Posted:
Anna? This is a topic/question that has and will haunt womankind for quite some time to come. Man has decided since before the scriptures that he has the upper hand and the freedom to make rules and dictate what is right and what is wrong. In his wisdom, he decreed that the female is lower in status to him, but is the one to carry the family honour. The son puts a foot wrong, eyebrows are raised. The daughter does something wrong and the world ends. The cry goes up that she has shamed the family and should pay, is punished or even put to death.
Whilst man has created these double standards there is the group that is very much guilty of keeping the tradition alive. Woman. Look to the elder women of society. How many of them have seen injustices against their kind and how many have even become the perpetrators or stayed silent to keep the peace? They will gossip and speak ill of any woman who wants to break the mould. Yet these are the very women who were young once and had dreams. I could go on foraever about this.
I do not know about the Hindu scriptures but the bible states that Eve was created from Adam's rib. Not from his head so that she can be above him and not from his foot so that she is beneath him (in status) but from his side as his equal. The Quran says that man and woman are created to compliment each other, not to rule oveeat he other. In both cases tradition and culture have fused with religion and this is used as a tool to keep women 'in line.'
Dear Anna I am afraid that I have deviated from the question you have put but there are certain aspects in my answer that are relevant.
