the essay 'where there is a wheel' highlights the women empowerment through a humble vehicle. explain.
Answers
Answer:
This essay is about a social movement through cycling in Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu where over 100,000 rural women have taken to bicycling. Most of them are neo-literates who use bicycling as a symbol of independence, freedom and mobility. Cycling has given new meaning and social identity to women, agricultural workers, quarry labourers and village health nurses. Even balwadi and anganwadi (baby sitter) workers, gem cutters and school teachers have joined the bandwagon. There are also gram sevikas and mid-day meal workers who have joined the new movement.
Explanation:
Answer:
In this essay titled ‘Where There is a Wheel’, Sainath reports how learning to ride a bicycle became a social movement and eventually became a symbol of women empowerment in the Pudukkottai district of Tamilnadu. Here, the ‘wheel’ of the cycle has become a symbol for the empowerment of women. The introduction of cycling has brought about tremendous change in the lives of rural women. Cycling has offered a way out of enforced routines around male-imposed barriers. The rural women, in particular, have gained a great deal of confidence on account of their learning cycling. Earlier, they used to be burdened with economic as well as social or familial obligations. Many young mothers had to help the menfolk in earning the family income as well as do domestic chores like tending to children and fetching water from remote places. Even to sell their agricultural produce in nearby villages, they had to carry their produce to the bus stop with the help of their menfolk. Secondly, they had to come back within a fixed time to tend to little kids at home and to store or fetch water from remote places. Naturally, though they were capable of doing all these duties on their own, their ‘immobility’ created a big hurdle. They had to walk long distances to fetch water and sell their produce. After learning cycling, such women became free and independent. This gave them a lot of confidence. Moreover, the ability to ride a bicycle gave them a lot of self-respect. Apart from women agricultural workers, quarry labourers and village health nurses have also taken to cycling. Joining the rush are balwadi and Anganwadi workers, gem cutters, school teachers, grama services and mid-day meal workers as well. It would be very wrong to emphasize only the economic aspect of learning cycling. Learning cycling brings a sense of self-respect to the individual. The writer quotes the opinion of Fatima, a secondary school teacher. She opines that learning cycling is not economic in her case at all. She cannot afford a bicycle, yet she hires one every evening just to feel the goodness, that independence. What she means to say is, when a woman learns to ride a bicycle, she enjoys a sense of achievement. She feels that she does not need to depend on her husband to help her physically in carrying her produce to the market. Secondly, nothing can bind her to her home. She becomes mobile. She goes out, fetches water and provisions and comes back home to attend to her domestic duties and responsibilities at the right time. This way she enjoys a lot of freedom. It is this feeling that gives a woman a sense of self-respectRead more on Sarthaks.com - https://www.sarthaks.com/677296/how-does-the-essay-where-there-is-a-wheelspeak-about-women-and-empowerment
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