There should be no
difference whatever between man and woman when it comes to dignity. Both are the same species. Both are required to reproduce the species if
nature’s rules are respected. They are counterparts of each other. The concept of Ardhanarishvara in Hinduism eloquently
illustrates the quintessentially complementary nature of man and woman.
Yet women have been
suppressed and oppressed in most parts of the world for a very long period of
history. The morning prayer of the
Jewish men may be the most blatant outrage perpetrated on women
theologically. “Thank you, Lord, for not
making me a woman,” the man prays every morning. The woman is the cause of the human
sinfulness, according to the Old Testament which is sacred to both the Jews and
the Christians. There is no female Rabbi
in Judaism and there is no female priest in Christianity, though the
discrimination is slowly relenting.
Islam is worse than its
two Semitic predecessors when it comes to women’s rights. Sexism becomes mathematically established in
Islam. “The male shall have the equal of
the portion of two females,” says Quran 4:11.
When it comes to bearing witness in the court also, one man is equal to
two women in that religion (Quran 2:28).
The Hadith and Al-sira are thoroughly soaked in male chauvinism.
We are very familiar with
what Hinduism did with its widows. The system
of Sati was more inhuman than all the sexist oppressions and suppressions
perpetrated by the Semitic religions.
Even today the purdah continues to veil many female faces in rural North
India. In spite of such wonderful
concepts as Ardhanarishvara and Durga, women were flagrantly oppressed in Hinduism. Manusmriti, for example, subjugated the woman
to the father when she was a girl, to the husband when she was a woman and to
the son when might be a widow. But the
same text also very contradictorily suggests that “where women are revered,
there the gods rejoice; but where they are not, no sacred rite bears any fruit.” Hinduism had highly ambivalent attitudes
towards women like many other things.
These are just some
examples of how religions were highly sexist.
And religions shape people's attitudes to a very great extent.
Religions took a backseat
in the 20th century.
Consequently women began to find emancipation. Today we speak about empowerment of women, not
just emancipation. It’s a great
change. Women are no less than men in
any way. Given the right opportunities
they will perform as well as men in any field.
Women’s empowerment is precisely about giving them equal opportunities
and rights. However, we find India still
grappling with obscurantist and obsolete notions regarding women.
There is a lot of
contradictoriness in our attitudes towards women. Maybe, it’s part of our very culture and
tradition. We should resolve those
contradictions and bring about a society which puts women on the same platform
as men. That’s the real empowerment of
women.
PS. Written for Indispire Edition 168. #womenempowerment
Every religion misinterprets its scriptures to subjugate women. Sometimes they don't even have to misinterpret - as you have pointed out with your examples. Patriarchy is rampant and insidious.
ReplyDeleteThe scriptures were all written by men.
DeleteHer empowerment will be established when she will be able to walk alone without the fear of getting raped.
ReplyDeleteI am happy with the exemplary judgment given by the SC against the nirbhaya case.
I too welcomed the judgement. In matters such as this I don't endorse the human rights activists. Harsh actions are necessary sometimes for the sake of humanity.
DeleteThe real question is why there's a need to suppress women, and the answer is they are really powerful. In all animal kingdom, if you see, you'll find females are powerful than their male counterparts.
ReplyDeleteThat's true. Women are suppressed because they are indeed powerful. Perhaps they will outshine men and men don't want that.
DeleteYes, the mindset of people need to change. Women have suffered and been discriminated in all societies.
ReplyDeleteWomen are coming to the forefront now. But they face serious threats because of certain men's mindsets.
Delete