This has been a topic which i feel has not been discussed at length in various fora in india due to myriad reasons. Combine that with my recent urge to chip with my 2 cents worth, this topic becomes a potent candidate for my blog!
Through this post i wish to explore the instances of female subordination and reasons why manifestation of such practices are tolerated in our society. The below content might make some queasy but what the hell...what good is a blog post that doesnt stir up things...!!!
Subordination is defined as being subject to an authority or belonging to a lower/inferior class. There are several instances of this in our society. Women have never really been masters of their own lives. They have been taught to look up to their fathers, husbands or brothers and follow their words verbatim. Have you ever wondered why women address their husbands as 'ji', 'yennaga', 'ri' with all these words meaning to show respect to the person being addressed. Why this inequality in a relationship where both partners are supposed to be pillars of strength for each other and where love and affection matter more than respect. To answer this question we must dwelve deeper into the place where it all started.
Yes the marriage. Indian weddings are blatant examples of female subordination and all this happens in the garb of preserving tradition and culture. A couple of years back, i was at a friends wedding and I was aghast when i saw the bride prostrate at the feet of the groom when he presented her with a saree. There are other practices like the bride 'serving the first meal' to the groom. Then are examples of how still many women in our country dont even get much freedom in choosing their own husbands. They are not even active participants in the very discussion that matters most in their life! Fathom that! I could rant on but you get the point. Subordination is entrenched and instituitionalised in our society. The traditions have been framed in a way to ensure total subjugation of the female kind and any questioning of the practices tantamount to questioning of the culture or the religion itself.
It is quite puzzling as to how as a society we tolerate these retrograde practices and why not many corrective steps have been taken to rectify the situation. At this juncture, it is only appropriate that we compare of our women folk with their western counterparts, just to make sure that this scenario is only an India or more broadly a Asia/Africa specific one . Western women have seen magnificient strides of improvement in their lives. Most are masters of their own lives and have the last word on what they want to with their lives.
Now there are several reasons why this subordination has been decimated in Western socities, the usual ones being improvement in the economic status of women, better educational qualification etc. I wish to highlight one more angle to this debate, the role of women themselves in eradication of subjugation. Yes, agreed that change was more forthcoming in Western socities but where change wasnt given on a platter, Western women fought hard and attained it. They continually questioned status quo and wrangled their lives away from their male brethern. But sadly Indian women either didnt do that or were not successful enough.
Now i dont want to be seen as blaming Indian women for the condition they find themselves in today. Most of the blame must be approportioned on the system that setup the elaborate web of subjugation and kept it up even in these contemporary times But Indian women as a whole dont seem to be much interested in fighting for control of their lives and are willing to accept things are they are. This attitude needs to change and until they come out with all guns blazing, i am afraid things will only get worse from here...
Through this post i wish to explore the instances of female subordination and reasons why manifestation of such practices are tolerated in our society. The below content might make some queasy but what the hell...what good is a blog post that doesnt stir up things...!!!
Subordination is defined as being subject to an authority or belonging to a lower/inferior class. There are several instances of this in our society. Women have never really been masters of their own lives. They have been taught to look up to their fathers, husbands or brothers and follow their words verbatim. Have you ever wondered why women address their husbands as 'ji', 'yennaga', 'ri' with all these words meaning to show respect to the person being addressed. Why this inequality in a relationship where both partners are supposed to be pillars of strength for each other and where love and affection matter more than respect. To answer this question we must dwelve deeper into the place where it all started.
It is quite puzzling as to how as a society we tolerate these retrograde practices and why not many corrective steps have been taken to rectify the situation. At this juncture, it is only appropriate that we compare of our women folk with their western counterparts, just to make sure that this scenario is only an India or more broadly a Asia/Africa specific one . Western women have seen magnificient strides of improvement in their lives. Most are masters of their own lives and have the last word on what they want to with their lives.
Now there are several reasons why this subordination has been decimated in Western socities, the usual ones being improvement in the economic status of women, better educational qualification etc. I wish to highlight one more angle to this debate, the role of women themselves in eradication of subjugation. Yes, agreed that change was more forthcoming in Western socities but where change wasnt given on a platter, Western women fought hard and attained it. They continually questioned status quo and wrangled their lives away from their male brethern. But sadly Indian women either didnt do that or were not successful enough.
Now i dont want to be seen as blaming Indian women for the condition they find themselves in today. Most of the blame must be approportioned on the system that setup the elaborate web of subjugation and kept it up even in these contemporary times But Indian women as a whole dont seem to be much interested in fighting for control of their lives and are willing to accept things are they are. This attitude needs to change and until they come out with all guns blazing, i am afraid things will only get worse from here...
