essay on the role of women in india progress
Answers
Women in India constitute nearly 50% of its population. According to 1991 census, there were 40.6 crores of women as against 43.7 crores of men. Roughly, there are 929 women for every 1000 men.
Man considers woman to be frail and weak by nature. She is shorter and delicate compared to the strongly build man. But man forgets that a woman is made so, so to play a specific fro in nature which a man cannot play, that is the role of the mother. In intelligence both are equal. Man is aggressive and emotional. A woman is patient, calm and receptive. She can bear more pain and has more tolerance than a man. She is stronger in conviction and in perseverance. Yet women all over the world are playing a secondary role only.
The position in India is no different. Women were glorified in epics and puranas, for their service to their men. Serving a father first, secondly a husband, and later serving her children and grandchildren, had been her lot. Puranas mention the names of Seeta, Savitri and Anusuya and glorify them for their devote service to their husbands. They even say that a woman can easily get salvation by serving her husband.
After Independence the Constitution of India gave equal rights to men and women in all walks of life. But even today one cannot say that all women in India enjoy equal rights with men in all matters.
There are many reasons for this (1) the customs and traditions prevalent for centuries, (2) The high percentage of illiteracy among women, (3) Ignorance of their rights, (4) Patriarchal Society, (5) Economic system, (6) Acceptance of the theory of Karma or fatalism, (7) Unchecked male domination in all walks of life.
In spite of all these problems mentioned above, one could see that the condition of India women has improved a lot. There are now adequate educational facilities for girls and women. Special incentives and reservations are there to encourage them to study. Even in employment there are special reservations.
We can now see women employed in all fields not only in clerical jobs but also in I.A.S., I.P.S. and Indian Air Force. There are reservations in legislatures also. There are Chief Ministers who are women. We had a lady Prime Minister. These are considered as exceptions as the women folk, particularly in the rural areas, are yet to come out of their bondage. To enable the rural women too to take part in politics in a significant way, the Central Government has introduced a bill in Parliament reserving one third of the seats in Parliament and other elected bodies for women.
The year 1995, was declared as the International Year for Women throughout the world. The women were made aware of their status and place in society. There have been many movements in our country as well as in other countries for the advancement of women. Recently there was a world meet of women at Beijing, the capital of China. Women are now no longer in slumber. They are awake and moving fast. They are asserting their rights. As far as India is concerned, it has already agreed to treat women as equal with men in all respects the difference, whatever now exists, is sure to vanish the coming decades when women also get equally educated and liberate themselves from superstitions and irrational traditions.
A man and a woman are like two wheels of a cart. The cart can move fast and safely too, when both of them pull it in the same direction and with equal strength. Hence no developing country or society can afford to ignore the role of women, if they are to progress.
Going back to our ancient roots, we have seen how important women are to society, not just biologically but also as a cultural influence and in that context, women have always held a very significant place in our country. That history has a blend of both good and bad factors, but it has always been significant.
From the ancient times, we have seen the mention of women in our Vedas and ancient scriptures where they have been allotted important places for e.g, no yajna was complete unless accompanied by women. The texts Mahabharat and Ramayana greatly reflect the place women had at different points of time. As mentioned earlier, India has a very diverse geography and geography is often very influential in dictating culture, we can see women holding different places in society from household activities in Rajasthan to Traders in Sikkim and North East India, and in between, we see women involved in various professions and competing alongside men in a multitude of fields such as Technology, Law, Administration, Teaching etc. Apart from conventional careers, we have women excelling in sports where P.T. Usha, Sania Mirza, Karnam Malleshwari etc. who have represented and inspired many budding sportswomen in India. Moving on we can see that women have been a great influence on art and entertainment industry since the very beginning, and we have had cultural icons in various schools of art ranging from Meera to Lata Mangeshkar.
The government has brought several public schemes, reservations, and commissions to further strengthen the position of women in India.
Despite the heritage and modern progression, there is a lot that needs to be done. From the age of Manu till today, women have been subject to a lot of demeaning practices, societal negligence and customs designed to confine them and often treated as commodities rather than a human. Child Marriage, Sati, Casual dismissal of opinion and many more. Just to put in perspective, Being a poor and low caste person in India is a very troubled existence, but to be a low caste, a poor woman in India is a very tragic existence which in many cases appear inhuman.
Just going by the numbers, the number of reported cases for Domestic Violence, Crimes of Sexual Nature, Domestic Violence, Child prostitution is alarming high. More than 60 % of girls in rural India quit school as soon they start their menstrual cycle due to the social taboos and lack of access to hygiene products.
Affluent women from a stronger section of society also face a lot of challenges including eve-teasing, glass ceiling at work, Casual demeaning undertone in various conversation, lack of choice within the family, domestic violence, sexual assault by a close family member and many more.
Almost every woman has an account of molestation at different ages by someone they knew that has caused mental scar and trauma for an extended period. The biggest bane of society i.e. Dowry System still prevails and has far-reaching implications such as female feticide, not spending on education, limiting her social interactions and impending with her basic rights to pursue a career and life of her choice.
The status of women in India has a lot of dimension. It can give the illusion of being shiny and progressive from outside and in many cases, it is true that women are making great leaps, we have had lady head of states in India. But just scratching the surface ad we can see the dark, corroded roots that have held back women not just impeding their progress but also presenting uncountable challenges. One of the biggest problem women face when working on their status is the threat to their dignity from almost all sections from our society and she must walk a very careful line in order to maintain that balance. I believe its responsibility of every person to treat women as a person, not some goddess, not a gatekeeper of family honour but as humans and only then we can work on enriching her status.