Status of Women in Hinduism

¶ … status of women in Hinduism and discusses it within a cultural and anthropological context.

Women have occupied a complex position in the Hindu system. While on the one hand, there have been legends glorifying her bravery, strength and sacrifice, on the other hand, she is ascribed to an inferior position in society in subordination to man. Woman has been portrayed as the ultimate ideal of purity and sacrifice throughout the ages in Hinduism. Hindu literature portrays a mixed depiction of women: as servants and goddesses, strumpets and saints, protected daughters and powerful matriarchs, shunned widows and worshiped wives.[Narayan, 2005]. But the over riding feature that determines the Hindu woman's position is determined by Hindu religious traditions and determined by the caste that she belongs to. More restrictions and expectations are tied to women of higher classes, while the women of the lower classes have a relatively freer status. The highest moral and behavioral standards are expected of women of the highest caste - Brahmins. The lowest caste that is classified as the untouchable "parayas" are also fettered but the chain that binds them is the bonds of society that shuns them as untouchables.

The position of women in Hindu society has changed considerably in modern times with the advent of modernity and technology, however she is still not on par with her contemporaries in the West. Modern laws have mitigated the tightly restricted position women occupied in Indian society to some extent, however there is still much that needs to be done to raise the status of women in Hinduism.

TRADITIONAL CONCEPTS of WOMEN in HINDUISM:

The fate of a woman is inextricably tied up with her man in every way. An ideal woman is considered to be one that is married - a sumangali or "auspicious [Narayan]. Traditional Hinduism dictates that women from North India perform the rituals of karva chauth (wherein women fast every Friday for the welfare of their husbands) and hoi ashtami, a ritual performed in October-November for the welfare of sons. No similar ritual exists in Hindusim for the benefit of daughters..Hindu society places restrictions on its women in many ways. A woman is sheltered under the male umbrella from the beginning of her life - first she is under the control of her father, upon her marriage this control is transferred to her husband and in later years, to her son. Hindu parents are anxious to discharge their responsibility of marrying off their daughter as early as possible, and this has resulted in the social evil of child marriage when girls are married as early as five or six years old. The practice of child marriage still exists in some villages in Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh in India. Hindu women have been both empowered and subjugated by religious tradition over the centuries [Narayan]. Unquestioning obedience is expected from woman according to Hindu tradition - obedience, suffering and sacrifice have long been portrayed in Hindu culture as being the symbols that elevate the status of woman to that of a goddess. A Hindu woman is expected to remain pure and unsullied, ready and willing to subjugate herself to the will of the man in her life - in this she attains divine credits and demonstrates the strength of her faith. The ultimate aim of a Hindu woman is the prospect of marriage to a man. In the unfortunate event that her man dies, the Hindu woman is expected to follow her husband into his funeral pyre - this barbaric practice is referred to as Sati and is still practiced in some parts of India. Brahminical Hindu tradition has been marked by sanctions against women [Narayan] and the stigma of divorce and widowhood in society is one of the most important reasons why women endure and subject themselves to humiliation and eroding of their rights without protest, since they have been conditioned by Hindu society over the decades, to live within the religious and cultural parameters that have been established by males. The Hindu woman undoubtedly occupies an inferior position as compared to her male counterparts. Hinduism has been held responsible for the abuse of women and a wide range of evil social practices such as Sati, female infanticide, dowry deaths, caste and the concept of inferiority of women has been attributed to it [Malhotra, 2000].

The concept of the inferiority of women is irrevocably tied with the religious beliefs of Hinduism. Hindu society is divided into four castes - Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudras, with the highest caste being the priestly class. The exacting standards expected of women in the higher castes have enforced more religious sanctions on them such as child marriages, abuse of widows, prohibition of divorce and sanctions against widow remarriage [Narayan]. The Brahmins, being the priestly class, were considered about the purity of persons performing religious rituals in temples. Since women were afflicted with the curse of "menstruation," they were considered "polluted" from a religious and social standpoint and were forced to remain socially isolated during the tenure of their menstrual period.[Ilangovan, 2002]. In the village of Andipatti in Tamil Nadu, elders call this act of 'ostracisation' a traditional practice

Breaking the custom, they say, will mean incurring the wrath of the Goddess and will lead to excommunication from the caste. Menstruating women are forbidden from entering into the family shrine or temples during their periods. They were considered inferior to men because of this infirmity. Ancient Hinduism which derives from the Vedas, dictates many of the tenets and creeds for female behavior in Hindu society. A male's position is unquestionably superior and the woman subordinates herself to man throughout her life. Until recently, women were not even allowed to hold property in their names and family property traveled down through the generations from father to son. If no son was present, the property was transferred to the son in law, rather than the daughter. They had no powers or rights apart from the male member of their family under whose protection they were designated to remain.

STATUS of MODERN WOMAN in HINDU SOCIETY:

Religion still plays an important role in conditioning the status of women in Hinduism even today. Religion permeates every aspect of life and Hindus cling tenaciously to their traditional beliefs. Modern technology has not been able to completely alter centuries of religious conditioning that have characterized Hindu society and its customs and beliefs. The texts of religious law are this still the main basis for discrimination against women in a cultural and social context. Rituals, traditions and superstitions still condition Hindu society - even when Hindus live abroad in more technologically advanced societies, they continue to cling to their traditional, old fashioned beliefs on the inherent inferiority of women. The focus is on caste, cows and curry [Malhotra, 2000] and India's obsession with its outdated religious and cultural values has been blamed for many of society's ills. Studies have shown that the economic growth in a nation is directly proportional to the level of investment in female education [Dollar and Gatti, 1999] and the cultural and religious barriers to women's advancement in Hindu society are only being slowly addressed in recent years. Economic growth has also been proved to be slower in Hindu and Muslim societies as opposed to Western civilizations, due to the higher levels of gender inequality created by religious barriers and constraints [Dollar and Gaiit, 1999].

THE DOWRY SYSTEM:

Hinduism attempts to create social and domestic spaces that will help nurture the ideal of chaste Hindu womanhood. Arguments in favour of essentialism, biological determinism and Hindu notions of 'pativrata' are used to maintain unchanging separate privileges and functions for men and women. Men were to produce and women were to preserve. [Ghosh, 2002]. Therefore, the woman's position in society was perceived as the performance of a different function - her job was essentially to procreate and preserve, her domain was the home. The Hindu right harps on the traditional role of women in the family and looks upon feminism itself as an assault on traditional family and cultural values. {Ghosh, 2002]. The traditional status of women in Hindu society included her subordination to man and obedience to the will of her elders - she was not to exercise her free will, even in the choice of whom she would marry. The practice of arranged marriages is still prevalent in Hindu society. A women is traded and bartered like so much goods. The practice of dowry originated years ago and is conditioned by the religious cultural ethos of womanhood in Hinduism. This social practice also derives from the woman's inferior position in Hindu society. She does not have the right to make decisions for herself, and the custom of arranged marriage prevails in Hinduism, even today, where the parents of a girl select her bridegroom. In view of the fact that the girl is not permitted to hold property or possessions in her name - property inequality [Sen, 2001] and must submit them all to her husband, the concept of dowry originated as a means to provide a girl with a little cash kitty that she could fall back upon in hard times. Hindu society dictates that once a girl is married, she no longer belongs in the home of her parents and her husband's home is her entire future. She may never return to her maternal home on a permanent basis, for that would bring shame upon her in Hindu society. This is the reason why Hindu weddings are always characterized by much weeping as the girl ceremoniously bids farewell to her ancestral home. Her husband becomes her God, his home becomes her home and her life is dedicated to serve him and obey him. In the absence of the support of her maternal home, dowry was provided as a means to provide for the girl's new family needs in the event of a financial crisis. However, over the years this practice has degenerated into a mercenary enterprise, where a premium is placed on a male and the woman is bought and sold like a piece of property - only, in this instance, the family of the woman pays for the privilege of having a man take her off their hands. Hindu families prefer boys to girls for several reasons, of which dowry is the most important. A boy is preferred because (a) Hinduism designates the male superior from a religious, social and political point-of-view (b) Educating a boy is perceived as a worthwhile enterprise, because he may go out into society and put that education to good use in securing employment, whereas a girl's fate is merely to be married off and go to her husband's home - Marriage of a girl involves heavy investments, mainly due to the practice of dowry.

Marriage in Hinduism is a heavily commercial enterprise. It has become an occasion for the ostentatious display of wealth. The more pomp and splendor associated with a girl's marriage, the better the parents are perceived as having performed their duty, according to Hindu standards. Marriages today are no more than a vulgar display of wealth. The parents of girls bear the entire burden for organization this vainglorious occasion, mortgaging themselves to the hilt to gain respect for themselves in Hindu society by organizing the marriage with pomp and show. The practice of dowry has degenerated to the point where a male's family demands several lakhs of rupees in addition to big ticket consumer items such as appliances, vehicles etc. In order to give their consent for the marriage. The better educated the boy is or the higher his social status, the more dowry the family demands. The practice of dowry exists even among the poorer castes and the families of girls spend their entire lifetimes amassing money to conduct their daughter's marriage with sufficient pomp and show.

In the present day, women have gained a much higher level of rights of access to education and the Hindu law has been amended to permit daughters to inherit ancestral property. But in spite of the gains in education and knowledge and in spite of the fact that the Government has banned the heinous practice of dowry, it still persists, even more commercialized than before, to such an extent that women have set themselves on fire or otherwise committed suicide in order to escape the constant demands of their in laws to bring additional dowries from their homes. There have also been cases where the families of Indian males deliberately kill the woman in order that the man may marry again and amass more dowry by marrying again. Hindu society condones a variety of vices in the male but expects a much more rigorous standard of morality and behavior from women.

Some Hindu organizations now organize mass marriages where several couples are married all at once in a mass wedding ceremony, with the specific intent to overcome the evils of dowry. The "Swamyamvar" system was also devised as a method to redress the evils of dowry, wherein a woman garlanded the husband of her choice from among a number of prospective suitors. But here again, the power rests with the male, in that garlanding by the male is ignored [O'Henry].

THE SATI SYSTEM:

Perhaps the most evil of all social oppression against women is Sati - the practice of burning a wife on her husband's funeral pyre. This was particularly barbaric in ancient times because the wife generally tended to be much younger than her husband. With the inherent male superiority of Hinduism, a man may marry a woman young enough to be his granddaughter and no eyebrows will rise. However, the same privilege is not accorded to women and the prospect of marriage to a man old enough to be her father or grandfather is supposed to be one that a women should welcome because it provides her with financial security. The practice of Sati has been outlawed by laws enacted by Government and has disappeared from most parts of India except for isolated pockets in some northern states.

FEMALE FOETICIDE:

Another unpleasant offshoot of the Hindu religious and cultural system is the practice of female foeticide, that renders the Hindu female inherently disadvantaged, even before she is born - natality mortality [Sen, 2001]. This practice is especially prevalent among poorer families, who see girls as a social and economic liability. The costs of getting a girl married are prohibitive and many families of girls go bankrupt in the process. Thus some families try to get the girls murdered when they are born, by feeding them the milk of calatropis, which is a poisonous plant. Modern advances in technology have meant that facilities such as ultrasound are available to determine the sex of the fetus while it is still in the womb. Unscrupulous doctors often aid couples in aborting female fetuses who are perceived as a financial liability. The birth of a girl is not welcomed as an auspicious event, as is the case with a boy.

Most of the injustices and problems that are faced by women vis a vis their status in Hinduism have been attributed by some scholars to be caused by poverty [Malhotra, 2000]. For example, the evils of female foeticide and child marriage may be directly related in the case of lower caste families to poverty and oppression by the higher castes. However, the factor of wealthy Hindus resorting to the very same practices also needs to be taken into question. Therefore, while it may be argued that some of the social problems that affect the status of women in Hinduism are exacerbated by poverty, it is undoubtedly the religious and caste aspects that determine the subordination of women in Hinduism and her perceived status as inferior to the male, as a consequence of which her rights are given less importance.

HINDUISM vs MODERN STATUS of WOMEN: