India: Steffani Pankonin

Steffani Pankonin

A Glimpse At the Life Of Women in India

            With its many languages, cultures, and religions the country of India is an extremely diverse country. The country ranges from the underdeveloped people living in rural India to the well-educated, high class urban Indians. Both vary greatly in lifestyle, especially culture norms differing from the North to South and from the rural to urban areas. Nevertheless, all Indians can still relate by speaking Hindi, the national language which is spoken by almost half of the population. 80% of India’s people also are Hindu while others range from Muslim 13.4%; Christian 2.3%; Sikh 1.9%; other groups including Buddhist, Jain, Parsi within 1.8%;  and unspecified 0.1%.(Background Note, 2011) It is uncommon across the world to have such a unique, ancient, and diverse culture as theirs. India is the second largest populated country in the world, having a population around 1.2 billion people equaling fifteen percent of the world’s population. (India’s Population, 2012) However, just like any other country the women of India face many challenges in their life concerning their families, marriages, health difficulties, a decreasing ratio of females in the country, and a wide spread of violence. Many of these problems can affect both urban and rural Indian women, but certain issues are more sustainable to some than other.

In the developing country of India, family is one of the upmost important things there is next to their beliefs and religion. One of the many traditions in India are joint families; this is when extended family members live together, sometimes up to three or four generations in one house. Unfortunately the women of India, especially in rural India, are placed very low on the totem pole of this society. The family structure ranks, elders above juniors and other people of similar age, while males outrank females. (Heitzman/Worden, 1995) Women are not equal to men like women are here in the United States. The husband or eldest male of the family are usually always the head of household. Women are often the most exploited and least fortunate person in the house because of the duties she must maintain. Due to her obligations to the family the women often face nutritional problems. This can happen because she is forced to put herself last whether it’s eating or bathing and in return receiving no personal time.

The average female life expectancy today in India is fairly low compared to many countries. Women here face health challenges due to the structure of her roles to the family. As one of India’s tradition it is necessary for the women to eat last in the family. (Sinha, 2006) This tradition still holds true while a female is pregnant resulting in the child not receiving the nutrition it needs. About 80% of pregnant women in the country suffer from iron-deficiency anemia. (Sinha, 2006) This occurs due to the lack of proper health care, more so in rural India, and some of these women do not even see the end of a pregnancy. The reason for the high rate of women dying during childbirth is because the simple steps of pregnancy and childbirth procedures aren’t taken seriously. All throughout India women do not receive near as much health care as males do simply just because they are female. Health care treatment is so uncommon for women of certain parts of the country that some females will even go to the extreme of showing no symptoms of sickness until she can no longer get out of bed. Women will try to treat their sickness at home only because the decision of going to the hospital resides in the husband’s hands. As a result, females in India face more serious health issues in their future.

One of the most common family traditions, and one of the many reasons why women aren’t respected as much as men is due to the strong cultural preference for wanting women to conceive a son more than a daughter. This tradition exists in not only all over India but many countries throughout Eastern and Southern Asia. A son is valued more than a daughter in these countries for a variety of social and economic reasons, including their financial and labor contributions to the family, their ability to support their parents, and their perpetuation of the family name. (Jayaraman, 2009: 29-38) This desire for a male is taken so seriously that it has almost been considered as a man’s essential duty to reproduce a son because it brings him fulfillment and achievement of a life goal. This cultural desire is an example of why mistreatment of a female occurs, and why males are treated with more respect and are given special treatments like health care.

In addition to families specifically wanting sons over daughters brings forth a great popularity in the term female feticide. Women, especially in rural areas, do not have the education of or access to safe and self-controlled methods of contraception, or do not use contraceptives. Female feticide – the selective abortion of female fetuses – is killing upwards of one million females in India annually with far-ranging and tragic consequences. (Ahmad, 2010: 13-29) Although female feticide has been going on for generations, and abortion is completely legal in India, the country has had to make aborting a fetus of a female illegal due to the decline in proportion of male to females throughout the country. All medical tests that can be used to determine the sex of the child have been banned in India. These have been banned because the results of these tests have been used as a confirmation to abort unwanted female children before birth. As a female in India you must go through many extremes in order for survival. Of the 15 million baby girls born in India each year, nearly 25 percent will not live to see their 15th birthday. (Coonrod, 1998) Female feticide will go on for generations, and the female population will continue to dissolve because of the counties desire for males. This cycle of life for women can begin at a very young age and continues well throughout the girls’ lives.

Another common practice in India for families are child marriages and arranged marriages. These marriages are always planned by their parents or other close family members. Arrangements are made after taking into account factors such as age, height, personal values, the backgrounds of their families, and sometimes even the astrological compatibility of the couples' horoscopes. Child marriages are common in rural areas, even though there is a minimum legal age for marriage in India. Whereas in urban India, many families choose to wait until children are older. One reason being, child marriages have a big impact on the mental and physically health of many young girls and teens. There is a great pressure for women to conceive as soon as possible after marriage and this leads to a vast amount of adolescent childbearing. If a young Indian woman makes it past her teens, without a child marriage arrangement, it is common for her to have an arranged marriage, which can have many different guidelines.

In Northern India there are three prearranged restrictions in Northern India for the woman’s arranged marriage; the couple must not be related, the man must live outside the woman’s birth village, and the women has absolutely no say in the matter. After marriage, the bride moves in with her new husband’s family. Her behavior must reflect on the honor she has for her husband including his family. Emotional ties between the couple are considered to be a threat to the husband’s family and it often leads to a limit of or no communication between the couple. A newly married woman is brain washed to believe her wishes and interests are placed second to her new husband and her in-laws. On the contrary side, in Southern India it is a cultural norm for the daughter to marry her mother’s brother or her mother’s brother’s son. In this situation the woman does not have to worry about trying to please her husband’s new family and her kin becomes much closer. This practice of the South is becoming less common, now shifting more towards the North’s side. Another exception is an increasing number of young people, especially among the college-educated Indians, finding their own spouses. Many relationships do not work because these love marriages are considered slightly scandalous compared to the standard Indian arranged marriage.

            Dowry is very common though out all of India, although it is illegal. Dowry refers to “families of the bride and groom negotiating transfers of assets to the groom and his family in exchange for marrying the bride, specifically with arranged marriage. Dissatisfaction with the amount of dowry may result in abuse of the bride. In extremely rare cases, “dowry deaths” or the murder of the bride by her husband and his family can take place.” (Rastogi, 2006: 66) Many husbands often demand a dowry ranging from a large sum of money, farm animals, furniture, and electronics. These demands can put a big financial burden on the bride’s family. If these demands are not met, the new bride can face years of abuse and mistreatment. One popular term is referred to as “bride burning.” This occurs when brides die in “kitchen fires” caused intentional by her husband but are supposed to look like her committing suicide. Even this situation can have an effect on bias of sex and can change the culprit of a dowry death from male suspect to female. If a dowry death does occur, many older women of the family will try to take the blame for the woman’s death to protect the husband. Due to the rising occurrence of deaths, in the 1970’s the Dowry Prohibition Act was created to make it illegal. The dowry crime rate usually depends on the state’s level of development, but many of the dowries go dismissed as accidents still. As a consequence, official figures on dowry-deaths don't mean much. The National Crime Records Bureau in Delhi reported about 6000 dowry deaths a year in the 1990s, but unofficial estimates are assumed to be much higher. (Ananthaswamy, 2002: 12)

The women of India face these challenges in their lives because some of her life choices are made for her. As a result, another important element in her life disintegrates as she gets older, and she is often faced a life without a proper education. India has the highest percent of non-school going girls and has the largest illiterate population in the world with females at 54.28% of the population. (India’s Population, 2012) Again compared to males in rural India, far fewer girls are enrolled in school. Many rural villages of India believe women only need a “household education”, putting a real education on the back burner. Families in villages do not want to waste money and time on an education for girls, and they think that women should just be wedded off as soon as possible. There is a growing rate of girls replacing their brother’s farm work, because the boys are engaged in education and the girls stay home. Majority of the girl’s work then becomes manual labor and taking care of the family home, with much of her work not appreciated. Education in this case is considered to be another special treatment for males that girls sometimes cannot obtain in poor parts of India.

Contrary to rural areas of India, not all women of India are uneducated. In urban areas women’s education is very important and many are opting for higher degrees of education. An Indian girl’s education is almost as equal as an Indian boy’s education in numerous cities. There are many great women, like Vandana Shiva, who are well-educated and opt for a better India. Vandana Shiva has served as an adviser to governments in India as well as non governmental organizations, including the International Forum on Globalization, the Women's Environment & Development Organization and the Third World Network. Shiva is a very important environmentalist in India as well. First, she trained as a physicist and received her Ph.D. in philosophy from the University of Western Ontario, Canada. Then, she founded Navdanya in 1991, which has grown to be a hands-on movement for seed saving and organic farming in India. She has now started Bija Vidyapeeth, or the Seed University, at the Navdanya farm near Dehradun, India, where month-long courses are being held to obtain knowledge about holistic living. (Rishi, 2002) Many urban women of India strive to have as great of an education and career in India as Shiva does making her a great role model for Indian women.

The problems the women of India face can only be fixed if women receive more respect, marry later on in life when they are ready, receive the education they deserve, and can get the health care they need. By changing these simple yet complicated steps, women of India could be healthier, more productive, and give birth to healthier babies. Only through action to reverse the judgment against women can the idea of independence for women in India exist- an India where all women have the chance to live healthy, make their own choices, and productive lives can be achieved.

 

Work Cited

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Jayaraman, Anuja, Vinod Mishra, and Fred Arnold. "The Relationship Of Family Size And Composition To Fertility Desires, Contraceptive Adoption And Method Choice In South Asia." International Perspectives On Sexual & Reproductive Health 35.1 (2009): 29-38. Academic Search Premier. Web. 1 Feb. 2012.

Rastogi Mudita, and Therly Paul. "DOWRY AND ITS LINK TO VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN IN INDIA: Feminist Psychological Perspectives." Trauma, Violence & Abuse Jan. 2006: 66+. Academic Search Premier. Web. 3 Feb. 2012.

Rishi, A. "Nature - Earth crusader." Environmental Activist, Vandana Shiva and her Bija Vidyapeeth. 2002. LifePositive. 24 Feb. 2012 <http://www.lifepositive.com/body/nature/environmental.asp>.

Sinha, Dipa. "Women eat least, and last." 2006. InfoChange News. <http://infochangeindia.org/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=5676>.