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the status of women in india
education of women
the status of women in india
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What is the status of the Indian women in Indian society? To examine this question properly, one must look at a couple different factors. Time period and caste (or economic level) both have an effect on the status of Indian women. There is no one model of an Indian women, and therefore no way to truly pin down her status without examining these changing aspects which build this status in society. However, despite these nuances in the status of an Indian women based off of these different factors, there are also underlying aspects of society that ultimately shape a women's status. These underlying aspects do not change, and have perhaps been ingrained into society since the end of the Vedic period or before. They remain a foundation no matter how different the time or the environment, but they can be built on in a variety of ways.
First, we will examine the changing aspects which define Indian women's status. Time period is one of the most influential effects on the status of Indian women. It is quite obvious that the status of Indian women has changed over time. One can see that there are privileges that Indian women enjoy now which they might not have enjoyed fifty years ago. Many scholars believe that women enjoyed equality with men during the Vedic and pre-Vedic periods. Women in this period received education, married at a mature age, enjoyed the ability to choose their husbands, and shared an equal status with men in practically all areas of life (Tharu & Lalita, 1999). It is believed to have been around 500 B.C. when the status of women began to change. Women were demoted to the inferior sex, with their role in society reduced to that of a reproductive tool. They were displayed as lacking higher moral and intellectual abi...
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...ey are the middle to upper class exceptions, not the norm. The majority of women in India do not get the opportunity to pursue higher education in the universities, do not place their careers above their familial responsibilities, and do not get to step but too far outside the boundaries of what a proper Indian woman is and should be.
Sources
Loizeau, M. (2006). Missing women: female-selective abortion and infanticides [DVD].
Sarasvati, P.R. (1888). The high-caste hindu woman. (pp. 69-93). Philadelphia: Press of the J.B. Rodgers Print. Co.
Sarkar, T. (1993). A book of her own. A life of her own: autobiography of a nineteenth century woman. (pp. 48-60). New York: Oxford University Press.
Tharu, S., & Lalita, K. (1999). Women writing in india, 600 b.c. to the present. (Vol. I, pp. 49-53). New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York.
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.
In early Indian society, only males were allowed to inherit land/property, officiate family rituals, educations was almost only male. The society placed women under the rule of men. The Lawbook of Manu told men to treat women with dignity and respect but that women should still use men as there guides in life and that there purpose was to basically have children and keep the house nice for the family.
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.
I think there are similarities between the hegemony in Narsapur and in the United States. Our society’s practices and treatment towards women’s work and the treatment of women’s work in Naraspur can be compared. One comparison in the U.S. is the treatment of women’s work outside of the job force. By sheer lack of acknowledgement, women’s work inside the home is overlooked and hence not considered to be work at all. Work that receives no recognition is invisible and invisibility of work carries with it no economic power. American women are still perceived as primarily being housewives first, then they are doctors or lawyers or you can fill in the blank.
The responsibility to solve the social inequality lies with everyone. Empowerment is a key aspect in not only raising awareness for women’s rights but allows those facing discrimination to fight for themselves. One way individuals and society as a whole can empower is through governmental activism. Legislation promoting equality, such as the Equal Pay Act, help women receive fair wages for equal work. Other laws that improve women’s rights are those abolishing arranged marriages. Fighting against arranged marriages solves other societal issues such as the fact “only 40 percent of Indian women can read, compared with 60 percent of men” (Kazmin).
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Women are frequently malnourished since women are normally the last member of a household to eat and the last to receive medical attention. Women in India receive little schooling, and suffer from unfair and biased inheritance and divorce laws. These laws prevent women from having financial assets, making it difficult for women to establish themselves.
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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.
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From ancient hunter gatherers to the modern-day woman, gender roles have changed drastically over time and they continue to evolve today. Across the world women have had to fight for rights, but it wasn’t always this way. In ancient cultures women had more freedoms than in western societies, furthermore, as history progresses western influence crushes the native way of thinking resulting in male dominated societies. Eventually women suffrage movements would finally appear after industrialization in the 1800-1900’s. Key events throughout history would shift the gender constructions namely war, industrialization, and time. Struggling to understand native cultures western influence would commit genocide on native cultures, leading to cultural
A woman’s status in most agricultural civilizations downgraded the status at least in the eyes of modern Western standards and to the implied standards of hunting gathering societies. Agricultural civilizations were run by men and based on the assumption that men directed economic, political, and cultural life. Furthermore, as agricultural civilizations developed over time and became more affluent. They become more organized while the status of women is flawed. Patriarchal family structure rested on men's control of most or all property, starting with land itself; marriage was based on property relationships.It was assumed that marriage, and therefore, subordination to men, was the normal condition for the vast majority of women. A revealing
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