Indian Women: Vulnerable, But With a Space of Their Own

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Indian Women: Vulnerable, But With a Space of Their Own

Hindustan Times; Press Trust of India

 

New Delhi (May 29, 2005): In the 17th century Vijaynagar empire of

South India, women occupied a high position in society. They played

an active role in the political social and literary life of the

country. Sati was very common ...

 

" How can one say that ending of one's life because one's social role

as wife is over, even if done voluntarily, represents a high

position for women? " asks a contributor to the new book " A Space of

Her Own, Personal Narratives of Twelve Women, " questioning the

statement, which in fact forms part of a seventh standard text book.

 

As 12 women from different walks of life and different parts of

India recall personal recollections of lives of their mothers and

grandmothers spanning a period of over 100 years, the outcome speaks

volumes on the status of women in India.

 

" As the narratives reveal, " says Carolyn M. Elliot, Professor of

Political Science Emerita at the University of Vermont in

Burlington, in her introduction, " were the women portrayed able to

find any space for themselves? Or were they so constrained by the

social roles of greatest importance to their families-wife and

mother- that ending these roles meant some kind of death? "

 

In a society where marriage means a girl leaving her natal family to

join another family, the project represented a somewhat subvertive

voice. It was about hidden relationships, that is, women's relations

with each other unmediated by marriage. It was an effort to bring

into view the lives of women which, while often treasured in private

memories, have been unavailable to us.

 

The outcome is, in the words of Priti Desai, who describes her

mother as a feminist who had quietly passed on the message that a

woman had an identity, a will and needed a space of her own.

 

These women, the mothers and grandmothers, thus had come forward in

situations of stress to exhibit unforeseen strengths and

flexibility. As noted Marathi playwriter Vijaya Mehta puts it, while

women now have more choices, earlier generations found distinctive

and centred identities that made their lives meaningful.

 

Throughout India, the authors note a change in intellectual climate

in the 20th century that diminished religious orthodoxy and brought

a new rationalism to social relations. Can these narratives be

considered the social history of the previous generations? " I would

argue that these narratives contain the stuff of history, materials

to be taken along with others, to help construct a portrait of the

past, " says Elliott.

 

The narratives are littered with failed marriages. High caste Hindu

families then lived under an unforgiving rule that daughters must be

married by puberty. As the puberty clock ticked away, families made

greater and greater compromises in the choice of husbands to fulfill

this obligation. Thus, there were a number of marriages arranged

with completely unsuitable men, old, already merried and so on.

 

What do we learn from these narratives of women's lives? Women's

vulnerability to the purposes, tempers and fates of their husband

and families, both natal and affinal, stands out.

 

Contributors to the book include Zarina Bhatty, former president of

Indian Association for Women's Studies and a gender specialist with

USAID and IDB, Priti Desai, a Professor in Miranda House, Prof.

Nabaneeta Dev Sen, of Jadavpur University, Arlie Hochschild,

Professor of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley, Saroja

Kamakshi, an Artistic Director, Maithreyi Krishna Raj, Professor and of Research Centre for Women's Studies at the SNDT

University, Mumbai, Vina Muzumdar, Chairperson,Centre for Women's

Development Studies, Delhi, Vijaya Mehra, Executive Director of the

National Centre for Performing Arts, Mumbai, the late Sushil Narull,

a former principal of a Delhi school, Mary Roy, a novelist and Hema

Sundaram.

 

The contributions have been edited by Leela Gulati of Centre for

Development Studies and Jasodara Bagchi, Chairperson, West Bengal

Commission for Women and Founder Director of the School of Women's

Studies.

 

Concludes Arlie Hochschild, " in patriarchy, grandfathers, fathers

and sons rule over grandmothers, mothers and daughters. In the face

of this powerful inequity, privileges of caste and class are of no

help " .

 

Indeed, throughout all the trials of feudalism, colonialism,

partition and early nation-building, it has often fallen to women in

India to uphold patriarchy in two ways- by embracing customs which

link the belittlement of women with 'family honour', and by abiding

by the " culture of silence " .

 

SOURCE: Hindustan Times; Press Trust of India

URL: http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1381394,001100040006.htm