Women in India: Difference between revisions

This article is about the status of women in India, both historically and currently. This is distinct from the position of women as advocated by religious texts in Hinduism. For that, see Women in Hinduism.

The neutrality of this article is disputed. Relevant discussion may be found on the talk page. Please do not remove this message until conditions to do so are met. (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The status of women in India has been subject to great many changes over the past few millennia. From a largely unknown status in ancient times through the low points of the Middle Ages and the Mughal empire, to the promotion of equal rights by Guru Nanak and the slow reform then the rigid rules of the colonial era to the mixed attitudes of the current era, the history of women in India has been eventful.

The women in India are still facing some discrimination in minor parts of the country especially in the rural communities and in some cultures but the trend is positive. The rights of women have been improving steadily for many 100's of years and now women face equality in many important fields of human life including the right to vote; to stand for government; in many job situations; in education; in the armed forces; in government and many commercial departments; in religious duties; etc. However, much work still needs to be done for the women to achieve complete equality.

The steady change in their position can be highlighted by looking at what has been achieved by women in the country:

• In 1966, Indira Gandhi became the first women leader of the country indicating that women had made strides in achieving some level of equality in government. However, sadly no other women has followed in her footsteps although her daughter-in-law, Sonia Gandhi won the recent elections and could have become the second female PM of the country.

• In 2006, the following two business women reached 1 billion dollar net-worth: Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw started one of India's first biotech companies, Biocon (otcbb: BCLTF). Lalita Gupte and Kalpana Morparia (both were the only businesswomen in India who made our list of the World's Most Powerful Women), run India's second-largest bank, ICICI Bank. So, a few women have reached the pinnacle in the business world. ^[1].

• In 1905, Mrs. Suzanne RD Tata became the first Indian woman to drive a car ^[2]

• In 1970, Kamaljit Sandhu became the first Indian woman to win a Gold in the Asian Games

• Smt. Anna Chandy, the First Indian Woman Judge of High Court and in 1989, Kumari Justice M. Fathima Beevi was made the first Indian woman judge of the Supreme Court. ^[3]

• Woman Pilots: In 1944, Harita Kaur Deol became the first Indian woman to perform a solo flight. In 1951, Prem Mathur became the first Indian women commercial pilot of Deccan Airways and in 1966, Captain Durga Banerjee became the first Indian woman pilot of the state airline, Indian Airlines. In November 1997, Dr.Kalpana Chawla became the first Indian woman to go into Space. ^[4]

• Kiran Bedi, First Indian Woman Police Officer. ^[5] She is the only Indian police person to receive the Magsaysay Award.

• Ms. Tarla Dalal is India’s best-selling cookery author and has held this status for over 2 decades. She has written more than 30 books and several have been translated into various languages like Hindi, Gujrati, Marathi, Bengali and even Dutch and Russian! Her total sales of books exceeds 1 million copies. ^[6]

• In 2005, Ms. Manndhir Rajput, a 34-year-old woman from Ludhiana, Punjab became the first Indian woman to become an engine driver of trains with the New South Wales Rail Corporation, Australia. ^[7]

Chronological order

• Razia Sultan (ruled from 1236–1240) — First Empress to rule Delhi, and died fighting for her throne
• Nur Jehan Mughal Empress of India from 1611–1627, who was the most powerful woman at that time.
• Mumtaz Mahal (1593–1631) Mughal Empress whose beauty, grace and virtue inspired the construction of the Taj Mahal.
• Jahanara Begum (1614–1681) builder and poet, she wielded political power at the Mughal court, both during and after Shah Jahan's reign
• Rani Lakshmi Bai (19 November 1835 – 18 June 1858) — The Queen of Jhansi, was one of the great nationalist heroes of the Revolt of 1857, and a symbol of resistance to British rule in India.
• Begum Hazrat Mahal — Co-ruler of Awadh (modern-day Lucknow), one of many rulers to lead India’s First War of Independence (1857–58), refused deals with the British and retreated to Nepal.
• Sarojini Naidu (February 13, 1879 – March 2, 1949) — Was a freedom fighter and poet. Naidu was the first Indian woman to become the President of the Indian National Congress and the first woman to become the governor of a state in India.
• Indira Gandhi (19 November 1917 – 31 October 1984) — First woman Prime Minister of India.
• M.S. Subbulakshmi (September 16, 1916 – December 11, 2004) — Renowned carnatic vocalist.
• Dr. V Shantha (1927–) — Cancer specialist. Won 2005 Ramon Magsaysay award for Public service.
• Kiran Bedi (9th June 1949 – )(Super cop of India) — First woman to join the Indian Police Service.
• Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw — Entrepreneur. CEO of Biocon India Limited (Biocon) and richest woman in India.
• Karnam Malleswari — Weightlifter. Bronze Olympic medal in 2000
• Kunjrani Devi- world famous weightlifter.
• Roopa Mishra (9th June 1977 - The first Oriya lady to top the All Indian Civil Service Examination of India and also the first married lady in India to achieve this feat in 2004.
• P T Usha, India's Prize winner in Olympics
• Sania Mirza (15 November 1986 – ) — Professional female tennis player from India.

Guru Nanak was born in northern India in 1469. Having witnessed the appalling situation created by the Islamic invaders from the 1200 AD and especially the Mughal invaders from about 1526 AD ^[8], he began his mission to re-focus the minds of the people to perform righteous deeds, remember God and tread on a spiritual path ^[9]. This movement eventually became a distinct religion called Sikhism and is one of 4 important religions of the region. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism are the other three faiths which were founded in this region. Guru Nanak was probably the first religious leader in the world whose message is recorded in writing to have granted women equal status to man in all aspects of life. This religious and pious prophet is revered by all religious people of this region including Hindus and Muslims. In about 1500, Guru Nanak preached the message of equality between Men and Women. He advocated that women are allowed to lead religious assemblies; to perform and lead congregational hymn singing called Kirtan or Bhajan; become members of religious management committees; to lead armies on the battlefield; have equality in marriage; equality in Amrit (Baptism); etc

The primary teachings of Guru Nanak are recorded in the Sikh holy book called the Sri Guru Granth Sahib. He is quoted in this Granth to have said:

From woman, man is born; within woman, man is conceived;

to woman he is engaged and married.
Woman becomes his friend; through woman, the future generations come.
When his woman dies, he seeks another woman; to woman he is bound.
So why call her bad? From her, kings are born.
From woman, woman is born; without woman, there would be no one at all.

— Guru Nanak, Raag Aasaa Mehal 1, SGGS, Page 473

In this region and elsewhere in the world, up until 1500's, women had generally being treated almost as untouchable and had very few rights. ^[10]. They were subjected to highly degrading practises like Purdah (wearing of a veil to cover their face as a sign of inferiority and submission); Sati, the killing of the wife on the dead husband's funeral pyre; child marriage, when girls of between 5 and 10 years old were married off, without their consent or knowledge; Dowry, the giving of expensive gifts by the bride's family to the groom's family in agreement to the wedding; etc. To root out these century old habits, the Guru spoke clearly and in simple terms to influence the masses

To reinforce the message of equality among the genders, the founder Guru further says in the holy book Sri Guru Granth Sahib that God's light shine in both men and women thus: "In the earth and in the sky, I do not see any second. Among all the women and the men, His Light is shining. (3)" (SGGS page 223). To further remove the long ingrained prejudices of the masses, Guru Nanak also says that both men and women are created by the Lord thus: "He Himself created all women and men; the Lord Himself plays every play." (SGGS page 304) and again "Women and men, all the men and women, all came from the One Primal Lord God." (SGGS page 983). Further to make sure that people of both the Muslim and Hindu religions were listening, Bhagat Kabir say this: "You fashioned all these men and women, Lord. All these are Your Forms. Kabeer is the child of God, Allah, Raam. All the Gurus and prophets are mine. ||5||" (SGGS page 1349), mentioning that "God", Allah (the Muslim name for God) and Raam (the Hindu name for God) are all honoured.

From the 1500's, the women in India had support from the Sikh Gurus and the wrongful practise of discrimination against women very slowly (some say painfully slowly) began to disappear from this region. However, due to entrenched position of various sub-cultures within the sub-continent, cases of gender discrimination are still present in small numbers in various parts of this region, especially in rural communities.

Under Non-Formal Education programme, about 40% of the centers in states and 10% of the centers in UTs are exclusively reserved for girls. As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE centers were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were exclusively for girls.

Currently, in engineering, medical and other colleges, 30% of the seats have been reserved for women.

• SEWA
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/forgottenwomen/

Based on comparison of gender ratios in India with those of developed countries, up to 50 million girls and women are assumed missing (1997 U.N. report [Verma 12.8.97]) from India's population. While this is said to be the result of systematic discrimination, including the abortion of female fetuses (officially banned in India), this could be in fact be also composed of several different reasons such as biology, genetics, higher deaths during childbirth, lower longevity, less military deaths during wars etc. The sex ratio has also dropped from 97 women for every 100 men in 1921 to 92.7 in 1991.

Although illegal, female infanticide, caused largely by poverty and buttressed by the cultural bias against women, has been known to happen sporadically in recent times [1]. The incidents are confined to certain regions.

Main Article: Dowry

The ancient custom of kanyadan ("giving away of the daughter"), where the father presented his daughter with jewelry and clothes at the time of her marriage, and varadakshina ("gifting the groom") where the father presented the groom with kith and kind are, in essence the dowry system.

Amongst the urban educated, dowry has become reduced to a giving and receiving of gifts by both in-laws to the newly married couple. Generally, a limit is agreed upon before the wedding.

Extracting of dowry in return for agreeing to a wedding has been illegal since 1960. Despite this, there have been many cases of attempted murder of newly married women whose parents are unable to pay the dowry amount requested by the in-laws, which can be both initially excessive and increased after the marriage. One report [Kitchen 1997] claims that at least 5,000 women die each year because of dowry deaths, and at least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought to be intentional. In spite of the connections to the custom of dowry, these are a form of domestic violence and a result of pure greed. The term for this is bride burning. For comparison of Statistics, see Facts on Domestic Violence in America.

Domestic violence is also seen in the form of physical abuse. This is higher among the lower Socio-Economic Classes (SECs). There are various instances daily of an inebriated husband beating up the wife often leading to severe injuries.

There is a high desire of a male child as he is seen as the bread winner of the family and the seed for future generations. Women are subject to violence and torture by in laws, the husband and other family members for this. If a girl is born, the woman is expected to conceive a boy the next time. the woman then has multiple pregnancies till a male child is born. Poor families are seen with large families and a large number of children in the pursuit of a male child.

Anti-dowry laws in India www.pariwarsuraksha.org

Main article: Sati

Sati is an old funeral custom in which the widow was immolated alive on her husband’s funeral pyre. The act was supposed to be voluntary on the widow's part, and was deemed an act of peerless piety. In practice though, it is believed to have been sometimes forced on the widow by various social pressures, by relatives eager to obtain the widow's property or was committed to escape the widows' vulnerability to rape and sexual abuse by other men. The custom of the immolation of a widow (or other close relatives and slaves) is not unique to India; it was also practiced by the ancient peoples of Scythia, Egypt, Scandinavia and China.

Following social reformer Raja Rammohun Roy's relentless efforts in the form of petitions, writings and the organizing of vigilance committees, the practice was abolished by law in British India in 1829.

Jauhar refers to the practice of the voluntary immolation of all the wives and daughters of defeated warriors, in order to avoid capture and consequent molestation. Thus, it was generally the last act of the women in a community under attack, before the men launched their final offensive against the enemy. Jauhar was limited to the Kshatriya caste named Rajputs, who formed the upper and ruling classes and castes of Rajasthan. They are known to place a high premium on honour. Women who practiced it gained respect in the community.

Child marriage of girls as young as five years old was common due to the custom of dowry. In such cases, girls lived with their parents till they reached puberty.

Child marriage of boys was also common. [2]

Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common practice in some areas.[3].

Purdah is the practice of requiring women to cover their bodies so as to cover their skin and conceal their form. It is practiced mostly by Muslims in India.However, it has now developed as an institution. It signifies, apart from wearing a veil, restrictions on mobility of women, curtailment of their right to interact freely and it is a symbol of subordination of women.

• Women's rights
• Women in Sikhism
• Women in Hinduism

Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Mahatma Jotirao Phule fought for the upliftment of women.

• 21 Top Women CEOs of India
• [Alld. Ch.] : Allied-Chambers Transliterated Hindi-English Dictionary
• [EB] : Encyclopædia Britannica
• [DuBois] : Hindu Customs, Manners and Ceremonies, Abbe J.A.DuBois, transl. by H.K.Beauchamp from French, 3rd ed. Oxford 1906
• [Arab] : India as described by the Arab Travellers by Dr. A.K.Srivastava, Sahitya Sansar Prakashan, Gorakhpur, India 1967 p.56
• [Nand] : Women in Delhi Sultanate - L.C.Nand Vohra Publishers and Distributors Allahabad 1989
• [Pancatantra] : The Pancatantra, tr. A.W.Ryder, Jaico Publishing House, 1949, Bombay (1991 ed.)
• [Apte] : The Sacrament of Marriage in Hindu Society, U.M.Apte, Ajanta Publishers 1978 Delhi
• [Verma 12.8.97] : Sonali Verma, Indian women still awaiting Independence, Reuter.12 Aug. 1997, New Delhi
• [Kitchen 1997] : Kitchen fires Kill Indian Brides with Inadequate Dowry, July 23, 1997, New Delhi, UPI

• www.tribuneindia.com on Women in India
• South Asian Women's NETwork
• The Bangle Code - fiction related to unwritten social rules that Indian women have to deal with
• Women of the Mughal Dynasty
• Noor Jahan
• Indian women & Dowry law misuse
• Women of India