Monday, August 31, 2009
INDIAN WOMANHOOD
Womens status in society is a controversial issue which has been engaging our conscience in recent times.Despite forming half the human population and despite showing, from time to time , their ability to stand up to any challenge, women have rarely been gracefully recognised by men as worthy partners in shouldering the responsibilities of life.Rather, men view women with suspicion, jealousy and often outright hatred.Their fortunes have so widely varied with time, that Indian women have alternately been deified and despised;exalted and exploited; ingratiated and ignored!Nevertheless, undaunted by the attitude of men towards them, women with great resilience and patience have always bounced back after every phase of subjugation with renewed vigour and vitality.
Quite in contrast to the global trend in India, prejudice against women, particularly in ancient times was never very strong.Women enjoyed high status in both the spiritual and temporal activities of society.Though the rarely became rishis or sages, women as the wives of sages, enjoyed as much inportance and respect as the sages themselves.The case with royalty was also similar.Epics like Mahabharta and Ramayana are replete with instances of women playing a crucial role in shaping the destinies of their lands.It is a tribute to the status of womanhood of the time, that legacy of Sita, Kunthi, Draupadi endures to inspire the modern women and society.
However at some time in the past, privileges like liberty and respect, that had been the hallmark of womens status until then,were weakend by certain unhealthy prejudices that developed in the society.These prejudices which caused a period of exploitation that spread over several centuries,substantially sapped the vitality of Indian womanhood,seemingly beyond the scope of redemption.No natural reason can be attributed to such collapse from a status of confidence and respect to a state of misery and hopelessness.Obviously,as a majority of mmodern historians believe, the exploitation that women endured was due to the deliberate design of certain vested interests.
While women in most parts of India were enduring varying levels of exploitation ,some in few pockets scattered across the country enjoyed liberty and equality.Status of womanhood started taking a turn for better all over India in the first half of nineteenth centuary,when Raja Ram Mohan Roy strongly espoused its cause.After abolishing the practice of 'SATI', which was quite prevalent in northern India at that time,he founded the Brahma Samaj,to lead the general emancipation of society and with it the order of Brahma Kumaris to work for women's welfare.Though much progres was made by the movement, particularly in the field of women's education and in breaking the customs of purdah and seclusion, it did not enjoy enough public approval or support for its actions to be successful.
Women's emancipation had to wait until the dawn of twentieth centuary for the boost that would enable its success.It was provided by the fight for freedom under Gandhij's leadership.The genius of Gandhiji ensured that the efforts to liberate the country went hand in hand with those to uplift the women in India.His encouragement for women and his faith in them gave rise to starlets like Sarojini Naidu and Rajkumari amrit Kaur on the Indian poitical scene.Its a tribute to its resilence that Indian womanhood has not looked back since the heady ways of the freedom movement and has moved from strenght to strength.
The fruits of these efforts and aspirations are evident in the various fields of human activity, in which men and women work shoulder to shoulder, for their prosperity and well being of the country.Hopefully the day is not far off when strength of our women scientists, aircraft pilots, diplomats and administrators will be of such proportions as will match the share of women in our population.
I salute to Indian women and their achievements.
Quite in contrast to the global trend in India, prejudice against women, particularly in ancient times was never very strong.Women enjoyed high status in both the spiritual and temporal activities of society.Though the rarely became rishis or sages, women as the wives of sages, enjoyed as much inportance and respect as the sages themselves.The case with royalty was also similar.Epics like Mahabharta and Ramayana are replete with instances of women playing a crucial role in shaping the destinies of their lands.It is a tribute to the status of womanhood of the time, that legacy of Sita, Kunthi, Draupadi endures to inspire the modern women and society.
However at some time in the past, privileges like liberty and respect, that had been the hallmark of womens status until then,were weakend by certain unhealthy prejudices that developed in the society.These prejudices which caused a period of exploitation that spread over several centuries,substantially sapped the vitality of Indian womanhood,seemingly beyond the scope of redemption.No natural reason can be attributed to such collapse from a status of confidence and respect to a state of misery and hopelessness.Obviously,as a majority of mmodern historians believe, the exploitation that women endured was due to the deliberate design of certain vested interests.
While women in most parts of India were enduring varying levels of exploitation ,some in few pockets scattered across the country enjoyed liberty and equality.Status of womanhood started taking a turn for better all over India in the first half of nineteenth centuary,when Raja Ram Mohan Roy strongly espoused its cause.After abolishing the practice of 'SATI', which was quite prevalent in northern India at that time,he founded the Brahma Samaj,to lead the general emancipation of society and with it the order of Brahma Kumaris to work for women's welfare.Though much progres was made by the movement, particularly in the field of women's education and in breaking the customs of purdah and seclusion, it did not enjoy enough public approval or support for its actions to be successful.
Women's emancipation had to wait until the dawn of twentieth centuary for the boost that would enable its success.It was provided by the fight for freedom under Gandhij's leadership.The genius of Gandhiji ensured that the efforts to liberate the country went hand in hand with those to uplift the women in India.His encouragement for women and his faith in them gave rise to starlets like Sarojini Naidu and Rajkumari amrit Kaur on the Indian poitical scene.Its a tribute to its resilence that Indian womanhood has not looked back since the heady ways of the freedom movement and has moved from strenght to strength.
The fruits of these efforts and aspirations are evident in the various fields of human activity, in which men and women work shoulder to shoulder, for their prosperity and well being of the country.Hopefully the day is not far off when strength of our women scientists, aircraft pilots, diplomats and administrators will be of such proportions as will match the share of women in our population.
I salute to Indian women and their achievements.
Friday, August 28, 2009
Thursday, August 27, 2009
Violence on the weaker sex of society!!
Let's try 2 find the cause of oppressed women or 2 be more precise lets focus on the most prevalent yet relatively hidden and ignored form of violence against women and girls.It's called 'DOMESTIC VIOLENCE'.The term domestic includes violence by an intimate partner or by some family member irrespective of the plce and time and in what form.Lets take a peep into the ugly yet largely ignored world of Domestic violence.Lets take a look behind those closed doors where women suffer wid sheer silence.Violence or abuse of this nature is experienced by countless women in all strata of society Behind those closed doors of so called family tradition,customs,value,status that r taken for granted and never questioned are muffled voices of terror and trauma which do not reach beyond the threshold nor the redress agents.Gender crimes r not recent phenomena.Crime against women have been committed since antiquity.Violence gainst wives,is the central concern which cuts acroos all socities,economic and age group.To be assaulted by as intimate as a husband or a lover or by family member is the most degrading experience for a women.
Women and children r often in great danger where they should be the safest within their own families.For many a home is a place where they see or sufffer the most vulnerable attrocities or face a regime of terror and violence in the hands of society or someone close 2 them,someone they should trust.Those victims suffer emotionally,physically a lot.Prejudice towards women is sawn deep in our Indian culture.They are unable 2 make their own decision,voice their opinions or protect themselves and their children for fear of further repercussions.Their human rights r denied and their life is stolen by the ever present threat of violene.Violence against women and girls continues to be global epidemic that kills,tortures and maims physically,emotionally,sexually and economically.There r many ways in which a women is made 2 suffer.Even if v agree tat biologically women r the superior sex it vil not help to elevate their social status.It is one of the crimes against women which is linked to their disadvantageous position in their society.Fear shame,silence and suffering are the common feelings a women bears in abundance in this society that apparently venerates her as 'SHAKTI-THE ENERGISING PRINCIPLE OF SOCIETY' and thinks nothing of her before burning her for dowry or selling a young girl in the marriage bazzar.Wife beating is a complex issue or problem that involves much more than the act itself or the personal interaction between husband and wife.The roots of domestic violence lies deeply in historical attitude towards women and the institution of marriage.
In Indian families a man enjoys absolute autority power and privileges which makes him undisputedly head of family or the heart of the family.Our Indian society is gender biased Even our Indian law dictates or assumes a father to be the legal gurdian even though he abuses his wife or child,there is no change in his positon of annadatta.During marriage a wife is called ardhangini or better half of the husband but in contradiction to this she is treated vast then an animal and sometimes beaten up mercilessly.She is believed to work like a maid,fulfill all her duties in bed and that of carry a child where a compulsion on her head to bear a male child.If at all she gives birth to female child she is illtreated and tortured all her life.They r thoughtto be a plant of neighbours courtyard.female child is a kind of nightmare for some as they think it as a burden on them to go through the tedious custom of dowry.Female child becomes a reason of disaster to the father.
A son is thought upon as carrying forward the families name and regarded as a asset for the parents in their old age,Only a son has all rights and duties 2 be performed during funerals.This kind of religion brings again a kind of dominance on individual's sex and determine family goals.There r many aspects,certain blind faiths and myths tat hamper the very excistence of weomanhood.For eg:
1.Girls in chinese tradition r bound for foot binding.
2.Girls in africa folow barbaric custom of genital mutilation.
3.During Taliban rule women in afghan were kept in house arrest.
4.A brutal manifestation of gender crimes peculiar to India is the burning of brides/Wives.
Since ages this atrocities r cited upon women and made them vulnerable.When vill women stand up for her rights and identity?Its high time now women should voice their problems and get herself justice.Dont know wen?This question keeps ringing in ma ears and ma heart aches 2 see this vulnerable state of women who has many faces like MA DURGA,MA CHANDI,MA KALI.
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