Women of substance

 

 

ne of the biggest reasons for the declining sex-ratio in India has been the positioning of woman in religious functions and rituals, especially among the Hindus. The strong affinity to the male heir, it is reasoned, is based on the understanding of the religious principles. It is stated that the male child would not only be a support in the old-age, but religious functions performed by him would guarantee a better place in the next world. Based on these flimsy arguments, women’s position has been straitjacketed in Indian society. Before marriage they are to guard their virginity for the future husbands, after marriage they are to sexually produce only a male heir and to remain chaste during widowhood. In this light, the recent cremation of a dead mother by her daughter in one of the villages of Alwar districts in Rajasthan has been momentous. The seven sisters – daughters of this lady – were also the ones who carried the arthi to the cremation ground, with the eldest sister lighting the funeral pyre. Although a Hindu woman’s right to cremate their dead has been accepted in the religious scriptures, the patriarchal social practices have denied this right to control them.

In a similar manner, till the amendment in Hindu Succession Act in 2005 a Hindu woman’s right to be the Karta (senior-most member of a Hindu joint family entitled to manage family affairs) was denied to her.

There can be several legal changes that can be brought to ‘force’ gender equality and to balance social hierarchy but the primary change, if ever, has to come is a change in the mindset viz-a-viz religious practices and social mores. To take this thought forward, the brave rural women from Alwar could actually be seen as the torchbearers for changing the mindset of ‘modern’ India.