The Indian Society

The Indian Society

The Indian society has set up many unfair rules that limit a women€™s freedom and rights. In India the society has given man the status of a superior or in other words the position of a god. Earlier in India, men gave women the status of an animal. They would treat women the same way they would treat any kind of animal. Society was the one that came up with the idea that a woman has to bring dowry with her when she gets married; and if her family is unsuccessful in paying up the amount her in-laws keep demanding, then the in-laws end up killing their daughter-in-law; and after she is dead they get their son remarried and get more dowry from his second wife. Also society is responsible for always blaming women for anything that goes wrong. For example when a woman becomes a widow, she blamed for her own husband€™s death and is considered as a curse to the family. If she wants to remarry then her family with consider it as a disgrace to the family and she will be known as committing a sin. On the other hand if a man€™s wife dies, he can remarry and no one ever says anything. A widow can only wear white for the rest of her life, while a man can wear any color he wants after his wife dies. Another thing that the society should be blamed for is coming up with the ritual of a Sati. The practice of sati is when the widow is forced to jump into her husband€™s pyre. If she fulfills this ritual then she is given the status of a goddess, but that is only an excuse of getting rid of her so her in-laws don€™t have to financially support her anymore. Also prostitution is another major problem in India. When a girl gets raped her own parents disown her saying that she will disgrace the family. After getting disowned by her own parents, the girl has no other choice but to turn to the dirty business of prostitution to make a living. When a girl gets raped, instead of punishing the guys who committed such a crime, the society starts pointing fingers at the girl, and defaming her, making her life miserable. In addition to these problems, the society is also responsible for causing the deaths of innocent baby girls. In India about 70% families favor baby boys over girls. When a couple is married, the in-laws have an expectation of the daughter-in-law giving them a grandson, as their first grandchild. In most villages when a girl gives birth to a baby girl, she is forced to kill the baby by: mashing poisonous oleander seeds into a dollop of oil and feed it down the infant's throat. Then she has to go and bury the infant€™s body. The main reason most families want sons rather than daughters, because sons stay with them and can take care of them when they get old. As for the daughter they belong to another family, so when they get married they go and live with their husband€™s family they can no longer take care of their own parents. Also in India when a women gets sick she never taken to the hospital, unless she has a very critical condition. Vice verse if a boy gets sick, he is always taken to the hospital no matter if its only a little fever. In conclusion, the Indian society has set up rules that are an advantage to men, but a disadvantage to women. Instead treating both sexes equally, males are given the statues of god, while women are treated worse than an animal.

Sati the Burning of A widow

What is a sati? A sati is a Hindu custom in India, where the widow is burnt to death on her husband€™s pyre. The way that sati is performed is that the widow dresses up as a bride again and then jumps into her husbands pyre. (In India instead of burying the dead body, they burn it) The reason behind the practice of sati was, because a widow€™s status was looked as unwanted burden by her in-laws. A widow cannot participate in any kind of a household work, and her touch, voice, and even her appearance was considered as unholy. The widow would only be considered pure if she committed Sati, and then she would be worshipped and given the place of a goddess. Another reason behind the practice of a sati is that in rural villages the only relationship that women has is with her husband; and when her husband dies she is just considered as a unnecessary burden for other, so therefore the widow is either forced or by her own choice she commits sati. This practice was banned in 1829, but had to be banned again in 1956, because it was still occurring in some villages. In 1987 an eighteen years old widow, Roop Kanwar, committed Sati in a village of Rajasthan. Roop€™s father-in-law stated that she committed Sati on her own will, but many people say that she was drugged and forced to commit sati. Drugging the widow was also common in making them commit sati, when the women was drugged she had no sense of what she was doing and there for her in-laws would throw in the burning fire where her dead husband was lying.

This picture shows a widow dressed up just like a bride, getting ready to jump into her husband€™s pyre and committing sati.

Ill-treatment against Widows

Widows in India have also been mistreated and led a very miserable life. When a woman becomes a widow she has three options: to marry their husband€™s younger brother; throw themselves on their dead husband€™s funeral pyre; or lead a life of self-denial. When a widow chooses to lead a life of self-denial, her head gets shaven, and could only wear a white or red sari without any ornaments or jewelry. They were given only a single meal a day. A widow€™s presence at family or public functions was totally forbidden. Because of societies rules a widow cannot remarry, and if she does make a choice of remarrying she gets no support from family members, and her choice for remarriage is considered as a disgrace to the family. Earlier in India, girls were married off to guys even before they entered their teenage years. Therefore mostly those girls became very young widows, and had no place to go because their own parents considered them as burdens and didn€™t want them to live with them. Recently a movie called Water was released and was directed by Deepa Mehta. The movie revolves around widows and how harsh their life is after they enter widowhood. The movie is set in 1938, and it tells the story of an eight-year-old girl named Chuiya, who was a victim of child marriage, and becomes a widow of her 5o-year-old husband who had died. She has her head shaved and is expected to spend the rest of life in the poverty-stricken institution with no possessions or personal income and segregated from the rest of society. The movie also states how some widows were made into prostitutes to financially support the other widows. In India, Vrindavan is known as the "city of widows." May Devi was 33 when she lost her husband. She has lived in the city's ashrams ever since. In the quote below she tells how badly she was treated on the train that she came to the city on. "I came here with nothing. Even on the train, I had to sit on the floor and not on a bench," she said. "I had to sit by the toilet and slept under the bench on the floor. Since I came, I have never returned home. This is my only home now." In conclusion, widows in India are treated very badly and without any respect, and the only thing to blame is society which gives widow this position, which is worse than life of an animal.

	A picture from the movie Water, where an 8-year-old girl becomes a widow, and is forced to get her head shaven, and is dressed in white for the rest of her life.

Abortion, Female Infanticide, Foeticide, Dowry, Son preference in India

Since the past decades, India has advanced in many things such as technology, education, improved its economical conditions, and the cities have become very much like any city in the USA. Even after having so many changes in India, there is one change that still hasn€™t occurred even after reaching the 21^st century, and that is to treat boys and girls equally. Even now in India, 8 out of 10 families would prefer to have boys rather than having girls. The reason most couples want a boy is because he would continue the family name, bloodline, earn money, look after the family and take care of his parents in old age in a country which has no social security system. In India, daughters are traditionally regarded economic and social burdens because they will eventually marry and leave home. If by chance, the lady is expecting a baby girl, then she is either forced to undergo an abortion or the family kills the baby girl after she is born. It has been recorded that since the last 20 years about 10 million baby girls have been aborted. That means for every 1,000 boys that are born 933 girls have been aborted. It has also been recorded that about 500,000 girls were either killed after birth or purposely left somewhere to die. Most of the time the reason why Indian parents don€™t want girls is, because they are afraid that when she gets married her in-laws will demand a huge dowry, which they won€™t be able to pay for due to their financial conditions. In India since the past few years birth rate of girls have been rapidly decreasing. To help prevent the decreasing birth rate of girls, sex determination test, and medical termination of pregnancy on the basis of gender has been illegal since 1994. I think apart from the in-laws and the husband, society is about 60% responsible for this cruel act being done against girls. The reason why I say that is because in India, society has been always pointing fingers and defaming women. First of all society was the one who came up with the tradition that when the girls get married, her in-laws have a right to ask for a dowry. Asking for dowry is considered illegal now, but it€™s still being asked for and helpless parents are forced to fulfill the demand. Also whenever a woman can€™t conceive she blamed and insulted and sent back to her parent€™s home, where her own parents start considering as a burden and always abusing her by saying that she was born ill-fated.

	Two homeless girls left on the street, abandoned by their parents who in the greed of a son left their girls to die.

Trafficking of Children for Prostitution

Girls and young women being forced into prostitution is one of the dirtiest side of India. Ruchira Gupta, a Project Officer at UNICEF in New York, was doing a research when she came across some villages that did not have any girls or women from the ages 15 to 45. Curious to know where all those girls and women went she started investigation to find out the truth. Later on she found out that they were sold to the trafficker who sold them to brothel keepers in Mumbai. On further investigation she reached to the brothels in Mumbai and was shocked by the filthy conditions that these women were in. Women and girls were kept locked in a small room which was four by four, and had no windows. She was made service to fifteen to twenty men a day and was given only forty rupees (a dollar in U.S. money). These innocent girls and women who forced into prostitution face: rape, physical abuse, torture, violence, repeated abortions and life-threatening diseases like HIV, TB and hepatitis. They were sold, seduced, tricked, or forced into this life of sexual slavery. Most of the time women are either forced by parents, in-laws or husbands in becoming a prostitute, or she becomes a victim of rape, and when her family refuses to accept her she has no other choice but to become a prostitute.

	This is a picture of a girl who instead of enjoying an innocent childhood is leading a harsh life as a prostitute.

As part of my finals for high school....i was required to write a ten page paper on a something that botherz me and i feel is wrong....so i decided to write about the indian society and how badly and unfairly it treats the indian women...and the status they hold compared to the men of india.....so i wanted to share it with you guys and also know what you opinion is in regard of the indian society

👏 👏 thanks for sharing...all that is 10 pages?..wow....didnt read it yet...but definately will...

dazzling desi most of the things you have written are against the law and there are law protecting women, and do not happen to the extent that you are talking of. Your article is certainly not up to date. Please research the latest status of women in India.

Sati isn't relevant anymore as it rarely happens.Roop Kanwar was a shocking rare case and made headlines. The reason something like this makes headlines is that its rare and shocking now. If it was common practise then it would have been ignored.

Female infanticide - their are laws that sex determining of the child leads to severe punishment for the Doctors. Therefore it has helped to a large extent.

Dowry deaths have also gone down in the past years as the law says any death of a wife before the 7 years of a marriage are up will be taken as suspiciously and investigated. This has helped stop those bride burnings.

Widows aren't treated like hindi movie "Prem Rog" style anymore. I have several aunts and my grandmother who's a widow. Nor do they wear white .Nor have i seen any one in my society that makes a widow dress in white these days. Widow remarriages are common and well accepted.

The fact that women are denied medical treatment is untrue to the extent you talk about. It may happen in remote villages. But it doesn't happen in cities.

I am an Indian woman who has lived for years in India . I did not see the treatment of women like you mentioned.

Please research the latest status of women and i hope you don't add to all the misconceptions the West aleady has about India.

If you are of Indian origin, its your moral responsibility to not portray the wrong negative image of India amongst your classmates.

Interview Indian women and judge for your self the status we hold in the society.

Wishing you all the best in your class essay.

Dazzling desi...what are you doing? 😕 Americans already have bad image of India...thanks for agreeing and encouraging their thoughts again...Were you born here?
Word of Advice..don't get offended. You are going to college pretty soon, tip for writing a good essay..exclude biased language. Your writing style is biased. You need to give pros and cons or include both sides... you ONLY mentioned negative side of an issue.

What you said...was right and is right to certain extent. Some classes or some people do act and think that way..It's sad. People have been fighting against the system and they have attained a lot of success. That's why
1 Many widows can get married now and NO not all of them get married to their younger brother in laws. In punjab and in other areas, it's the way of keeping blood line in the family. If a widow has a son or a daughter, she gets married to the husband's brother or cousin. No NOt every one follows that.......

2 There are more women in collge than men in India

3 Women are found in almost all the traditional Men dominating professions

4 Sati pratha is almost non existing..except in some towns in Rajasthan.

5 There are laws against burning of daughter in laws and people do fight agianst it.

Every society has its flaws. No society is perfect. You think USA is better for women..Women don't suffer here?
Have you ever gone to small states in USA? Women are treated like animals. Southerns Americans are hard core Christains and they believe women place is at home. They should not study too much or they will develop new ideas. Women are physically abused.
Let me try to explain you in other way. Let's see if I were to say only negative things about America..eventhough this was true untill the beginning of 19th century, I can say it like it was true today. Mind you, this actually occured in America..earliest was 1920's 1950's and 60's

1 Women were burnt in america in the name of Witch craft
2 They were married at the age of 13 or 14th.
2 In schools, women were taught "how to be a good wife?" some of the tips were
a when your husband comes back from work, please don't bother him with your stories. He is tired and he needs rest.
b Make sure dinner is reday because you don't want him to wait.
c If he gets mad at you, don't say anything. He is frustrated. If you say anythings, you will only make things worse.
d Make sure you are dressed nicely. When husband comes back from work, he doesn't want to see a sloppy wife.
E keep the house tidy. Your husband doesn't want to see a filthy house..it will reflect on your upbringing.
F Make sure you make new dish every day. Don't repeat a dish for a week.
Actually, My co-worker who is 52 right now, she went through this class in her high school in America.

My aunties who are in 50's have Masters in Political science, Math, English, History. My mother who is 58 has Double Masters in Political science..and all of them complete din India. That was the time when American women were taught "Husband pleasing tips." My aunties and many other women attained a good position like a professor, prinicpal, director etc in India. How many American women you know from that era who had that...
Most of all we have had a women president and people adored her. Can you say that about America? There is a popular saying here ,"you will see a black becoming a president before you see an American women get selected for a president."
Look how easy it is to talk trash about one's country. If I were to only mention Negative points of America, it won't be fair. Each society has ups and downs. You can't make bold statements like that....

All these things mentioned above are very prevalent in India. it may not seem so in the city but it's vry prevalent in small town n villages which account for more than 70% percent of india's population.

Whatever little emancipation that has happened is basically in the city. My sisters are sociologists & social workers and i have seen this at very close quarters. Its something i have read very extensively about. even in the cities all though women work, dress up as they feel etc the mind set towards them hasnt really changed much.

Big cities still face the problem of female infanticides. All this is due to social conditioning and the basic unchallanged authority of the patriachal system.

This is something i could go on about. Basically to sum it up women are n their status in this society is making progress but the percantage is way too tiny n progress slow.

Yes, the true protrayal of a topic is very important in any assignment, but of even more importance in real life.
By not giving updated info, u r stripping these societies of the greeat challenges they faced in becoming the society they are today. You are denying them the recognition they deserve for fighting against these claustrophobic and demeaning circumstancees... and WINNING!! Remember at the end of every story, there is a good ending, there are always the brave souls that fought for the good of humanity and by not giving them their due, by not recognising the changes that have taken place over time, you are not only giving out false info, but also disgracing their cause.

Anyway, yes women have suffered, and will always suffer. But, then so do men. Over time, women have proven to be resilient and deal with situations with grace and an the ability to succeed. It is the way God has chosen to prove women are stronger... 😳
Yes, in society to this day, certain widows rights are stolen from them, they aren't allowed to get their children married, aren't allowed to partake in certain festivities (Holi, Srimanth, Chatti, etc). There are different issues that all women (prostitutes, etc).But there are leaders in societies that are working on turning this around. If societies are led out of the darkness, work together to break down these age-old warped beliefs then all taboo's and barriers will be destroyed. And I am not only speaking of India, but of an international community, everyone faces these issues, I know they are extremely prevalent here in SA.

We now have fresh issues on all our agenda's, for example gay and lesbian relationships. (+ve/-ve?!?) There are still debates and community upheavels re this. And of course many more...

There will always be issues cropping up. But if we deal with them together and remember each societies fights and VICTORIES... then we are a progressive GLOBAL COMMUNITY!!!

Yeah, yeah... i'm off the topic... again... shoot me!! 😆

DV

Thanks For Sharing This Debate .