India

LINK-NY Times

Population: 1,173,108,018
Capital: New Delhi
Language: Standard Chinese or Mandarin
Religion: Hindu 80.5%
Life Expectancy: 66.46 years
GDP per Capita: $3,400

• 1990’s, in the Indian state of Rajasthan, 56% of girls were married before age 15, and of those 17% were marred before the age of 10.
• 60-80% of women have said they have experienced some from of abuse from their husband, and 42% have said they have been beaten physically.
• Honor Killings occur regularly about 10% of all murders in Punjab and Haryana in 2006 were honor killings. In Bihar state, an average of 200 women a year are killed for being witches. An estimated 98 women are murdered a week by their husband or husbands family, often over dowry disputes.
• The Punjab-Haryana-Himachal Pradesch belt in northwest India is sometimes dubbed “India’s Bermuda Triangle”—where girls vanish without a trace. In 1991 two states and territories in India had ratios below 88 girls per 100 boys; in 2001 there were five.
• Has one of the highest death rates of women with breast cancer in the world at 861 deaths per week.
• Under 30% of women work for pay

As I began my research on women of India I was reminded of an important truth. I think it’s really neat to be able to research women all over the world, but it’s so important to remember that I am just skimming the surface, the issues that women face in these countries are so much deeper and much more complex then I could even begin to get into on my blog. In choosing to look at many different countries it makes it next to impossible to go into the complex history and issues that women from those countries face, nevertheless I believe it is important to have at least some knowledge about the women from each of these countries even if it is just the bare minimum. That being said....


Last year my sister traveled and studied in India for three months, so naturally the first thing I did to start my research on India was email her! So thanks to her for lots of cool references and information! She reminded me that the factors that influence the role of women range immensely in every country. Specifically in India these factors can range from religion, to class, to media (i.e. bollywood). She also mentioned that what the government claims about the state of women might be completely different then what it actually is. Apparently some of the more rural areas still practice widow burning, whereas women in the upper wealthy classes in cities have a much more North American lifestyle. Nonetheless, bars/clubs still have a ‘couples only’ rule, basically enforcing that women can not go out on there own. It’s important to realize that lots of what’s enforced depends on what part of the country you are in and the family you are a part of.

Here’s an section from “India: In the New Millennium” by Shymala B. Cowik, Ambassador of India, it talks about her opinion of the state and equality of women;

“In 1992, in a decision that has been hailed worldwide as one of the most dramatic initiatives for the political and social empowerment of women, nearly a million Indian women, mostly from the rural areas, entered village and municipal councils across the country, occupying the 30% of the seats reserved for them from then on. These dramatic gains made by Indian women in one of the areas where their participation has lagged, politics, especially local politics, have, over the past nine years, helped ensure that they have a much greater voice than ever before, and often the decisive voice in how India is governed at the grassroots.

In fact, it is not often recognized that the women of India gained complete legal equality very soon after independence. That this happened in what was then a traditional and basically patriarchal society was due in no small measure to the influence of Mahatma Gandhi, and the stress he laid on the women of India playing a major role both in the independence movement and in the new, free India of his dreams. Mahatma Gandhi was in truth one of our first feminists. He was convinced that women had a natural aptitude for the doctrines of ahimsa (non-violence) and satyagraha (truth force) that he espoused, and therefore that they should be in the forefront of the Independence movement, shoulder to shoulder with the men. And so they did. It was by marching in the streets, getting beaten up by the police and going to jail during those years of struggle that the women of India gained their right to equality. When one remembers the degree of resentment and contempt that the suffragette movements in the West provoked in the establishments of those countries in the early years of this century, the contrast with India could not be more marked.

Today, backed up by NGOs, especially women’s NGOs, sympathetic lawyers and an increasingly sensitive establishment, the women of India, even the poorest of them, are moving forward to assert their equality and gain the rights it guarantees them. They have also benefited from the rapid expansion of educational institutions in India, and are today 50% if not more of the average college class, whether in the sciences or in the liberal arts, and well over 50% of the honour rolls. In the professions, they have reached out beyond the traditional areas like medicine, the law, the civil services etc. and are to be found in increasing numbers in every sector of the economy. They range from Air Force fighter pilots to computer technicians, from glamorous models and movie stars to machine tool operators. In recent years, Indian women achievers included business tycoons like the new President of Pepsico International, Indira Nooyi, 45, famous writers and activists like the Booker Prize winner Arundhati Roy, a series of six international beauty queens, Olympic medallist and weightlifter Karnam Malleswari, Cheryl Dutta, the first Indian Air Force helicopter pilot, who, incidentally, is the elder sister of the Miss Universe 2000, Lara Dutta, the first Indian Inspector General of Police, Kiran Bedi, the first police officer from any country to win the prestigious Magsaysay award, and astronaut Kalpana Chawla, the brave and determined aeronautical engineer from the North Indian State of Haryana who died so tragically in the Columbia disaster."


I think this clearly shows hope and achievement for women of India. It’s good to know that although there is still most likely quite a bit of discrimination, women are really started to stand up for themselves! But after reading this, its hard not to think about what my sister said in that, what the government says is going on could completely opposite from reality. Although, in this case the actual stories of what some Indian women, including the amassador herself, have achieved are the proof that change is happening!

A sign of hope, women of India, working together for change!
LINK

I just want to end with one idea, if you have nothing to do this weekend, or even if you do have lots to do...I strongly encourage you to watch the movie “Water” directed by Deepa Mehta. It is a powerful story of a group of widows living in poverty in an Indian temple. It is a moving and beautiful film…I highly recommend it!


Thats all for now,
Thanks for reading!