Are women still considered inferior to men?
Yes, it is true. Especially in Indian society, many families do consider their daughters to be inferior to their sons. Of course, they do care more about the safety of their daughters as opposed to their sons, but the thing is that the daughter is seen in many households to be a housewife-in-the-making...
Someone whose job, from the day she is born, is to wake up early in the morning, wake their husband up and get him dressed, do the same for the kids, drop the kids off at school, come back home, clean, cook, set the table, help with the kids' homework, and then go to sleep, to wake up the next day and repeat the entire routine, taking care of the entire house. There is nothing wrong with that, of course, the thing is that if they don't want to spend their life like that, taking care of their family, then they shouldn't.
They have dreams and hopes too; some women do prefer being housewives, and that is perfectly fine, as being a housewife and taking care of the home and family is also a big job to do. However, if they have a wish to work, then they shouldn't be stopped at all! It is completely their choice, to be a housewife or to work, and as long as they can balance their life, be it any decision they choose to take, why should anyone else have any objection?
But yes, this mental image does exist that only the man of the family should go to work, bring home the money, and the wife should stay at home and take care of the house. Even sometimes, when the family is having some financial problems, the "traditional values" are too rigorously fixed in the people's minds to allow the wife to go to work, even if she is completely educated and qualified.
- Why is there an increasing number of dowry deaths and feticide in the country today??
It is all about pressurization. The young girls who are going to be married off, are sometimes being married because their parents are going through a financial crisis. However, when the groom and his family demand dowry, what is the family to do? The daughter sees herself as being a complete burden upon the family, and this lowers her self-esteem so much that she feels that she is not even good enough to live anymore, and kills herself.
About feticide/abortion, this is also completely based on pressure. As said in the answer below, a male child is considered a boon, and the female child a bane. Today, women go with their husbands to have scans, and if the child is revealed to be a baby girl, then most times they are pressurized to have an abortion done, instead of bringing another "burden" upon the family. And the woman is forced to kill the child.
Sometimes, even after birth, (if they have not done a scan), the baby girl is taken and buried alive. This is an entirely horrible concept, and everyone who has done such a thing does suffer emotionally for the rest of their lives, or until a baby boy is born which you can consider to be, metaphorically, a broken toy sent back and a brand new toy sent in its place. You know which is which.
- Why is the girl child shunned by society while the boy is looked upon as the sole torch bearer for the family??
This is one of the most prehistoric ideas that exist - they have been around for an extremely long time, and are still in people's minds. When a girl gets married, she either loses her maiden name or it is changed to her middle name (sometimes, if the in-laws don't like the first name, it is changed too!) Thus, the Indian saying, which says "Betian to parayi hoti hain". And it's all because of this that the male child, who will carry on his father's name, is looked upon as the torch-bearer, the person who will "save" the family.
Also, the children of a couple always receive their father's name or last name as their surname. In a few families, the children are given their mother's surname as a middle name, but this is not such a popular idea. It does not really matter in society that it is, after all, the woman who gives birth (the families who practise infanticide and feticide also do not understand this) painstakingly, for after all, it is the man who matters, isn't it?
Just my opinion😳
Thanks,
Jink
Edited by JinK - 17 years ago
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