Feminism in India

libber bowel movement in IndiaIntroductionGender Equality and womens lib declare exit growing topics all around the globe during the past half a century, with women organizing and protesting against the stereotypes imposed upon them by the men. Several theories exist nigh how these stereotypes and inequalities came about, with some mass arguing that it is caused by the chauvinistic nature innately present in all human macrocosms, with oppositewises rejecting this as a lazy line of business to make, and attri exactlying it to to a greater extent specific causes. In the cartridge clips of hunter-gatherers, the women occupied an equal status to that of men, and eachone had to apply in order to survive and bring up the young ones. As agriculture started to appear, along with importance to self-control of land, the patriarchal form of clubhouse started dominating the scene, as men were bestowed with the duty to acquire and defend property, and indeed the passing down of property down the line of manly posterity (patrilineal) became relevant, thus typeface-lining the women in the edict. With the growth of capitalism, the importance of the atomic family had increased, which required the male to be employed, typically in industries, in order to earn income, and the women would bind to watch at home and look after the domestic necessitate such(prenominal) as cooking, and raising of children, etc. The mind for this was that the main intend of production was the modern nuclear family, and so this setup was promoted as the norm in order to maximise market gains and increase efficiency1. This effect of capitalism along with the patriarchal nature of close to societies is what many reason out to be the study reason behind the stigmatization and stereotyping of women as weaker, and restricted to phratry work. Challenging these notions, womens liberationist movements move over been seen in several countries of the world, thereby ensuring that the women in their country had rights and were relatively equal to the men, pr stillting further affectionate downtrodding of women. Several countries have allowed women to join the army even, with some sending them into combat as well2, in order to promote gender equality and inspire women to believe in themselves and change the way friendship looks at women. However, the situation in India is quite a different. Gender unlikeness is rearing here, and nearly in every compass of life, women are marginalized and oppressed, viewed as mere tools or property possessed by men. India witnesses the arcsecond highest amount of gender inequality in all of Asia, second altogether to the Taliban-ruled Afghanistan3. However, some feminist movements have been seen even in India, nevertheless their task is much more than difficult here cod to a vast number of reasons which will be discussed in depth in this project with the help of some interviews of Indian feminist amicable activists . methodologyThe first step I took towards this project was to search for fond activists in India who had made contributions to the feminist movement, and identified some feminists out of whom I had picked the interviews of Dr. Vandana shivah4, Dr. Sarojini Sahoo5, Ms. Flavia Agnes6 and Mrs. Madhu Kishwar7. Of these, Dr. Vandana Shiva would be the most prominent activist, who has written several books for the cause of womens lib and making the women of India aware of such discrimination, and also won the Fukuoka Prize in 20128. Dr. Sarojini Sahoo is also a well-known activist who has written several books about gender and sexuality, and won the Laadli Media Award in 2011, and her interview offers us the most information regarding the topic, and therefore is the central interview for the purposes of this project. From all the interviews, a fewer major issues have been identified and past analysed with the help of other sources, and their sham on the society at self-aggrandising is shown. The activists are generally in agreement with each other, and usually only the main focus of their argument is what changes. I have also identified a handful of interviews of feminists from countries other than India in order to compare them with those of the Indian feminists, and this affirm what is it that makes the feminist movement in India more essential and complicated than in other countries. heart and soul ChapterAfter going through the interview9 of Christina Hoff Sommers, a feminist activist from the USA, we lav tell that the main focus of the interview is on improving women mission in politics, and by and large to disillusion women from several other schools of feminism which she believes to be false and misleading to the women population at large. This shows that feminism has already successfully granted them basic social equity in the USA.The interview10 of Perla Vasquez, a feminist from Mexico, has also been identified and analysed. The major issues in thi s as well mostly comprise of economic and political difficulties faced by women in Mexico.This is in contrast with the stage in India as we can deduce from the 4 interviews analysed for the sake of this project, where the focus is on basic discrimination of women in the social field, and to stop the many forms of injustice suffered by them daily, and in almost every sphere of life. The major points of difference I have identified from these interviews is the behind of patriarchal values and oppression of women being strongly embedded with apparitional tradition, particularly Hindooism, since the later Vedic plosive speech sound and the second being the rampant cases of sexual strength against women all around the country. It is this basic concomitantor which makes feminism so much more essential in India, especially the rustic places, and the reinforcement of patriarchy in the Hindi tradition, and the fact that a large majority of India is still religious, makes it much more difficult to acquire the goals of social equality and basic dignity for women.Effect of Culture and TraditionsIn her interview, Sarojini Sahoo states At one time in India in the ancient Vedic item there were equal rights between men and women and even feminist law of nature makers like Gargi and Maitreyi. But the later Vedic period polarized the sexes. Males oppressed womanlys and hardened them as other or similar to a lower caste.11This control has been proven to be true, and women had indeed enjoyed a position of equal rights to those of males in the Vedic period, with women being venerated, and the prevalence of several Goddesses and female Deities in the Hindu tradition from that time, further reinforcing their position in society12. However, during the time following the Vedic period, the situation of women deteriorated much further down. With the arrival of the Dharma Shastras, the Patriarchal form of society was stressed and promoted, causing the oppression of women in the society. However, most people argue that it is during the time of the Mughals when women in India became truly secluded, although there is evidence of such being work outd as early as during the time of Asoka.13 The Smritis were another reason which led to the side-lining of women in the later Vedic society, which reflected the legislators chauvinistic nature in enforcing traditions and practices which led to the further oppression and control of women in the society by males, and laws which lacked all notions of equity and justice. These causes led to a solidification of a society where women were treated worse than Shudras (untouchables)14, suffering several inequalities from the men every twenty-four hours. This has go on for a long time, with practices such as the Dowry dodging and the trunk of Sati being followed widely all everyplace India when the British had arrive, and had not declined until the British Empire issued legislations banning the practice of Sati15, f ollowing which it slowly started declining. The serving system was originally only prevalent in the middle class who very owned property which they could give international for share, but later was follow even by the poorer sections of society, often resulting in cases where one would give away a lifetime of savings as dowry. It was banned by the regimen of India in 1961, by the Dowry Prohibition Act of 1961, but the practice of dowry is still very much prevalent almost over in India, especially in the villages where the law has little effect. This gives rise to a social horror known as Dowry death, which will be discussed under the next topic. Another issue arising out of traditions is that women are presume to be weaker, and are made to stay at home and taught how to make household work such as cooking and cleaning, and are not allowed to take part in most social events. As a result, most parents do not allow their daughters to go to school, and make them stay at home an d victimize household skills. As a result, dapple 76% of men are literate in India, only 54% of women are literate16. This indicates how much of an effect such traditions and notions can have on a country as a whole.Violence against womenOne of the major issues discussed by almost every feminist in their interview is dowry death. This is a practice where the bride is killed when her family does not give a large adequacy dowry. It has in fact been on the increase, seen largely throughout North India17. This has caused women to be looked upon as a burden in their family of birth. Sarojini Sahoo has stated the same in her interview, describing how women are usually viewed in society An unmarried daughter seen as a spinster even in her late twenties brings attaint upon her parents, and is a burden. But once married, she is considered the property of her in-laws.18 This burden leads to call foring a male child over a female one, along with the fact that the Dharma Shastras and oth er texts of Hindu religion which make a son more desirable than a daughter due to the fact they can inherit, strain on the name, and only a son can perform the concluding rites of his father/grandfather. This leads to the social practice of female infanticide, which has been on the increase in India. It is basically the act of killing young female children, as their parents want a male child. This has caused the sex ratio to drop in India over the years. India has a child sex ratio of 914100, as of 2011.19 Next is the literal physical forcefulness against women, which is very widespread in India compared to all the other nations. India has of late become famous for screw up, following the Delhi rape case. A argument from Madhu Kishwar regarding such violence aptly sums up a variety of such problems prevalent in India Another main issue is sexual violence of all kinds, from what goes by the name of eve-teasing, which is a very mild, insulting develop used to describe what goes from pinching and rubbing to lewd comments to physical violence, hitting you wherefore there is rape of all kinds20Sexual violence is at its highest in India. Some theorize that this is the backlash of a strong patriarchal society21 witnessing westernization of women. It is the biggest social issue in all of India, and is the major reason why India require feminism. The final problem to be discussed is the fact that marital rape is to this day not criminalized in India. The Indian Penal Code has no federal agency against this act. The only recourse for the wife is to ask for divorce and leave her husband, but apart from that, there is no punishment meted out to the husband/rapist. house servant violence also has a separate law which many hypothesise is not stringent enough, thus making it prevalent in uncounted areas of the country. Flavia Agnes addresses the topic in her interview In a society where sexual union is the norm, the ultimate power rests with the husband. To sum up the issue of violence, a contention from Vandana Shiva fits perfectly This violent economic order can only function as a war against people and against the earth, and in that war, the rape against women is a very, very large instrument of war. We see that everywhere. And therefore, we have to have an end to the violence against women.22ConclusionWe have seen how the dawn of private ownership of land and property gave rise to the Patriarchal society, pushing women to a side role, and how this was further solidified by the rise of capitalism and its need for the nuclear family and the ideal setup for division of labour. We then discussed how it originated in India, and how the Vedic period originally had great equality for the women in their society, and how that status deteriorated over time due to the Dharma Shastras and the Smritis, giving rise to traditions like dowry and sati. We have seen how these practices came about, the efforts of the government to curb them, and the ef fectiveness of these laws. We also see how the traditions affected the rate of literacy among girls drastically, and then how dowry leads to murder in several cases, and how this burden then leads to female infanticide, and the culmination of all these oppressive traditions leading to the sexual violence against women due to them being viewed as weaker, or as property, and finally how the law even now is quite unfair with regard to women, denying them any just recourse marital rape, despite several protests for the sake of the same. To conclude, we have seen how gender inequality has its own unique points in India, and how it is all the more essential for India to learn feminism, and the higher difficulty of actually bringing about changes in this society.BibliographyJSTORThe HinduThe National GeographicThe Times of India conception for Sustainable DevelopmentThe shielder1 Systems of Stratification Gender in Capitalist Society, The Red Phoenix, visible(prenominal) at http//there dphoenixapl.org/2010/11/29/systems-of-stratification-gender-in-capitalist-society/2 8 Other Nations That Send Women to Combat, The National Geographic, functional at http//news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130125-women-combat-world-australia-israel-canada-norway/3 Gender equality in India among pommel in world, The Times of India, available at http//timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Gender-equality-in-India-among-worst-in-world-UN/articleshow/18982029.cms4 Vandana Shiva on Intl Womens mean solar day Capitalist Patriarchy Has Aggravated Violence Against Women, body politic Now, available at http//www.democracynow.org/2013/3/8/vandana_shiva_on_intl_womens_day5 womens liberation movement in India converse with Indian Feminist Sarojini Sahoo, Linda Lowen, available at http//womensissues.about.com/od/feminismequalrights/a/womens liberation movementinIndia.htm6 Feminism in India violence, trades, Carol Ann Douglas and Alice Henry, available at http//www.jstor.org/stable/25796 2967 Feminism in India, Carol Ann Douglas, available at http//www.jstor.org/stable/257933628 Fukuoka Prize for Vandana Shiva, The Hindu, available at http//www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-newdelhi/fukuoka-prize-for-vandana-shiva/article3676826.ece9 The Future of Feminism An Interview with Christina Hoff Sommers, Scott London, available at http//www.scottlondon.com/interviews/sommers.html10 An interview with feminist activist Perla Vasquez, available at http//www.mamacash.org/news/an-interview-with-feminist-activist-perla-vasquez/11 Feminism in India conference with Indian Feminist Sarojini Sahoo, Linda Lowen, available at http//womensissues.about.com/od/feminismequalrights/a/FeminisminIndia.htm12 Women in Vedic Culture, Stephen Knapp, available at http//www.stephen-knapp.com/women_in_vedic_culture.htm13 Indian Woman Down the Ages, LR Nair, available at http//shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/226/6/06_chapter2.pdf14 Role of Vedas in Degradation of Status of Wo men in India, available at http//www.speakingtree.in/spiritual-blogs/seekers/faith-and-rituals/role-of-vedas-in-degradation-of-status-of-women-in-india15 Bengal Sati Regulation Act, 182916 Gender Equity Issues in India, Foundation for Sustainable Development, available at http//www.fsdinternational.org/country/india/weissues17 Rising number of dowry deaths in India NCRB, Ignatius Pereira, The Hindu, August 6, 2013, available at http//www.thehindu.com/news/national/rising-number-of-dowry-deaths-in-india-ncrb/article4995677.ece18 Feminism in India Conversation with Indian Feminist Sarojini Sahoo, Linda Lowen, available at http//womensissues.about.com/od/feminismequalrights/a/FeminisminIndia.htm19 India loses 3 million girls in infanticide, The Hindu, http//www.thehindu.com/news/national/india-loses-3-million-girls-in-infanticide/article3981575.ece20 Feminism in India, Carol Ann Douglas, available at http//www.jstor.org/stable/2579336221 Sexual violence in India is a patriarchal backl ash that must be stopped, Priya Virmani, The Guardian, available at http//www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/17/sexual-violence-india-patriarchal-narendra-modi-women-reform-rape22 Vandana Shiva on Intl Womens Day Capitalist Patriarchy Has Aggravated Violence Against Women, Democracy Now, available at http//www.democracynow.org/2013/3/8/vandana_shiva_on_intl_womens_day