Status of Women in India and the West

Women's status in India must be understood contextually, not judged by Western constructs or misunderstood ancient texts, writes Dr. Taradatt

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THE foundational and intrinsic role women play in society stands underscored in different civilizations. But, socio-cultural practices and moral-legal architecture are contextual to a region and time-period in any dynamic society. Civilizations and cultures evolve over time and disappear for multiple factors. Societal “dos-and-don'ts” are never stagnant.

Articulation of women's “rights” is largely a 20th Century construct. Triggered by women's liberation movements in the West, it also got superimposed in eastern colonies. Sagas were concocted by oppressors wherein women began to be seen using the convenient lens of local “class struggle”; and not through their roles harmoniously drawn from civilizational origins nor cultural syntheses over time.

Hardly surprising that later-day narratives about women by self-styled liberals in post-Independence India were heavily influenced by their western leanings, discounting our socio-cultural heritage and context. Civilizational continuity was blindly rubbished by them, showing ignorance, lack of objective and scientific analysis, subjugation and prejudice in reaching conclusions more in sync with their western counterparts. It is as though intellectual integrity and civilizational prestige hardly mattered.

Rigidity in following the societal practices of an ancient India without regard to a changed 21st Century milieu is not being advocated. The clothes worn by a child cannot be a good-fit in adulthood. But laws by themselves rarely become instruments of change; they are tools to prevent anarchy and ensure smooth transitions. Social customs and traditions, initially codified by Manu in India, have evolved over the years but still stand relevant to some extent despite containing some inconsistent interpolations. But they are twisted, sometimes ignoring the context, and at others even without the original texts having been read and understood.