Introduction
India may be regarded as full of beautiful and rich cultures and traditions. However, the majority of them include considerable female unfriendliness. This has been occurring for hundreds of years and is still occurring today. Factors that determine the poor treatment of women in India include religious beliefs that emphasize the superiority of the role of men.
That is why Hindu women traditionally face discriminatory and inhuman practices, such as child marriage and male domination in all areas of life. At the same time, it is essential to address them to be aware of religious beliefs that affect women not only in India but in other countries across the globe, including the United States. Based on the review of the main reasons for Hindu women’s discrimination, this paper demonstrates that this phenomenon is global and should be addressed appropriately through examination within the framework of other cultures.
Hindu Religion
Even though India may be defined as a developing country, many aspects of people’s lives are still controlled by religion. Hinduism’s beliefs and practices are based on scripture, which refers to the collection of ancient religion-related writings or canonical sacred texts, also known as the Vedas. They are supposed to reveal the truth about reality and guide people through their lives, describing religious duties they should follow.
In the present day, the Vedas still play a crucial role in Hinduism and determine followers’ behavior. For instance, according to the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955, people may marry and divorce based on mutual consent, and “the bride-groom must have completed 21 years, and the bride must have completed the age of 18 years” (Singh, 2014, p. 64). In addition, being either divorced or widowed, a woman may marry again.
However, as previously mentioned, Hindu society in India is still controlled by the guidance of spiritual texts that discriminate against women in relation to marriage. Thus, according to them, “that woman who remains unmarried will be guilty of sinning” (Singh, 2014, p. 63). A woman’s desire to marry or not is completely ignored; moreover, she cannot divorce or remarry at all. Thus, in modern India, the percentage of divorce is considerably low. However, it does not indicate women’s satisfaction with marriage.
Another crucial issue determined by scripture is girl-child marriage. India “stands in 6th position among the top 10 countries having a high proportion of girl child marriage,” with approximately 1.5 million girls under the age of 18 getting married there every year (Das & Roy, 2020, p. 2). Even though the Indian government undertakes all efforts to reduce child marriage, resulting in a 20% decline, the decreasing pattern is determined by different states’ cultural customs and economic conditions (Das & Roy, 2020). In other words, in some areas, the situation did not change at all. Although there are multiple factors of child marriage, including violence, poor education and health care, poverty, and lawlessness, religious leaders play a key role in child marriages as well (Vogelstein, 2014).
In particular, Hindu verses state: “One shall give his daughter in the proper form, even though she may not have attained (the age), to a bridegroom of exceptionally distinguished appearance, and her equal.” Therefore, Hinduism justifies child marriage as girls are believed to be virtuous and pure until the right age to bear children, regardless of the negative impact of this practice on their physical and mental health, and this problem remains unsolved.
Male Domination
In general, Hinduism emphasizes the difference between genders in relation to earthly life and the whole creation. It is universal and refers to all aspects of nature. At the same time, according to religion, gender differences are not just based on sexual functions and organs but on the powers materialized in people’s divinities.
The diversity and duality are determined by three phenomena, including nama (name) aroused from speech, rupa (form) aroused from eyes, and karma (action or function) aroused from the body (Jayaram, n.d.). All of them are responsible for visible diversity perceived through the senses and minds. However, at the same time, Hinduism emphasizes the equality of genders, stating that every human has both dualities, while a soul does not have any gender. Thus, gender distinctions are illusory and are required only for the continuity of life.
At the same time, in most religions, spiritual beliefs are affected by reality. In Hinduism, from ancient times, the dominating role of men in society was recorded in spiritual texts, altering their meaning and reflecting in people’s perceptions. That is why this religion may be currently regarded as the source of contradictions – in it, women are regarded as both goddesses and submissive inferiority.
Thus, even in the present day, regardless of texts that reflect women’s dignity, Hindu women face restrictions and disabilities based on historical circumstances that determine the role of women as rightless creatures. They have fewer educational, employment, religious, and legal opportunities, and in families, women are forced to rely on their husbands’ mercy. Besides areas of religion, men also control women in other areas, such as giving birth, dressing, and moving outside the house.
US Society
In the United States, despite being regarded as a generally educated and employed minority, Hindu people nevertheless may face discrimination and violence from Americans impacted by racism and racial profiling. Moreover, Hindu women may suffer from disparities established by not only American society but also Hindu society, affected by casteism as well. In other words, they may be discriminated against as non-Americans, as women, and as the representatives of a lower caste by other Indians, even though the caste system was abolished. At the same time, there are specific improvements – for instance, in the political field, as Pramila Jayapal became the first Indian American woman elected to the US House of Representatives. This fact proves that the attitude toward Hindu women is changing, and it is not affected by religious norms and beliefs.
Conclusion
This study examined the impact of religion on unfriendliness toward Hindu women. In general, learning about other cultures and traditions is essential to know how they influence people’s perceptions. Sometimes, the influence of religion leads to inhuman and offensive practices; thus, its examination contributes to the prevention of violent behavior.
In addition, it is significant for other cultures’ gender roles to be shown to promote respectful attitudes toward women and men. Finally, using the example of Hindu women, American society may evaluate its attitude toward American women, recognize mistreatment, and take responsive measures.
References
Das, T., & Roy, T. B. (2020). Use of time-varying and time-constant coefficient in hazard event analysis of Girl’s child marriage: A study from the Empowered Action Group (EAG) states of India. Children and Youth Services Review, 117, 1-6. Web.
Jayaram, V. (n.d.). Hinduism and gender equality. Hinduwebsite. Web.
Singh, N. (2014). Women and Hindu marriage. Vidhigya, 9(1), 62-65.
Vogelstein, R. B. (2014). Child marriage and religion. Council on Foreign Relations. Web.