Why Indian Women Still Being Oppressed? Research Paper

Introduction

The following research paper is about evaluating the role of Indian women within their societies. The main focus is paid on assessing the value and importance of Indian women role since the time of Independence. it would discuss why women in India are still being oppressed within their societies and are not given the right position what they deserve to get, and what are the reasons or logics of people being this oppression and subjugation.

Discussion

In many cultures women are considered to be less than equal to men, however many may think because India is one of the world’s aspiring superpowers that inequalities towards Indian women would be a thing of the past. It has been more than 60 years now that the region of India got independent from the British rule. People got the chance and opportunity to live their own lives, according to their will and freedom. India has flourished highly within these 60 years and has proved its existence over the globe with the help of its history, agriculture, manpower, film industry, education, technology, politics, and several other means and has become an elite economic power¹.

However, despite all these accomplishments, there are some dark sides where India is still behind from the lane of developed countries due to several factors, and one factor is the women oppression in India. India has got independent, people got what they ever wanted from their lives; but female hood is still suffering from severe oppression, cruelty and coercion in India. Independence brought many dreams and promises for the women of India, such as, just, egalitarian, and democratic society where both genders could be treated equally. Conversely, the reality was much different and bitter as compared to the dreams that were won over with the independence. The entire region of India is considered to be typically male-dominated where females have always been treated as the third class citizens, while giving all the ruling rights and prosperities to the males. It is the basic thinking of Indian people that women is a burden on the family and bears no authority to make decisions to lead her life by making her choices, whereas men has the dominant role in the family and is considered to be the head of the family who drives and directs the entire ancestors. The traditional role of women in Indian culture is assumed to be concentrated on the household activities, like preparing food, taking care of the cleaning, giving birth to children, and raising them accordingly as the sole responsibility. As a whole, women are still considered to be one of the most defenseless and marginalized entities in the Indian society².

You may ask yourself why India is still not evolving by accepting women rights. Some may say that a cultural tradition of misogyny has been the main reason that Indian women are devalued in their society. There are several examples of cases and traditions where women are treated disrespectfully. These practices include, sati (which means a widow is supposed to be burnt with her dead husband, however this tradition is not so in practice but is still alive in some parts of India regretfully), violence against women as in the form of rape and “dowry deaths”, mistreatment of newly wedded brides by her in-laws, mistreatment of women in case of a divorce, violence with widows, child marriage, child labor, accusing women for not giving birth to a son, pointing women for any misfortune that has affected the income of the family, treating women as a maid in the family instead of giving respect, and many other issues³.

In some parts of India, educated, soft-hearted and literate people run campaigns against these cruelties and mistreatments in order to defend women. But the question arises here that why women are the only entity who is treated like this? The answer might be that because they have let others to rule over them or they are considered weak since early times to be treated like this. It is somewhat a paradoxical fact that Indian women have accepted living under total control of dominant males and their families. In order to fight against this oppression, many people started providing education and liberty to their daughters, which as a result has been the main reason of some development in the women sector and split women into three different groups. First group are the literate and educated women who are fully aware of their rights and constitutional rights⁴. Second are the ones who are educated, but cannot live economically independent due to some reasons that include psychological pressure, substantial violence or emotional desertion. The third group is the most degraded group which are the unqualified and illiterate women who belong to lower division of society and the tribal group. These third category women are suffering from the old time traditions of India and go through continuous threat of intellectual, physical and psychological exploitation every day from their families and tribes⁵.

Conclusion

All these groups live as the present example of women in India. Some of them can enjoy the bounties of life, whereas other cannot. “In1991, less than 40 percent of the 330 million women aged 7 and over were literate, which means today there are over 200 million illiterate women in India. This low level of literacy not only has a negative impact on women’s lives but also on their families’ lives and on their country’s economic development.”⁶ Nevertheless, there are chances that the condition of women might be improved if proper measures are taken by women themselves as the first step. Those women who tried their level best can survive in the brutal society, but others who dare not cannot! To live a life of their choice, women of India need to get educate, liberal, literate, choosy, and powerful more than ever. Bringing change within a society could be hard and would require time or even decades, but it would certainly be good for the next upcoming generations. The only thing needed here is focus, hard work, strength, and will to make a difference⁷.

Work Cited

Sharada Sugirtharajah, 2003, Imagining hinduism: a postcolonial perspective; Published by Routledge, p110.

Nisvan Erkal, 1997, Ecofeminism: women, culture, nature; Published by Indiana University Press, p22.

Evelin Hust, 2004, Women’s Political Representation and Empowerment in India: A Million Indiras Now?, Published by Manohar, p216.

Sherry B. Ortner, 2006, Anthropology and social theory: culture, power, and the acting subject; Published by Duke University Press, p48.

Antoinette M. Burton, 1994, Burdens of history: British feminists, Indian women, and imperial culture, 1865-1915; Published by UNC Press, p93.

Theodorea Regina Berry, Nathalie D. Mizelle; 2006, From oppression to grace: women of color and their dilemmas in the academy, Published by Stylus Publishing, LLC., p77.

Footnotes

1. Sharada Sugirtharajah, 2003, Imagining Hinduism: a postcolonial perspective; Published by Routledge, p110.
2. Nisvan Erkal, 1997, Ecofeminism: women, culture, nature; Published by Indiana University Press, p22.
3. Evelin Hust, 2004, Women’s Political Representation and Empowerment in India: A Million Indiras Now?, Published by Manohar, p216.
4. Evelin Hust, 2004, Women’s Political Representation and Empowerment in India: A Million Indiras Now?, Published by Manohar, p216.
5. Sherry B. Ortner, 2006, Anthropology and social theory: culture, power, and the acting subject; Published by Duke University Press, p48.
6. Antoinette M. Burton, 1994, Burdens of history: British feminists, Indian women, and imperial culture, 1865-1915; Published by UNC Press, p93.
7. Theodorea Regina Berry, Nathalie D. Mizelle; 2006, From oppression to grace: women of color and their dilemmas in the academy, Published by Stylus Publishing, LLC., p77.