Women in Modern India

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Pirated_Fun

@Pirated_Fun

Rocker

+ 4

Posted: 14 years ago

What is really the position of Women in Modern India ? There are some who are getting the freedom to work , to choose our own career , our own destiny ,.,..But do we really have that freedom , are we all really have the independence ...

These days there are two shows i watch ...
1. Maryada
2.Suvarnalata..It is a bengali show based on a novel by Ashapurna Devi .
Both shows are actually about women empowerment , but they are of two different time ...
In Suvarnalata she does not have any place in her sasural or Maayka ..because she asked for her self respect ...same is happening with Vidya ...
I know Vidya has decided that she will not stay with her husband ..In one way she has progressed , but in another way like Suvarnalata too she is not accepted in her parents home ...

The country has got it's independence but what about us ..
Why still women are blamed when they are raped ..Why still people can never be happy seeing a girl child ,. Why still women are like a machine of reproduction for many house hold ...

I have never been outside India , so can''t say about other countries , but IN India THE CHANGE from the time of suvaranalata to Vidya has been very little...

What do u all think ? Reply here

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shee

@Shee_xaan

Rocker

+ 2

Posted: 14 years ago

I agree with u.
Just same here the different is we r happy with girl baby and boy baby too.

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tchoud

@tchoud

Beginner

Posted: 14 years ago

Writing from London, i can assure you that the status of women here very much remains the same as its roots for some women. South asian women (Indian, bengali, pakistani) are to some extent still being opressed by the backwards values of men who are adament on holding onto their traditions. Although the greater reality is that the new generation is rebelling against these values, no more forced marriages, no more degrading of women - in fact, daughters are far more loved! I think India's dilemma of the status of women will only slowly take its toil and it will take a few more generations to come to atleast a reasonable end of women's opression. The 'religious' (intertwined with generations of traditions making the religious aspect less weak) links to the culture of these individual's is too close to severe - yet i don't see any religion which condemns gender equality!

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JJESH

@JJESH

Voyager

Posted: 14 years ago

You are right ...when I watch Vidya I feel so helpless and frustrated...after 64yrs of independence ...scenario didn't change that much. Vidya's mom's dialouge were so true and really really really sad...

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adetkrj

@adetkrj

Explorer

Posted: 14 years ago

I think that all asian women every where in the world are facing the same situation in one way or the other...it is the foundation which is laid in minds and passed on from one generation to another...sometimes I feel the women themselves sa y that what can we do we have to bear all it is our duty...they try to imprint this even on the minds of their daughters and we find even in todays wotrld so may educated and working young girls are oppressed in their homes(maayka and sasural)

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neel_jay

@neel_jay

Voyager

Posted: 14 years ago

writing from America - i find that women are much more empowered here than in India. i find that because of the general awareness here around the equality of genders, even most Indian men become pressured into treating their women more fairly.

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india2050

@india2050

Voyager

Posted: 14 years ago

Women be it in India or elsewhere are always treated second fiddle to men because of the notion of the Fairer/poorer sex,.Only in the west women atleast know of their rights and single women have a litttle better life than in India or any developing country.The main problem lies in the law(or rather the less of it)Any country if it has to enpower its weaker citizens has to make laws strictrer and stringent and also fast track justice which is a long way to go in India hence the crimes on and against women are on the rise since the offender knows the long overhaul of justice in our country -its justice delayed and also justice denied.Strengthen the laws and strenghten the citizens .

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Purva

@-Purva-

Dazzler

+ 5

Posted: 14 years ago

I think you are wrong to take either Suvarnalata or Maryada as representative of modern indian women. Suvarnalata is set in 1960s and then the society and position of women was very different from now. Suvarnalata is the second of 3 part novels written by Ashapurna Devi. The first was Pratham Partishruti, where the mother gets married as a child and then struggles all her life to make something of her daughter's life. It ends with the marriage of Suvarnalata (the heroine's daughter) again as a child bride. The next in series is Bakulkatha. where Bakul, who is the daughter of Suvarnalata not only is given an opportunity to study, but also becomes the sole support and bread-winner for her father. Bakulkatha is set in early 70s.

Maryada is set in Haryana, which is the hub of a lot social evils against women. Haryana is constantly in news for its Khap Panchayats and honor-killings. The state also has the worst sex-ratio. Women's education is highly neglected and female infanticide and post-partum medical care for women is really abyssmal. The serial really is a reflection of the state of affairs of one state.

No single society can claim that women have 100% equal rights as men. If that was so Rihanna wouldn't be beaten up by her BF, Whoopi Goldberg wouldn't have run away from her abusive husband, Jennifer Anniston, Demi Moore, Nicole Kidman, Maria Shriver, Hillary Clinton wouldn't have been humiliated and deserted by their respective husbands.

Urban India is much more liberal and progressive in terms of women's rights than rural India. But again that is the same globally. If India was really regressive you wouldn't have people like Mayawati, Mamta Banerjee, Jayalalita, Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara Raje, Sheila Dikshit, Pratibha Patil and even Sonia Gandhi at the helm of affairs. Do you realize that India is probably the only country where the President and the leader of Opposition are both women, and the acknowledged power behind the ruling party is another woman. the executive heads of more than 5 states are women. The TV entertainment industry is led by another woman. We have more women in leading/decision-making capacities in leading industries than most western countries. India was the first country to have a woman as Prime Minister (Indira Gandhi was sworn in before Golda Meir) we were the first country to send a woman as our official representative to UN (Vijaylakshmi Pandit). So before you get despondent, you might want to look at the brighter side of the picture too.

I am not saying that everythin is fine and really above board, but just that women in India really have it good, a lot better than things can be. I thank my stars everyday that I was born in India, in an urban, progressive family. You may want to read the story of Mukhtaran Mai (Pakistan), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Afghanistan), Reading Lolita in Tehran (Iran),

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neel_jay

@neel_jay

Voyager

Posted: 14 years ago

@gangubai - i agree with the points you made about urban India but i still maintain that things are not as good in the smaller towns in India. please remember that metros are few in India and that smaller towns and villages combined are in majority.

i was born and brought up in India, in a modern home in one of the bigger cities. but i have seen life in smaller towns and i still maintain that women get treated better in the US. exceptions and problems are everywhere but overall, looking at the majority, an average American woman gets more rights than an average Indian woman.

please don't misunderstand me. i'm proud that i was born in India and i will always love India but that doesn't stop me from acknowledging where we are weaker and where there is still opportunity for growth and improvement.

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Women in Modern India

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