Gender in South Asia

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Gender in South Asia Whenever the word gender comes to our mind, one can possibly condense his or her thinking to that of men and women. The word gender can be juxtaposed with the sex of human being. It’s really hard to distinguish between gender and sex as they are synonyms of each other. ender can be related to the masculinity and femininity of the

human race. !istory itself has far recorded the differences between men and women. We can consider gender as two different races, consisting of men and women. There has been racial discrepancy with human beings in terms of every single thing. This racial discrimination is currently visible even in the present era. There have been very few "rime #inisters and even "residents which have been women. $onsidering India until now has seen only one female "rime #inister Indira andhi. %ven &nited 'tates until

now has never seen a regime of a female "resident. This leads to an observation that the political world or order is still male dominant. (emales have known to be weaklings from the past. They have been considered as beings who are unable to perform hard labor. They have been known to do low level household chores. The main idea of this article will be to throw light upon gender conditions and social condition of women in India. The Indian women position further deteriorated during this period as 'ati, child marriages and ban on widow remarriage became a part of social life in India. "eople in India back in the seventeenth and the early nineteenth century, didn’t have access to literature as there were very few scholars who knew how to read or write. )ut with the advent of knowledge by the )ritish in India during the eighteenth and nineteenth century gave rise to various scholars whose works portrayed the lives of women. Writers including *abindranath Thakur, Tarashankar )andyopadhyay, #anik

)andyopadhyay and #ahasweta +evi depict the social background of the people during that time ,)ardhan-. Their literary works describe the stratum of human society on the basis of gender, caste and class. These writers on their magnificent stories convey the message of the life of people in the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century. Their stories give an actual idea of how women were oppressed and given not as much of esteem as that of the men during that time. Taking in to account the story .The irl in

)etween/ by *abindranath Thakur illustrates the practice of polygamy during that time ,)ardhan 01-. The story showcases 2ibaran busy lifestyle was restricted to work and his job. This led to his wife !arasundari alone at home having nothing to do. !arasundari’s idea of 2ibraran marrying another woman for a child didn’t make sense. (inally he marries 'hailabala, who dies later during her pregnancy leaving a concrete like barrier between 2ibaran and !arasundari. "olygamy is the practice of marrying simultaneously more than one wife. "olyandry has been known to exist in the #ahabharata era. 3ings during that period used to have more than one wife. %ach wife had children and there was a constant fight between the siblings. The fight was to decide who will be the next bearer of the throne. This practice has also been more prominent to exist in the #uslim era ,#etcalf 456-. 7nd it had continued since then in the eighteenth century. "olygamy seemed totally unfair as a single male was married to so many women. The women would be considered and distinguished on their looks. 7lso there was discrimination amongst the wives as they had fights between them. %ach tried to impress her husband by different means. This is really strange historians have only recorded the cases of polygamy. "olyandry on the other hand is the marriage of a woman to more than one man. There has been no mention about polyandry. %ven if it didn’t exist, it would have

meant discrimination of women. There could possibly have been cases where a single woman was married to two brothers from the same family. This is comparable to having more than one sexual partner. Women have been known to have gotten unwanted pregnancy due to lack of education. (emale genocide was very much common during that period. It had far more complex roots growing out from religious and cultural backgrounds. "eople were very stereotypical about the birth of a male child. #ale child was though to bring prosper to the family as he was the one who had ability to work hard and earn money. #any parents at that time continued to bear children until a male kid was born. If a female kid was born, she was drowned in a vessel of milk. The birth of a female child was considered a curse to the family. The story .8etter from a wife/ by *abindranath Thakur gives a picture of a wife who was dejected by the way her maternal home treated the widow she brought home ,)ardhan 9:-. (eeling oppressed she left her maternal house to leave a desolated life away from her husband. This story gives a very touching sensation on how widows were tortured with pain and sufferings. Widow can be defined as a woman who is without a spouse. Widows were forced to wear white clothes. 'he was not allowed to wear any colorful clothing. 'he was ill;treated as she had to do majority of the house;hold chores. 'he was constantly beaten up and had to be the target of many unpleasant words. The common %nglish word for it would be .)itch/ or .whore/. 'he was given less food to eat and was also cornered in the very dark room of the house. The age of the widowed women was widely varied from an immature girl to pregnant women. $hild marriage was rampant during the pre;colonial Indian society. irls, who had not even reached puberty,

were married off to old people. 7nd when their husband died, they were left as widow at

such a small age. %ven at their small age they had to live the curse life of a widow. )ut during that time many great scholars who had just graduated from the colleges set up by the )ritish had a <uantum view about social life. Their minds were filled with moderni=ed western culture. 8earnt scholars such as Ishwar $handra >idyasagar constantly struggled to improve the living conditions of widow. This led to the establishment of Widow *emarriage 7ct in 4?6: ,#etcalf-. The act significantly gave widowed women a sense of freedom and the hope to live life to the fullest. Whenever I talk about history a <uote always runs in my mind. .!istory repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce/. This <uote was written by 3arl #arx. This always has seemed true to me, as whenever I think about 'ati, $hild #arriages and various other inhumane practices during that period, I sometimes <uestion myself. !ow did these practices come into picture@ Why women and not men were to be oppressed@ The simple answer to these <uestions would be religion and blind faith which created dark shadows over the minds of the people. 8ack of knowledge, education and pressure from the other people from their own caste would have led them to take such steps. There would have been many people who would object such behavior, but due to the pressure of getting kicked out from their village or bare social troubles, would subside and never object to such oppression. 7lso religion would have played a large role in changing the mind;set of the people. India has been known to have innumerable castes and class. %ach caste had its own views and ideas about their social life. #ost of the religious views were based on ancient scriptures which were believed to be true. There have been no such scripture which legali=e 'ati and $hild marriage. )ut with the advent of education and people learning to read and write gave a chance to end such barbaric practices. The social

background of women is constantly under a vibrant change. We can thoroughly see the intellect of women who took a wide amount of interest in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Ane could possibly imagine the strength of expression conveyed by a wife to her husband in .8etter from a wife/. "rostitution was an other problem during that period. "overty was the prime reason for women to get into this business. Widows with kids had no other source of income to even buy a small <uantity of food for her groaning stomach. 'he was denied jobs at various places cause of her image as a widow or even caste. This environment is clearly portrayed in .7 (emale "roblem at a 8ow level/ by #anik )andyopadhyay ,)ardhan 461-. This story tells us about a low;cast family. )ecause of the accident of her father, +urga had to force herself into prostitution to support her family. Indian history has shown the existence of what were called as .2autch irls/. The faith of being alive

forced them to do such things. #any widows during that time were pregnant. They had no other option, to support themselves. 7lso they were considered at the very bottom level of the society. They were denied housing by the people of their own caste. %ven their own relatives considered her as a curse to the family because they had to bear the expense of providing her with food or clothing. 'he was like a wanderer searching for basic necessity of life such as food, shelter and clothing. We can compare this situation to the story .+howli/ by #ahasweta +evi. This is the story of a +usad ,untouchable or lower caste- girl named .+howli/ who was tricked by a )rahman guy ,)ardhan 4?6-. &ltimately due to the blind love she became pregnant. !er urge to support herself and her baby forced herself to become a prostitute. This has been the case of many women in the colonial India society. Women during that time have possibly thought of committing

suicide or ending their treacherous life, but they struggled hard to live. +idn’t they have the right to live@ Why should it be them to cut of their connection to the world@ Women didn’t only have to bear the treacherous life of a widow, but also commit 'ati. 'ati or 'uttee means burning of women on her husband’s funeral pyre. +uring the eighteenth century it was believed that the widow when immolated with her husband had the power to bring her husband’s soul from hell to heaven and live together peacefully. Traditions and rituals have grown deep roots in people’s minds. 7nd along with lack of knowledge have poisoned the illiterate minds of the masses. Ane could neither critici=e nor fire their traditions or beliefs, instead try to spread true knowledge and facts about such inhumane practices. It’s not easy eradicating the practice but such things tend to stop by themselves over time. )ut practices such as dowry are still existent. +owry is the money or gifts the bride’s family has to give her husband at marriage. Women were oppressed on this part of marriage by the husband’s side, because they usually asked for huge amounts of dowry. #arriages were rejected if the girl’s family is unable to provide them with the dowry they asked for. We see that the same matter in .+howli/ case. +howli’s mother was scared of the )rahman family asking for huge amounts of dowry. %ven with lack of education women had far beyond power of thinking then men. 'he could come up with all possible means to make her family survive. )ut during the period of pre;independent India girls were not allowed to gain education. They were banned or prohibited admissions in schools and colleges. 7ccording to the orthodox thinking during that time parents didn’t accept the idea of sending female kids to school. "ossibly parents might be thinking that the influence of western education might spoil

their kids. The !indu college was established on Banuary 1C th, 1CC0 in 4?40 at $alcutta ,#etcalf ?1;?0-. This college was open only to the upper caste !indus. Women were denied admission into the college. Ane could possibly say that they were denied chance to come forward and take part in the opportunities that lay ahead of them. The masculine ideology made them suffer as they were denied e<ual opportunities. The mission statement of the !indu $ollege was .'ons of respectable !indus, in India and %nglish 8anguage and in 8iterature and 'cience of %urope and 7sia/. This mission clearly indicates that only upper class !indus were allowed to get enrolled in the college. Women were denied admission. It was not until :C years later the women were given a chance to take admission in the college. Women were much more interested in learning. 'o of the women used to secretly learn while playing around school or resort to some other means of studying. Thus gates of higher education were open for women. The first female graduates from the "residency $ollege were $handramukhi )asu and 3adambini )asu. (emales showed great interest in learning as they had high hopes to think out of the box. We can see from .8etter from a wife/ ,)ardhan 9:- as how #rinal wrote such an excellent letter to her husband. 'he describes the reason for leaving her husband’s house. It wouldn’t be possible for a female to write such an elo<uent letter if she didn’t know how to read or most importantly write. It could be possible that #rinal might have been to one of the college graduates. We can see that education changes lives and no wonder it makes people think. It would be almost impossible for her to write such a descriptive letter without her knowledge to read or write. Women since past have been working harder than men. Their work is much more arduous than that of the men. "eople have reported that women just do

cooking, and household work rather than that they have nothing to do. Their hard work has always been unrecogni=ed. In the stories .8etter from a wife/, .7 (emale "roblem at a 8ow 8evel/ and .The irl in )etween/ ,)ardhan- we have seen women working hard

all around the day. In the morning they woke up early to make food. They also had to collect milk from the cows, clean the housing premises and take care of the baby if they had one. The notion of them being la=y is completely wrong. Women during that period worked really hard to run their household. They worked at other people places on very low wage, just that so they could earn enough to fill their tummy. 2ow;a;days women are representing the society on a much broader scale. The empowerment of the %nglish educated Indians raised the conditions of women and earned them valuable respect in the society. 8aws such as )an on 'ati, Widow *emarriage 7ct and Women education helped the feminine gender in India to prosper along with male counterparts. Women have now gained e<ual opportunities as men. They have shown tremendous amounts of progress in 7rts, 'cience D 8iterature. The stories written by the great authors represent the condition of women in eighteenth and the early nineteenth century )engal, which can be said to be a catastrophic period for women. Ane can clearly tell the pre;colonial Indian society was gender biased favoring the masculine side. The prejudiced thinking about women has not and has no sign of changing. 7s history shows, the women neither were and nor will be compared to the efficiency of men in all aspects of life.

Citations 4- #etcalf, )arbara +., and Thomas *. #etcalf. 7 $oncise !istory of India. $ambridgeE "ress 'yndicate of the &niversity of $ambridge, 1CC1. 1- )ardhan, 3alpana. Af Women, Autcastes, "easants and *ebels. $aliforniaE &niversity of $alifornia ", 499C.

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