A discussion of Indian women's status in society focusing on the familial domain and the external forces that impinge on it. The seven essays were written to honor the work of sociologist M.N. Srinivas and reflect many of his views regarding the changing roles of women in a developing society. Among the topics discussed in the collection are those involving the survival and nurturance of the girl child, her access to education and participation in productive activity, and her right to natal property. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Indian society has undergone many rapid changes in the relatively short time that has elapsed since the country gained independence. These changes have created their own pulls and pressures and the one segment of Indian society that has, perhaps, been most affected is women. While the rest of the world is changing, they are nearly always required to conform to age-old and traditional images and stereotypes. This absorbing collection of twenty-one articles, some previously published and others especially commissioned, examines and challenges the various roles ascribed to women in the context of a rapidly changing society. There are two concerns that bind the essays together--first, that the reality of women's subordination can best be understood by traditional and mythical portrayals of women; and, second, that this understanding must be balanced by a sensitivity to the "immediate" context (for example, the present-day violence against a woman's person and personhood). The contributors to this volume belong to a wide variety of backgrounds ranging from activists to academics. Between them, they provide perspectives from the grassroots and also the disciplines of anthropology, psychology and sociology. The book is divided into five sections which cover (a) contextual, analytical and theoretical views of women; (b) empirical research organized around existing stereotypes about men and women; (c) an exploration of common forms of violence against women; (d) the way women are portrayed in diverse media (e.g., films and television); and (e) a description of the growing efforts to sensitize people to the inequalities between the sexes. Providing as it does a coherent analysis and fresh perspective concerning the issues and problems that affect women's lives in India, this book will appeal to all those who wish to know about and understand the position of women in Indian society. "This book is especially useful for getting one's bearings in the symbolic dimension of India's women. . . commendable for it critically spotlights, as no other collection has, a range of topics and problems important in Indian feminism. For all libraries with South Asia holdings." --Religious Studies Review "Any student looking for an introductory book on the issues confronting Indian women will find [this book] both comprehensive and insightful....[It] provides an important contribution to the development of alternative theoretical perspecitves in feminism." --Amita Handa, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
"During the colonial period, Indian intellectuals--philologists, lawyers, scientists and literary figures--all sought to hold a mirror to their country. Whether they wrote novels, polemics, or scientific treatises, all sought a better understanding of society in general and their society in particular. Curiously, female sexuality and sexual behavior play an outside role in their writing. The figure of the prostitute is ubiquitous in everything from medical texts and treatises on racial evolution to anti-Muslim polemic and studies of ancient India. In this book, Durba Mitra argues that between the 1840s and the 1940s, the new science of sexuality became foundational to the scientific study of Indian social progress. The colonial state and an emerging set of Bengali male intellectuals extended the regulation of sexuality to far-reaching projects that sought to define what society should look like and how modern citizens should behave. An exploration of this history of social scientific thought offers new perspectives to understand the power of paternalistic and deeply violent claims about sexual norms in the postcolonial world today. These histories reveal the enduring authority of scientific claims to a tradition that equates social good with the control of women's free will and desire. Thus, they managed to dramatically reorganize their society around upper-caste Hindu ideals of strict monogamy"--
A systematic presentation of the status of women of India throughout the long history of about 6000 years has been presented starting from the Vedic times to the post-independence period. A detailed description of the status of women during the Vedic times, which is rarely available in any of the existing literature, and in the following periods is very significant to the study of this subject. The author has discussed how the political and religious conditions over the periods have affected the conditions of women. The age-old evils, which had got firmly entrenched in the Indian society, such as the tradition of Sati, illiteracy, child marriages, and deplorable treatment of widows and so on, still persist and some new ones have joined the list. These are: bride burning, dowry, female feticide, domestic violence, to name a few. Short biographies of some outstanding women have been included to illustrate that in spite of adversities some women had achieved eminence. To the credit of the Indian Government, legislative measures have been taken to protect and improve the status of women after independence and just prior to it. These have been outlined. Unfortunately, these measures have not been able to achieve their intended results on account of wide spread corruption and lack of education and awareness among women, especially in the rural areas. A snapshot of the present conditions is given along with concluding remarks and recommendations for improvement. Improvement of the status of women is extremely improvement for India if it wishes to become a developed and progressive country and a world leader in culture and ideology.
The status of women has become an important parameter to gauge the level of development and sensitivity in any society. This book penetrates the silence that surrounds the lives of India's women. It offers a perceptive understanding of the trials faced by women from the country's state of Rajasthan, in all segments of its society - tribal, rural, and urban - and provides a comparative viewpoint of the status of women in all three segments. It is a comprehensive and holistic examination of questions relating to the rights and status of women in India. There have been infinite variations of the status, according to the cultural milieu, family structure, caste, class, property rights, etc. All these distinctions are significant determinants of variations.
This book focuses on subjugated indentured Indian women, who are constantly faced with race, gender, caste, and class oppression and inequality on overseas European-owned plantations, but who are also armed with latent links to the women’s abolition movements in the homeland. Also examining their post-indenture life, it employs a paradigm of male-dominated Indian women in India at the margins of an enduringly patriarchal society, a persisting backdrop to the huge 19th century post-slavery movement of the agricultural indentured workforce drawn largely from India. This book depicts the antithetical and contradictory explanations for the indentured Indian women’s cries, degradation and dehumanization and how the politics of change and control impacted their social organization and its legacy. The book owes its origins to the 2017 centennial commemorative event celebrating 100 years of the abolition of the indenture system of Indian labor that victimized and dehumanized Indians from 1834 through 1917.
The Multi-disciplinary and comprehensive collection of articles presented in this volume provides a valuable discussion on the status and role of the women in development of the society. Till recently, women were treated on a different pedestal, depriving them of their rights but reminding them of their duties. But with the changing times, the role of women has changed from child bearing and rearing to bread earner. This book brings under one cover the role of women in the changing society and their changing roles under the broad categories of Health, Education, Employment, Politics, Popular Movements and Development.
