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MORE WOMEN MPS
= WOMEN'S EMPOWERMENT? -
Philip P. Eapen |
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The day the Upper House of Indian
Parliament, the Rajya Sabha, passed the Women’s
Reservation Bill, Indian women in general were happy. If
the Bill becomes a law at the Centre and in the states,
33 percent of seats in state legislative assemblies and
in the Parliament will be reserved for women.
The celebration and jubilation are not surprising.
Various women’s organisations worked hard for and dreamt
of that day for fourteen years. The bill certainly will
sail through the lower house, the Lok Sabha, and through
various state assemblies. No political party wants to be
seen as “anti-women.” Therefore, regardless of the
dissonance heard within political parties, the bill will
indeed become a law.
In the midst of this celebration, we need to be modest
in the assessment of our country’s progress. The very
fact that we needed a law to force political parties to
field significant number of women candidates shows the
pathetic state of affairs in our societies. Even in the
absence of such a law, political parties could have
fielded eligible women as candidates. No one prevented
them from doing so. However, all political parties
displayed a general negative discrimination against
women. Lack of suitable candidates might have been an
issue. Even otherwise, political masters favoured male
candidates over female candidates.
Can a few women who sit in Parliament or state
assemblies effect any change in the real status of women
in Indian homes or societies? In India, women,
irrespective of their caste, are regarded as
constituting the lowest caste – the shudra. Even a
Brahmin’s wife is technically a Shudra. Indian religions
portray woman as an inferior slave. The Bible however
portrays woman as “help meet” - a suitable helper who
stands alongside her husband. Unless there is a
fundamental shift in our beliefs and attitudes – with or
without the Women’s Reservation Bill - women in India
aren’t going to experience any real emancipation. Women
who lead a jet-set life style, cruising in ch auffeur
driven ‘official’ cars that bear a red beacon may still
be discriminated against, kicked around, and despised by
people who believe that every woman is a shudra.
The real reason behind the suffering of the Indian women
was not the absence of women in Parliament or state
assemblies; it is the set of religious beliefs and greed
that deny life to the unborn girl child; that sees the
girl child as an unnecessary burden. These days, couples
who have more than two children are mostly those who
have only daughters; they pursue their dream of having a
son – be it the third or fourth or fifth attempt! Which
law can erase the now infamous Indian preference for
sons? Some of our states have just around 700 women for
every 1000 men. Where are the missing women? They have
been sacrificed at the altar of greed and cruelty.
Murder most foul! The most religious nation in the world
has no qualms about killing and mutilating their girl
children while they are still in their mothers’ wombs.
What about parents who let the girl child live? Many of
them deny quality education to their daughters even when
they send their sons to good schools. Any money spent on
enriching a girl’s life is seen as wasteful expenditure.
While some parents unburden themselves by sending away
their daughter in marriage, some parents keep their
daughters with them to get maximum benefit from their
earnings. Most Indian parents do not divide their
property equally among their sons and daughters.
Daughters are sent away with a pittance. This is one
reason why a groom’s party demands more money. The
practice of demanding dowry is commonplace even though
there are laws to punish offenders. Those who do not
wish to “lose” their property by giving an equal share
to their daughters have a smart way of doing things.
They give their daughters in marriage to close relatives
(even first cousins). That way, the property remains in
the extended family. Even as a girl child is born,
parents pledge her to her cousin brother!
In most of India, a woman has no role in her family’s
process of decision making. Women are not allowed
anywhere near the family’s male council. With a veil on
her head, she leads a sub-human existence. Women are
sometimes not allowed to own property or open bank
accounts. All these happen, in spite of India’s
preference for goddesses and worship of mother.
Even though critics of the Indian church say that
Christianity did little to erase caste system in India
or within the church, it can be said that the gospel has
done wonders to the status of women in India. It was
Pandita Ramabai, a Brahmin woman who chose to follow
Christ, who pioneered the education of girls in India.
Her father let her study even when their law said that
women and Dalits who heard Sanskrit should have molten
lead poured into their ears. The school and orphanages
that Ramabai founded are still functioning near Pune.
Similarly, if it were not for the efforts of William
Carey and Raja Ram Mohan Roy, many more millions of
Indian widows would have been burnt on their husbands’
pyres.
The status of women in states that welcomed the gospel
is far better than those in areas that rejected the
gospel. The education and elevation of women in these
societies brought great changes in their quality of life
– changes that could never be legislated by any state.
We cannot legislate the emancipation of women as long as
religions that devalue and destroy women have a free run
in India.
Even women who think they are emancipated need a change
in attitude. If people think that true emancipation of
women is effected by drawing women away from marriage,
the bearing of children, and home-making, they can’t be
more mistaken.
True emancipation happens when women discover their
Creator’s purpose for their lives; when men value and
honour women as God’s gift to human society. That woman
is emancipated who recognises what she alone, as God’s
special creation as woman, can do without any
competition from men and then excels in those tasks. For
she knows that men cannot do those things that God has
given to her alone. Those women who constantly devalue
their feminine identity and seek satisfaction in beating
men at their tasks will never ever find true
satisfaction in their lives. Imitation is the greatest
form of tribute. By imitating men and by constantly
trying to be “on par with men,” women trample their
God-given identity. They will be found wanting as they
stand before their Creator unable to give a satisfactory
account of what they alone could do as women.
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This page
is updated on Mar 18, 2010 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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