Motherhood - a role or the only role?

Women and Family

Name - Anu Kurian

Course - B.A. Programme (Ent-Adv)

College - Jesus and Mary College

Although most women in India work and contribute to the economy in one form or another, much of their work which is not acknowledged or documented in official statistics, like the women doing daily household chores, etc., but still women are not as free as men to participate in the formal economy. Today's India offers a lot of opportunities to women, with women having a voice in everyday life, the business world as well as in political life. Nevertheless, India is still a male dominated society, wherein women are often seen as subordinate and inferior to men. Even though India is moving away from the male dominated culture, discrimination is still highly visible throughout all strata of society.

The Indian constitution grants women equal rights to men, but strong patriarchal traditions persist in many different societal parts, with women's lives shaped by customs that are centuries old. Hence, in these strata daughters are often regarded as a liability, and conditioned to believe that they are inferior and subordinate to men, whereas sons might be idolized and celebrated because women may not be considered capable of earning money, seen as economically and emotionally dependent on men and while they help with domestic duties during childhood and adolescence, they go to live with their husband's family after marriage, which means less help in the household of their originating family, and most importantly loss of money due to the dowry tradition.

It should be noted that in a vast country like India the extend of discrimination against women also varies in every societal stratum. Many Indian women face discrimination throughout all stages of their life, beginning at (or even before) birth, continuing as an infant, child, adolescent and adult.

The preference for a boy child persists, quite often out of mere practical, financial concerns, as the parents might not be able to afford the marriage dowry for (another) daughter.

As a child, girls are even often treated differently from male children in terms of nutrition and health care and where limited food or financial resources are available, the insufficient means are prone to be allocated unevenly in favour of the male offspring.

India's constitution guarantees free primary school education for both girls and boys up to age 14 but parents might consider it more important that girls learn domestic chores, as that would be needed for their future family life.

There is mainly a bias towards men and their superiority in marital relationships: while women ought to be respected, protected and kept happy by their husbands they should also be kept under constant vigilance, since they cannot be completely trusted or left to themselves.

Women face innumerable problems in their post married life in their family in different dimensions and above all if they are working women, they are expected to accomplish all the activities from dawn to dusk to satisfy the needs of all the family members.

And moreover, in cultures which are obsessed with marriage, “leftover women” who fail to tie the knot before reaching a certain age are looked at with utter disdain. There is a certain panic which these women invoke in their peers. There is an entire battalion of people whose sole task seems to be to pester them. While women lose their value if they do not tie the knot by a certain age but men can still stay unmarried for much longer.

While in the educated, urban middle-class women's rights continue to improve, there remains a strong bias against gender equality in those societal parts of India where patriarchal traditions prevail. Consequently, in these strata any inheritance of a deceased husband or father would be passed down to the oldest son, while his wife or daughters may or may not receive any financial benefit.

Our society still feels that a woman’s primary duty is to make a family and meet all its needs. The pressure isn’t just about marrying at the right age, but also about having a child at the right age. Higher studies, job, steady pay check or fulfilling your dreams are secondary, when it comes to women. So though women play a key role in the socio-economic development of a country yet they are discriminated against almost in every walk of life right from the very earliest stage.