women’s rights had a very positive and bright past in India, there then began the Age of Buddhism, a period for which the way of life for women was crumbling. By the Smriti Age there was a shift in India’s history where women went from having full

According to the writings analysed above, a woman's place was centred in the home. Throughout the ancient time, women were set in various categories, such as mothers, wives, daughters; as prostitutes and seductresses; witches and midwives; as saints, goddesses and military heroes; queens; church functionaries; patronesses and much more. They were taken as more body than mind, as sexual being rather than social being. Furthermore, they held women in an inferior status compared to that of men. And this was often justified as being the natural result of biological difference between the sexes.

Even if we were to look outside of the workforce spectrum, women are treated unequally on the basis of property. Even though women have equal right to own and receive land, it is not a practiced in the culture of India. When looking at the society as a whole only men are ever seen and given the rights of land so they can carry on their family name. Majority of the inequality does not have to do with laws or policies but what has been engraved into the society. Till now many of the people in India are still raised with that same mentality that men have a higher authority than women do. For this reason alone the Indian society is to blame for the inequality that occurs to women. However like Mirchandani points out an author by the name of Carla Freeman whom shares her notes “...that women’s jobs are both a source of pride and pleasure, and simultaneously a source of stress and dissatisfaction.” Also ends up pointing out “working women reassess and remake their identities and communities in important ways for social life.” Even though sometimes these identities are not linked with good outcomes but getting past that they lean towards making the status of the family very positive.

Indian women are conditioned to a blind dependence on men and in a sense the whole purpose of a woman’s life is to live for him and not following her own ambitions. She has to ensure the love of man for her existence. Women in a global basis can be seen suffering and submitted to patriarchal power. According to Simone de Beauvoir, a woman is ‘a womb, an ovary, she is a female- this word is

The most important distressed about Indian feminist society is that they have been initiated or started by men difficult in the midst of insinuation to connected by women. Their main try was to abolish the custom of sati, child marriage, disfiguring of widow, remarriage of upper caste. Hindu widows, promoting women’s education, real rights for women to own property. The 19th century is a time gone most of the issues of women were taken occurring. In the first phase of feminism we must remember Maharani Jind Kaur, the youngest wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. She was full of beauty, energy and strength of purpose. The british described as “Messalina of the Punjab” too rebellious to be controlled other names to be mentioned are Jhansi Rani Laxmibai, Kittur or Rani Chennama, Qudsiya Begum of Bhopal and Jind Kaur of Punjab as mentioned earlier. In the second phase the struggle against the British rule boosted Nationalism was at its highest peak. Gandhi played a vital role by legitimizing and expanding Indian women’s public

Living with dignity without any discrimination based on sex community place of birth is presumed to be the basic structure of Indian constitution. Women lived in India under the dominance of man and always suppressed for their rights. The rights guaranteed to the women are at par with the rights of men and in some cases the women have been allowed to enjoy the benefit of certain special provisions “in the interest of women and children” through state legislation and affirmative action. The reservations for women in politics and employment have played a key role in putting up the status of women in the main stream of the society.

The declaring of 1975-85 decade as the International Women’s decade also gave impetus to women’s movements for removing the notion of inferiority of women and giving them a sense of identity. The Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB) established by the Government of India in 1953, also promotes and strengthens volunteer efforts for the welfare of women. The Ministry of Welfare, Government of India, too, gives grants to voluntary organizations for activities like construction/expansion of hostels for working women in cities.The analysis of six types of movements suggests that movements are generally initiated and spread by charismatic leaders or by political parties and religious organizations. In the former case, the ideologies are transmitted downwards while in the latter case, these are transmitted upwards. Once any movement based on certain ideology changes, it is not necessary that it will spread in the course of time, it can gain in strength and it can also lose its vitality either because it is considered irrelevant or because it is suppressed by the government.