In my term paper, I will talk about Indian women and how their role has changed in the past centuries. This is an interesting and important topic for me, because, even though there might not be a total equality between men and women, German women are blessed to live in a society in which they are (theoretically) respected, able to stand up for themselves and have the same rights as men. I want to find out how Indian women live and what the differences to the western societies are.
I want to start with how the role of the Indian woman looked like in the past and how it was influenced by changes in the country over the years.
Then, I will talk about the Indian woman today and how her life has changed, which will be followed by the subtopic of Indian women in men-dominant jobs.
Next, I will explain the situation for Indian girls and how their childhood influences their lives.
I will talk about a couple of famous and important Indian women, which have influenced the Indian history and are role models for Indian children.
Finally, I will come to my evaluation of this topic.
The Role of Indian Women in the Past
The role of Indian women was mainly influenced by religious movements. In ancient India, women shared an equal status with the men and were also as educated as them. Scriptures that are found even suggest that women were able to select their husband and were not forced into an arranged marriage at young age.
But the status of women began to change into inequality with the Islamic invasion of the Mughal empire (an Islamic imperial power that invaded the Indian subcontinent in approximately 500 B.C.) and worsened even more when Christianity arrived in India and women’s freedom and rights were more and more minimized.
During the Medieval period, the deteriorating of the woman’s position continued. Child marriages, the banning of widow marriages and Sati (Sati describes the funeral practice performed by Hindu women, who recently widowed and then would, voluntarily or forced, commit suicide by setting themselves on fire on their husband’s pyre)were established as a part of the Indian social life. The Muslim conquest in India also brought Purdah with it, the practice of covering women’s bodies in order to not be seen by men. Polygamy spread more and more and in most Muslim families, women were only allowed to be in certain areas of the house, called Zenana.
Despite the tremendous position of women in that time, there was a Sultana of Delhi (1236 to 1240). Her name was Razia Sultana and she was a Muslim princess. Shams-ud-din Illtutmish, her father, appointed her as his successor, but the Muslim nobility refused to accept a female ruler and her brother was soon elevated to the throne instead. Razia Sultana was followed by more female rulers, who may have had the power to reign their areas, but were unable to defeat the suppression of women.
During the British rule of India, women’s rights became a bigger concern again. Many reformers started to fight for them, and some missionaries’ wives espoused Indian women and girls by giving them an education. This met resistance right away, because for many people educated women cut across Indian traditions.
In 1917, the first women’s delegation, which was supported by the Indian National Congress, met the Secretary of State to demand women’s political rights. In 1929, the Child Marriage Restraint Act was passed, which said, that a girl hast to be at least fourteen years old to be able to marry someone.
Over the years, the situation of Indian women has improved, but they are still far away from being equal to men. They usually don’t work and have worse chances to get a job, because men are still dominant in all areas and also have the opportunity to get a better education.
Indian Women Today
In India, there are many contrasts: on the one hand, India is a high-tech country, on the other hand there are still millions of people living in the streets begging for money and food. Looking at the role of the woman in India today, one can see the same extreme contrasts.
There are women who grow up not knowing what kind of possibilities they might have. They live in a family in which they have to learn to respect and serve men from an early age. She has to follow the Manu, a codex with certain rules that tell her how to behave (e.g. she is not allowed to eat before her husband has eaten something; she is not allowed so sit while her husband is standing; etc.). The family follows the old traditions and the daughter usually ends up in an arranged marriage. I think the biggest problem is that they don’t know any better. They don’t have an opportunity to get a good education to get out of their family-controlled lives and are never able to make their own choices. The government tries to help these women by giving easy jobs to them (for example in a call center) to guide them to more independence and more self-esteem.
But there are also women who were luckier and grew up in a more modern family. They receive an education and are able to get a job and stand on their own feet. The family usually still plays a big role in the woman’s life, but doesn’t dominate it. These women live lifestyle that is definitely comparable to the western lifestyle and are very important for India, because they are the country’s “female future”.
Indian Women in Men-Dominated Jobs
In the past centuries, women have more and more become part of India’s working class. They are now able to work in men-dominant jobs. About ten years ago, an important 33%-women- law for elections was passed, which made it possible to give more than a million important positions in the politics to women. There are also many female doctors (40.000), teachers (600.000), engineers, scientists (15.000), etc.
Another example is Kalpana Chawla, a 36 Indian woman, who is the first female Indian austronaut.
Manushi is the name of an Indian journal, which is devoted to feminism and gender studies. Today, it is one of the most important Indian journals. It was founded by Madhu Kishwar and Ruth Vanita in 1978. A few centuries ago, people would have laughed at the two women’s idea, but they now have great success with their journal.
Even though working Indian women get more and more successful in man-dominated jobs, most of them still work in ‘typical’ women’s jobs, if they work at all. These include laundress, housekeeper, cleaner, working out on the field, etc.
The law may say that in India women and men are supposed to get the same education and the same salary, but reality is war away from that.
Indian Girl
A long time ago, the birth of a girl was compared to the arrival of the Goddess of Wealth Lakshmi, but those times have passed. Now they are seen as a burden for the family, because, unlike boys, they don’t have an important ‘function’. Boys have to later become the family’s head and carry on the family’s good name and honor and usually get a better education. The goal of a girl’s life is to marry a good husband and have children with him. Once she is married, she’s no longer her own family’s business. Another big problem is the dowries. Depending on what caste the family lives in, it has to give certain goods away with its daughter when she leaves home. This tradition sometimes ruins families, because they actually can’t afford to give away any of their property. This is one reason why the government prohibited this custom, but many people are still doing it nevertheless. In extreme cases, women are murdered (often burnt alive) or commit suicide, because they are unable to come up with the dowries (7000 of those murders are registered by the Indian police every year)
Because girls are much more problematic than boys, the rate of selective abortion of female fetuses has increased dramatically lately. The magazine “The Lancet” did a study in which it looked at about 134.000 births in 1.1 million Indian households. There were only 759 girls for 1000 boys in all the families that already had a daughter.
Therefore, the suppression of women already begins when they are still children. Most of them grow up knowing that they are not equal to men and will never be. The society expects of them to obey and follow the traditions. It is hard to break out of this when you’ve grown up in a family for which all these things are very important.
Important Indian Women:
1.Mother Teresa
Mother Teresa was born August 26th 1910 and died in Calcutta September 5th 1997. She grew up in a wealthy family and was raised very religiously. After her father died suddenly when she was 10 years old, she committed to her belief even more than she already had and then, at the age of 18, joined the Sisters of Loreto. She had to go to an Abbey in Ireland to learn English, because it was the language the Sisters of Loreto taught the school children in India, but soon was able to go to Calcutta to teach. She worked at the St. Mary’s School for 17 years and later became the school’s principal.
Mother Teresa was touched by the fates of the many poor people that lived in Calcutta’s slums and supposedly felt God’s demand to help them. She wrote in her journal, that Jesus asked her to give up everything and follow her in the slums to serve the poorest of the poor.
In 1948 she obtained Indian citizenship and founded the Missionaries of Charity two years later. Their mission was (in Mother Teresa’s words) to care for “the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone”. The foundation still exists today and has opened 710 homes in 133 countries.
Mother Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979, which was followed by an even bigger honor in the year 1997: the beatification after her death through Pope Johannes Paul II.
Even though she had many critics because of her conservative views (like the rejection of abortion), she never the less had an impressive life and helped and supported many poor. Her work still continues today and she is the very first Indian women to ever receive a Nobel Prize.
2.Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi, born November 19th 1917 and assassinated October 31st 1984, was the Republic of India’s first and to this day only female Prime Minister. She grew up in an educated and wealthy family which gave her the opportunity to get involved into politics. Especially her father was a big influence to her, since he was the Prime Minister of India as well (1947-1964).
She worked as the Prime Minister for a total of almost 15 years. Her biggest success was the freeing of Bangladesh and the defeat of Pakistan. She managed to make the conflict between the two sides to an international issue which made her popular all over the world.
With her assassination, which was an outbreak of the immense conflicts between the Sikh and the Hindu, an impressive politician and woman died. Her life and career was an example of how well women can do in politics and that they can move just as much as men do. Nevertheless, there is the question if she had become so powerful, had her father not been a Prime Minister himself. His career and hers definitely have many parallels, even though she ended up being much more successful than him and he must have influenced her a lot when she was young, since she was his only child.
It’s also suspect whether she would have come to this great popularity, had her husband not have the name ‘Gandhi’. There is no link between him and Mahatma Gandhi, but many people in India and the rest of the world know the name; it probably gave Indira Gandhi a better recognition value.
However, Indira Gandhi was a woman who is a role model for many Indian women and an example of the emancipation in India. The Indian politics is extremely man-dominant and her rise to the top of it was a breakthrough for women in that area.
3.Freida Pinto
Freida Pinto is an Indian actress/model who became internationally famous because of her role in the Oscar-winning movie Slumdog Millionaire. Unlike many of her colleagues, the first movie she acted in was already a Hollwood production. She started her career as a model and then, in 2007, auditioned for Slumdog Millionaire, even though she had never received theatre/acting schooling.
In the next few years she will be seen in more international productions (together with world-famous people like Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts).
4.Shilpa Shetty
Shilpa Shetty is another famous Indian actress, who became internationally famous after participating in the British reality show Celebrity Big Brother. During her participation, she was verbally attacked and harassed by other contestant because of her origin. She nevertheless won the show. Afterwards, she was invited to meet the Prime Minister Tony Blair and even Queen Elizabeth II. For an Indian girl, who grew up in a traditional family, this is an incredible opportunity and honor.
Both of these women represent the modern India. Their lives don’t have much in common with the traditional role of an Indian woman anymore; they’re well comparable to Western ones. In my opinion women like Freida Pinto and Shilpa Shetty are good role models for many girls, because they show that women in India can reach their dreams and be successful.
Evaluation
I doubt that there is any country in the world in which men and women are totally equal. It is a long and difficult process to gain rights for every part of the population, but it is something that needs to be done in order to have contentment among the people.
India has the honor to be able to call itself the largest democracy in the world. Everyone needs to have the same rights. Women went through a long time of suppression and unfairness and are still not treated the way they need to be treated. The situation has improved a lot, but there are still many problems.
I think that the government already did many steps in the right direction; it’s just the Indian society that refuses to change. Too many people insist on their traditions, which appear extremely old fashioned and outdated for someone who lives in the western society. If the people are not willing to give up some of their practices, equality will never exist in India.
Nevertheless do I believe that the future will bring more improvement, since the Indians who are that way are becoming less while India is getting more modern. The more time passes, the more the country changes in the right way – towards equal rights and treatment by the man-dominated society for everyone and away from suppression and brutality.
