“..The bodies of widows who die in government-run shelter homes in Vrindavan are taken away by sweepers at night, cut into pieces, put into jute bags and disposed of as the institutions do not have any provision for a decent funeral. This, too, is done only after the inmates give money to the sweeper! ...”
Didn’t our conscience get pierced and heart suffered a thousand mutilations to know the deplorable fact that has come to the fore in a survey by the District Legal Services Authority (DLSA)? One is forced to reflect on the status of women in our society. Is this really the land of Vedas which recognized two halves of the divine-feminine and masculine, where without knowing both the halves in entirety, one could not have found the way to the God!? Women who were regarded as blessed, not only because it was them who the God had chosen to fetch continuity to this world, but also, because they were adorned with an exceptional ability to discern the subtleties of emotions and to hold the world around themselves; were prayed as goddesses (kali, saraswati, durga and laxmi) assuming various forms. From Vedic wisdom emerged the concept of shakti, the personification of feminine strength and courage. Not only this, women were thought of embodying the quality to bring coherence in their environs. In fact if there is one feature that existed and is still extant in women across the races and continents, its their ability to nurture.
Not many are aware of the fact that women in ancient times could opt for upnayana out of volition. They had the freedom to decide for their educational attainment and acquire the highest form of intellect. Maitreyi, Romasa, Gargi, Lopamudra are a few amongst those learned women. During the time of the king Ashoka, women even took part in the religious preaching. His daughter, Sanghmitra was sent along with her brother Mahendra to Sri Lanka to propagate Buddhism.
However, it is unfortunate that with the advancement of civilizations, while on the one hand we made a steady progress towards making our lives easier with the scientific, political and economic developments; on the other, we made a gruesome retreat on the moral and ethical grounds by discriminating against our own mothers, sisters and daughters. Whether all this emerged from or gave rise to some of the most devilish practices such as Child Marriage, Sati, restriction on education and work etc., is a question that remains to be answered. But the fact we face today is that they have come to be considered more as a liability; a burden that has to be taken to its logical end; sometimes in the form of infanticide and sometimes as a destitute old widow left in a government run shelter to fend for herself. In this vicious circle, women have been at the receiving end for centuries.
Well, nothing speaks better than the data. A look at the provisional Census-2011 figures would show that even the affluent regions of the country (Haryana, Punjab etc) fare badly in terms of development parameters related to women. In fact what comes out is the gruesome reality that the well heeled sections of the society use their clout and riches to exploit the system and indulge into sinister practices, for e.g. of sex determination to nip the daughters of this country in the buds; thereby leading to a skewed sex-ratio in the country. Not only this, figures representing female literacy rate, maternal mortality rate, entrepreneurship among women etc. paint a dismal picture of the status of women in this country. Women comprise the majority of the population below the poverty line. At the grass roots, one would find that they are very often in situations of extreme poverty and dejection, given the callous realities of intra-household and social discrimination. It is said that one can find India in its villages- any visit and keen observation would project the immense strength women enfold, to work relentlessly in fields, at home, fetching water, cooking food, doing the dishes, looking after the kids, taking care of the elders; the list is endless. In spite of that, it is she whose perspectives are neglected the most. For those who constitute 48.5% of the population, can we really progress without involving them in the growth scenario?
On the other side, if I were to move beyond the boundaries and look for a room for inspiration, I am inadvertently reminded of the times of 15th century when a peasant girl who was born in France, led the French army to crucial victories during the Hundred Years Wars, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII. Yes, the Joan of Arc. She was arrested and transferred to the English, put on trial and burned at the stake when she was 19 years old. From Cleopatra to Rani Laxmibai, Madam Curie to Mother Teresa, Indira Gandhi to Aung Saa Syu Kyi, history is replete with the examples of the exemplary strength women have displayed.
But regrettably, such examples are far and few between and there has come to exist in this mother nature a society, where the parameters of making contributions, rating success and being respected have become so masculine that the beauty and strength of the feminine nature is ignored as non-consequential. What appears most paradoxical is the fact that while, since their very inception, they have been devoting their lives for the good of their families in particular and community in general; women have been unable to organize themselves into one single force to fight for their own cause. They have been bearing the brunt of the crippled mindset of female infanticide, domestic violence, physical and mental abuse, and confinement to the four walls of the home with no opportunities to choose their own course of actions. For centuries, their spirit of enquiry and retaliation has been slaughtered in the name of protecting the honor of their families, raising the children, inculcating in them values and in feeling satisfied with the progress of the their better halves and children.
Flipping through the pages of the dailies every morning and reading through the perpetrating crimes against women, our mind unconsciously paints a picture, where to prove loyalty; sometimes one is being forced to burn oneself alive by jumping onto the pyre and the other time, is even being offered as a compensation for loss to a gambling opponent. But the canvass refuses to accept just half the picture of the reality. What comes out looks more like an oxymoronic ladder of multiple rungs, where the bottom is the embodiment of sordid realities, while the top is balancing the stories of successes. There has been a great upsurge in awareness about the rights of women among all the sections of the society. They have left the shielded domain of the four walls and are now combating in the theatre of war of life, fully armored with their capability and talent. They are proving themselves. The developmental programmes and policies, too have been giving emphasis to improving social status of women.
Although slow and late, we do have made some progress. The likes of Vijaylaxmi Pandit, Indra Nooyi, Chadna Kocchar, Kiran Bedi and Kalpana Chawla do stand as examples of guiding light for us. The involvement of women in panchayats and local bodies, too, is commendable. What we need today is healthier and a more mature environment so that they can come up more confidently and be more assertive. Constitution does mention in the article 15(3) about the special status to women but the real change comes from within. The dreary state of affairs looks more like a function of mindset. The strength and the caliber of womenfolk and their ability to contribute to the development of the nation, should be understood and realized at the deepest level of our conscious. Moreover, the laws to tackle the crimes against them should be stringent and the justice should be meted out to them for any atrocity, whatsoever. The hurtful fact is not that the illiterate and powerless are denied justice, but also that even in the relatively high-profile cases; as it is in the murder of a woman journalist of a national daily, who also happened to be the wife of a senior journalist; investigations remain rather confusing and tardy.
Every woman is a story of struggle and victory. Sacrificing one’s ambitions and desires; and investing one’s life for the sake of the family demands an immense deal of strength and patience. Its time we gave our womenfolk their due. And there can be no denying that given a fair opportunity, women have the potential to outperform the male counterpart. In fact it is in this country, that women, who once lay in the sink of ignorance and neglect, came up in open defiance against the British during swadeshi, anti-partition and home rule movements. In a country where the office of the head of the state is adorned by a lady, where the government is presumably run by another iron lady and where the women from humble backgrounds have risen to rule the roost sometimes in the politically most powerful state or sometimes overturning the popular govt. governing for decades in another important state, it is least expected that they are still struggling for equality of status.
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