The Paradoxical Status of Women in India

dr robert hardgrave professor of governments in the center for asian studies at ut austin discussing recent political developments in india next dr gail an altar assistant professor of history at ut austin discusses the paradoxical status of women in india what i would like to do is to look at perhaps a double paradox in indian society that is the situation where an legally and constitutionally indian women have equal rights with men where in new reform gun laws they have full rights to property our inheritance to divorce and so forth with men but where social practice does not necessarily a chord with those are constitutional and legal rights so there is that dichotomy that paradox but then also to look at the practice in the family

and to see that where there is a dichotomy between perhaps norms and practices there is also a paradox in practice that is in certain areas of family life women maybe subordinates in other areas you may be extremely powerful and that is power and influence in family life which is very real and also extend to publicly weigh a daughter is born in an indian family it is a new child and people are happy but people would be happier if it were a son or dictate it's the first child somehow it would be much happier if it were a son now there are various reasons for this there's a higher value placed on males male offspring and some of those reasons are ritual that is in hindu religion it is the

sons who carry on the family who carry on the property the sons who have to perform the final ritual for their father's so forth and so you need a son in order to graduate the water status in the family is also enhanced if she has signs them or send she has as opposed to lead orders and so for reasons of her own status in the family a wife mother would like to have some ice on particular the first one but also daughters represent are an economic burden or liability a son will marry and will bring a dowry into the family into the household a daughter were married out of the house it will take and our history and hans the poor man who has four daughters and no sons has a heavy liability placed upon him

where is the man who has three or four sons and only one daughter has a considerable be better advantage in the economic struggle for survival and hands a daughter is loved and people are happy that her daughter is out but nevertheless are in the overall balance of things it would be better to have more sons and daughters as a little girl goes out there is the idea that ultimately she will marry out of the family that this is the goal of her life fat when she goes to her husband she will get a good dowry she will are he hired person but also that ultimately she will belong to someone now she will be some where else and ark i think of this characteristic of socialization among indian females

criticism very strong resilient kind of personality i think indian girls are not only talked this with basics of households work and so on in a traditional household but they're also brought up whether they're in a traditional household or modern household sue to think that ultimately they would belong to someone else they will not live with their parents when they will live with another set of parents the in laws will have a considerable amount of power authority over again not so much the husband that they will have to adjust are they cannot be two strong willed or two individualistic therefore know we're too hung up on their own preferences are often the choices so from

birth through childhood socialization there's a differentiation in the treatment of girls in education however if a girl is educated ii she writes usually gets the same curriculum of the same kind of schooling as a boy they don't get schooling together off and i think that that education by and large india is set for her boys and two you get to university level the ma level where things are co educational colleges and schools were several on girls schools were started later the school's from what i that was a big struggle to get equal education for girls in india there's still a lot of discussion over can separate education actually be legal that sounds rather familiar to live then at the time of marriage a marriage is in india by and

large and this is no longer universally true the situation is changing very rapidly rising generation but traditionally and i think still in majority of cases marriages in india are arranged individuals have very little choices and in fact in many cases the individuals the bride <unk> have met each other before and how we in the west have difficulty imagination how an individual id on your young man who is educated who has personal ambition who has a life independent from that of his family will nevertheless submit to the party of the family matter of the choice of may well all of this is the product of a very long tradition of it also is the

product of a certain economic systems i say particularly among muslims our inheritance goes to close our sons and daughters and hence there's a great deal of cross cousin marriage in order to the inheritance of land or property within the family among hindus there are certain tasks rules regarding marriage and eighty of our the individuals really loud allowed a free choice this would very quickly exploded system of caste and i think that a lot of this is beginning to happen in the urban highly educated classes that young men and women go to universities they meet people who may like and then they go in they ask their parents to arrange that marriage and in a case where it's the same

cast and that's that's fine in case where it's not the same cast there's often very serious family opposition what choices are now becoming much more much broader the traditionally of course the families arranged marriage within certain degrees relationship was in the cast so the joys of marriage ban is often than not individuals an individual must adjust to someone whom he or she is not known the new bride then has to knuckle under to mother in law has to submit to authority and has to prove her worries by her her service by her household management by their ability to cook like her ability to produce sons but as she grows and matures and producers children and becomes

one with his family the life games and statements are games inability to cope also games in sochi strategic knowledge of how to handle people our ability to influence decisions but i think that the indian wife and ultimately of course the indian mother in law is a figure has considerable authority she has authority over her children or so she uses viruses a person in their affections in her giving advice even ritual and cultural training she also has authority over a certain amount of money she may not be able to own or inherit much property even though legally she now has the right to do but she has authority over her dowry anything to chase the

family needs money to by a tractor or refrigerator where to send children to school she needs to be consulted over this decision and so she has some control over economic resources in the family it is the mother therefore who has through her envoys over children therefore some say encountering decisions if she becomes ultimately becomes a mother in law and she has controlled not only over her children that over children's spouses their one and then even though she is warden nevertheless within her traditional family roles has some very important decisions to to make our influences to operate now how does this

howard influence or authority which indian women learn to exercise within their traditional roles how does this then extend into modern sectors into on say the professional life if a woman is educated off mary's according to her choice lives in a nuclear family are has a profession these kinds of well i think there are a number of ways which this kind of strength that i'm out of mind operates on first of all i mentioned the flexibility personality i think that operates in all sectors so i can play i think that on the traditional know are of the extended family it's very important in women's

consciousness and women's ability to be for another factor in our women's strength or flexibility is the fact that i think much of their their self concept much of their visions of self worth it depends on our interaction with other women even the traditional extended family much of their daily working and social lives in fact all of that actually all is with other women of older and younger different generations of women interact and hence a woman's view of herself and her worthen of her competence there's no judgment i am a man

constraints that this puts on western woman is very real i think an indian woman maybe three year from the kind of sexual innuendo crucial which is our resident questions and so when she moves into the professional world even when she is working with men in positions of authority woman in india may be we'll have less of the conflict began between her femininity and her ideas to sell few of professional competence so these are some of the areas in which i feel indian women have real strength real company has real power is in full and it goes not only for traditional life but also for the modern sector it's terrorism practices again she doesn't

have much choice and whom she marries she doesn't have much real control over our say landed property or much economic independence even though our in terms of law unconstitutionally indian women do have equal rights so tradition plays a very strong role so this strange status so that's what i mean by a paradox dr gail minnow assistant professor of history at ut austin discussing the paradoxical status of women in india earlier in the program dr robert hargrave professor of government and the center for asian studies at ut austin spoke on recent developments in indian politics you've been listening to university for the forum is produced at k

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