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status of women in contemporay india
gender discrimination in india
status of women in contemporay india
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The position of women in India is extremely complicated because of paradoxical statements in ancient India. The Indian women faces lot of violation the status of women is described by “From equal Rights as men “in the ancient time through the low points of the medieval period. The history of women in India has been eventful. It is a myth that women held very important positions in ancient Indian society. Indian cultural history gave the name for women called “Devi” (goddess). They gave the status of the name but never treated as a “Devi”. Women lives pathetic life and had a low status in society throughout all stages of their life in ancient India but the effects are still there, they faces discrimination from birth to adult. There are many categories such as before birth, as a child, adolescent, before marriage, after marriage, as a widow and many more.
Holy Aryan texts sanction, “Tasmat striyam jatam parasyanti ut pumamsam haranti" Meaning is” Hence they reject a female child when born, and take up a male”," [1]. Daughters are still burdened
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This tradition is followed by from the ancient period. Some people still follow that tradition, especially in the village. In the cities, these traditions are totally stopped because of government law and people are educated now but in the villages peoples are uneducated so they still followed the tradition. Although still, in India, women doesn’t have property rights in their family. This tradition is also followed by sudras in ancient India. Education system is also poor for women. So many restrictions for women’s in ancient India or today. This is all violation against women’s or I can say way of punishing a woman. In India, they respect their god, So many “Devi” god is there. People praying to them, but in reality they give disrespectful to the women. This is all depend on the society. They can change the all traditions which are pitiful against
Gender roles have been a predominant factor in our world since the early emergence of human societies whether they are positive or negative. They are based on expectations that societies have over the people in them. The Epic of Sunjata, shows us how men and women are treated almost equally in different forms. Women are praised for their ability to birth leaders, which is similar to the early Greek Society. In most societies, women are treated less equal than men. This was prevalent in the early Indian society. No matter the gender role, it has been shown that any society cannot survive without both men and women.
Within the earliest of civilizations of India, pre-pubescent girls were offered to men as wives, which ultimately lead to the destruction of women’s domestic independence. As said in Document 1, “because girls married before they could finish their education, they were not qualified to perform ritual sacrifices. Furthermore, wives’ legal rights eroded.” Likewise, Indian women became politically subordinate to men. However, by modern standards, women’s social
In both the prohibitions on menstruation and sex, and ritual life and education it is something gendered very strictly to women.
In the Hindu tradition, women are to be respected and should not be mistreated since they are considered a gift from gods under a pledge. Women are also considered aspects of Nature or the embodiment of Universal Mother in her aspect of pure energy. The tradition prohibits harassment and negligence towards women and states that it is the man’s duty to protect and take care of his wife until the end. Women in the Hindu tradition play a secondary role since Hinduism is a predominantly male dominated religion. It is their duty to help their husband perform obligatory duties and enable him to continue his family tradition. It is also the wife’s duty to give birth to children and to take care of
Analytical Paper #1 There has been a drastic transformation in the importance of American women and their roles in the last four centuries. The freedom and equality that women possess today was not present in the 1600s. Americans viewed women as a minority and treated them with contempt. Unlike Americans, Native Indians treated their women and the colonial women they kidnapped with more respect, granting them with more pleasant and important tasks.
The wife 's desires for a girl also can be unselfish in their eyes by saying they are protecting them from a life of poverty since they had not yet had a son who could provide their prosperity. “Dowry deaths” are also an age old tradition that is a custom for the religion. But with the heavy problem of gendercide, the government outlawed the use of a dowry. But since tradition is so heavy and rich it still happens. The families want to live up to expectations and even if it is not “required” it still looks good for a family to compensate the other in a social standing. The problem with this is that they still see females as burdens even though there is no requirement to provide a dowry. It is the age-old tradition to give a dowry that is hurting the females. The old ways need to be adapted, and the culture itself needs to understand that it is okay not to provide a dowry. This is the only way change for females can come and ensure them a success and longevity in their
Looking over the course of time, women had overcome some abusive and intrusive periods in society to be heard and noticed as an equal to mankind. Woman have struggled for equal rights as early as the 1800’s, which in this time the role of the woman was franchised in every home, to be seen but not heard, to complete what were daily chores such as cleaning, cooking, sewing and motherhood,. Women were in a time warp, and were in need to speak out, be heard and not judged by their mother baring and homemaking skills. Women were force to communicate amongst themselves in society, and also force to discuss amongst themselves political views.
In addition, studying the place of women in the light of spiritual teachings of the western religions, we can convince other women and people around in bringing about a positive change in the modern global village. Studying various religious beliefs and their in-depth analysis proves that there is a fundamental teaching and principle of all spiritual forms that humanity is to be treated as one concrete unit wherein all men and women share similar relationship and identical position in the eyes of the Almighty. The unjust oppression of women is based on false assumptions and preconceived notions by the male-dominating world, has been obvious and responsible for paving the way for serious gender issues to emerge. This caused religious conflicts among the masses. Confined to narrow realms of activity in society, deprived from the essential human rights, restricted to confined educations scope, open to unhealthy criticism and mental and physical abuse, this society has not permitted women to become what they potentially are.
(Christine Skelton, 2006). Evidence from various researches suggests that gender is socially constructed and children learn them through their everyday social interactions within their families, schools and societies as a whole. It can be noted that not all research or studies on gender necessarily look at ‘where gender comes from’ because many of these approaches only look at the existing social relation without exploring the origins. Talcott Parsons (1956) argued that the different roles of men and women are complementary and perpetuated because they are the most effective way to ensure the social and economic functioning of the society. Looking further indications of gender disparity in the Indian society are rooted in historical literatures on patriarchy found in the early brahmanical texts which illustrated ways to control a women’s sexuality by confining them to household duties or seclusion from the outside world in
Growing up in a traditional Punjabi family with both of my parents being born and raised in India has been an experience that I can only fully comprehend now at the age of twenty-three. Realizing how backward our culture is when it comes to women’s equality among family and society is an astonishing thought. Even though there is more gender equality here in America than in India within our households the women are still subjected to live and serve the men of the house. This custom has become almost an unconscious thought, to think of Punjabi women living in a traditional family more than a maid or babysitter would be blasphemous and heretical talk.
“The general subject of [Jamison’s] book is the conceptual position of women in early Indic culture, but it is not designed as an inclusive overview of women in ancient India and all the institutions and attitudes affecting them. Rather it focuses on a single, apparently marginal female role-the activities of the wife in solemn ritual… and isolates a set of conceptual functions the wife fills in ritual practice” (Jamison 4).
The role of women in different civilizations, even though on different spectrums of the world, had many similarities and only a few differences. Women in these four civilizations: Greece, Egypt, China, and India faced many of the same hardships, struggles, and prejudices. Some of this treatment of women didn’t even end until present day (1920’s). In some of these civilizations women were able to rise up somewhat in their communities but it didn’t come without some kind of interference.
The attitude toward women in the East was at first more favorable. In ancient India, for example, women were not deprived of property rights or individual freedoms by marriage. But Hinduism, which evolved in India after about 500 BC, required obedience of women toward men. Women had to walk behind their husbands. Women could not own property, and widows could not remarry. In both East and West, male children were preferred over female children.
For the duration of time, society perceives men as superior, which infused to their cultural aspect in life. Society instilled male dominance to the minds of young children, imposing a role each sex must play. Girls are slaves of society, submitting to men as their master. And child brides are a perfect way to exhibit patriarchy society (Ludden). The young girl would be married off to take care of her own family, crippling them in attaining an education and getting a job. Girls were not meant to work (Radu). It is also said that the purpose of marrying off girls young was to keep their attractiveness. Roberta Radu says, “'Virginity is an "asset" that families customarily trade for substantial sums of money, so marriage is arranged as early as possible in order to preserve the girl's "desirability". Out of all of these inducements money was the biggest factor. Parents would arrange their daughter marriage due to poverty. The bride’s family would receive a dowry, basically trading girls for money. Again, girls were burdens and the parents used child marriage as a relief...
Arranging a marriage for a young girl is a simple way for the family to collect dowry money. For families living in poverty this is something they looked forward to since the birth of their daughter. Furthermore, having one less mouth to feed makes supporting the remaining children less demanding on the parents. In addition to financial reasons for the practice, in times of war an arranged marriage is a way to ensure that the child bride remains safe and out of harms way. An important aspect of most religions is purity. “The very idea that young women have a right to select their own partners—that