write a letter to editor of national daily. highlighting the mis consumption still prevailing in our society where girls are considered a burden on the family
Answers
A.
33, Jal Vihar
Wazirabad, New Delhi - 33
21st June 2019
The Editor
Hindustan Times
New Delhi.
Subject: misconceptions still prevailing in our society where girls are considered as a burden.
Sir,
Through the columns of your esteemed daily, I would like to highlight the misconceptions of our society.
. There is a very toxic social mindset which considers boys assets and girls nothing more than a burden.
The validating reasons are threefold. First, in our society descent and succession are through males. Sons carry forward not just the lineage but property rights as well. Secondly, only a son can beget spiritual benefits. The condition precedent for attainment of moksha is the performance of cremation rites by the son. Last but not least, while a son's marriage brings dowry into the family, a girl is always associated with the term paraya dhan. Females are regarded only as temporary members of their natural family.
On the one hand, a daughter or woman is generally considered financially unproductive as her contribution is largely in the form of unremunerated family labour and, on the other, she alienates her parent's property on marriage. Even in the present context of working women, who are financially productive, social perception does not change because apart from a few initial years, for the whole of her life she earns not for her parental but marital home. It becomes extremely difficult to break through this nexus of sheer economics and traditional, cultural practices tangled with the status of females in our society.
For a very long time, the ‘right-thinking people' have been trying to fight this battle for equality of women mostly with the help of law. They seem to have forgotten that in India, with respect to gender discourse, societal validation still has more authority than legal validation.
There has to be a conscious effort to deconstruct the patriarchal notion of truth and to make the social belief-systems on a par with progressive legal measures through large-scale social movements and awareness programmes.
Of late, civil society has been so preoccupied with reforming big institutions that the importance of the role of an individual in social reforms has been severely undermined. Eventually, change like charity would begin at home and at the end of the day ‘we' will have to be the change we wish to see.
I request you to highlight the problem in your newspaper and arouse public interest.
Thanking You
Yours sincerely
Shobha.