Role of Women and Women’s Organization
Historical data signified that women have many role in civilisation since ancient time and these roles are changing over the period. In a society, status of people can be assessed by importance of women in that culture. Many factors that rationalise the magnitude of India’s ancient culture is the respectable place granted to women. Several research studies have demonstrated that women have raised their position and made a place in different sectors which has led to liberation and to live better life. In ancient culture, women had to suffer from unequal condition, and but as the time passed, females had enhanced their status to get equality to the men (Christina S. Handayani, Ardhian Novianto, 2004). Earlier, women were only allowed for doing domestic activity and their contribution in public was very restricted. It entails that the political sector was only for male communities and the women were concern to the private sector.
This notion is the basic understanding of classic feminist theory which wants that women get the equal condition comparing to men (Ann Brooks, 2009). The status of women in India has been subjected to many great changes over the past decades. From equal status with men in ancient times through the low points of the medieval period, to the promotion of equal rights by many reformers, the history of women in India has been exciting. In contemporary India, women have joined high offices. However, women in India generally are still exposed to numerous social issues. According to a global study conducted by Thomson Reuters, India is the “fourth most unsafe country” in the world for women.
According to Christina S. Handayani and Ardhian Novianto (2004), females only work in western countries and their role in Asian countries in public-private is not limited like in western countries. It is established in studies that Women are important in our society. Every woman has her own job or duty in this modern society in which men are still dominant. A woman has to take care of her own personal life and if she is a mother, she has to take care also about her children’s life too. Married women have lots of worries and they carry out a more stressful life than married men.
Many studies have indicated that physiologically women are not equal to men and both are also dissimilar psychologically. But there is not much difference between women and men in the normal activities like eating, drinking, working, sleeping, resting and speaking. But women have physical and physiological differences based on their functions like child-bearing and child-rearing. It is well established in theoretical studies that women and men react differently when they groom their children. Both women and men do what they have learnt during their childhood as far as their reactions to various situations in their life.
The status of women in India has undergone drastic changes over a Past few millennia. In ancient time, the Indian women were completely devoted to their families. In the Medieval period, known as ‘Dark Age’, the status of women was declined considerably. They were not allowed to go out, and move with others. They were asked to stay at home and take care of their children. In India, early marriage of a girl was practiced. After Independence women came forward in all the sectors and there is remarkable changes in the status of women in the field of education, Art and Culture. A historical viewpoint to the complexities, India continues to face from time to time since Independence. But the status of women in contemporary India is a sort of inconsistency.
Indus valley civilization: During the period of Indus valley civilization, status of women were fairly good. They were given equal honour along as men in the culture. The adoration of mother goddess demonstrates that they were respected in the form of mother. During Rig Vedic period, woman had superior status and they got more liberty and equality with men. The position of wife was a privileged one in the household and women had enhanced status to that of a man in performing religious rites. In education sphere, both boys and girls were having equal opportunities. After observing Upanayana Samskar, girls were permitted to spend their life in Gurukul. In intellectual and spiritual life they occupied a position as man. Education of girls were considered as an important qualification for marriage.
In Uttar Vedic Period: In this period, freedom of marriage continued and remarriage of widows continued to be allowed. Though dowry system continued but not in the form of today’s society. The marriage ceremony was the same as in the previous period. As in the previous period the picture of an ideal family life continued.
Age of Sutras and Epics: The Grihya-sutras give comprehensive rules concerning the proper seasons for marriage, qualifications of bride and bridegroom. The bride is at a mature age, over 15 or 16. The elaborate rites indicate that marriage was a holy bond and not a contract. The women held a respectable status in the household. She was permissible to sing, dance and enjoy life. Sati was not generally predominant. Widow Remarriage was permissible under certain circumstances. On the whole the Dharma-sutras take a more humane attitude than the Smritis of a later age. The Apastamba enforces several penalties on a husband who unfairly forsakes his wife. On the other hand, a wife who forsakes her husband has to only perform self-punishment. In case a matured girl was not married at a proper time by her father, she could choose her husband after three years of waiting. The appealing feature of this period is the presence of women teachers, many of whom possessed highest spiritual knowledge. The famous dialogue between Yajnavalkya and his wife Maitreyi and Gargi Vachaknavi indicated how enlightened the women of that age were. According to the Sarvanukramanika, there were as many as 20 women among the authors of the Rig Veda. These stories stand in contrast to the later age when the study of Vedic literature was prohibited to women under the most severe penalty.
In this period, marriage between the same caste was preferred although inter caste marriages were widespread. Of the eight forms of marriage prescribed by the Dharma-sutras, the Arhsa form of marriage was most popular. The bridegroom was selected by the girl’s father. According to Nearchus the Indians “marry without giving or taking dowries but the girls, as soon as they are marriageable, are brought forward by their fathers and exposed in public, to be selected by a person who outclasses in some form of physical exercise”. This designated a modified form of Svayamvara. While girls continued to be married around 16, there was a propensity to marry them before they attained puberty. It was perhaps due to the anxiety to maintain their body purity. Lowering of the marriage age affected their education and culture unfavourably. After Extreme emphasis was now laid on the physical chastity of women which dejected widow remarriage, divorce and encouragement of sati.
It was also found that females during this period were active in such public economic activities as wage-labour in state-owned textile factories as well as serving as temple dancers, courtesans, and court attendants. There is less information on lower class women other than some comments on labouring women and the need to give works as spinners to such underprivileged women as widows and “defective girls.”
In the beginning of this period, there were well educated women holding an honourable position in society and household. There were lifetime students of sacred texts or those who followed their study till marriage. Buddhist and Jain nuns relinquished the world for the sake of spiritual salvation. Jain texts refer to Jayanti who performed discussions with Mahavira himself and later on became a nun.
In spite of the advancement, there were increasing infirmities. Earlier the girls went through the Upanayana ceremony but now it was only a formality. Manu laid down that marriage was equal to Upanayana while Yajnavalkya took the step of prohibiting Upanayana ceremony for girls. The wife who performed Vedic sacrifices was denied the right to do so. Narada is however, more thoughtful towards women. Greek writers have indicated that sati existed, was in trend in Punjab, possibly confined to the fighter class only. Women courtesans were not looked down by spiritual leaders or kings. Some of them were highly accomplished and in the point of culture, standing resembled the Hetairai of Athens. A famous courtesan Amrapali who lived during the sovereignty of Bimbisara (300 to 273 BC) was a beauty whom Buddha visited.
Chandragupta Maurya, the originator of the dynasty, was apparently assisted by Kautilya, a Brahman prime minister, who composed the Arthasastra, a handbook of state craft which is often compared to Machiavelli’s The Prince. This collection documents that women had property rights to the Stridhan, which was the gift made to a woman at the time of her marriage by her parents and subsequently increased by her husband. Stridhan was generally in the form of jewellery, which many cultural groups was a suitable way of carrying extra wealth, but could include certain rights to immovable property. There were eight forms of marriage. They ranged from the most significant, involving the gift of a virgin daughter (Kanyadan) by her father to another male, to marriage by kidnapping while the woman is incapacitated through sleep or intoxication. Marriage was both a secular and sacred institution. Widows had a right of remarry. Although, when they did so, they lost rights to any property inbred from their deceased husbands. In this period, women were allowed to participate in public economic activities as wage-labour in state-owned factories as well as serving as temple dancers, courtesans.
The Gupta Empire was observed as the classical age of Indian culture because of its legendary and artistic happenings. Some information on roles for leading women comes from the Kama Sutra, a manual about the many ways to acquire pleasure, a legitimate goal for Hindu men in the householder, or second stage, of their lives. Women were allowed to be educated, to give and to receive sexual pleasure, and to be faithful wives. There was an increasing tendency to lower the marriageable age of girls with girls being married before or after puberty. Marriage within the same caste was preferred but forbidden within certain degrees of relationship. Girls of high families had ample opportunities for acquiring ability in higher learning. In Vatsyayana’s Kamasutra, instances of princess are mentioned whose intellect was sharpened by knowledge of the Sasatras. The literary evidence of the Gupta age demonstrates that girls of high class also those living in hermitages read works on ancient history & legend. Girls living in royal courts were trained in singing & dancing too.
In the Gupta period, Sati was inscribed by some but strongly criticised by others. It was thought that the custom was not extensively prevalent during this period. Probably due to the foreign invasions and its significances for women, the custom of sati, though confined to the warrior class earlier began to gain pervasive acceptance, be perceived as a great sacrifice. The tendency to regard women as feebler and not of strong moral fibre got stronger during this period although women as mother, sister continued to be highly esteemed. Remarriage of widows though coming into disfavour was not forbidden. The only direction in which the position of women improved was in the arena of proprietary rights. During this period, society began to discourage widow remarriages, there began to arise a class of childless widows who needed money to maintain themselves. Due to a lowering of the age of marriage, girls were not literate as earlier. This degraded the status of women. Brides being too young and they did not have any choice in marriage decisions. Love marriages were a thing of the past. During this period, marriage became a binding union, but it was one sided in favour of the husband. Since women were not as educated as before they did not know how to lead life in right way. The most striking modifications may be the increased recognition in Katyayana of the women’s right to property and a noteworthy rule in Atri that allowed women ill-treated by robbers to recuperate her social status. Some women enjoyed political power e.g. Prabhavati-gupta, daughter of Chandra-gupta II who ruled the Vakataka kingdom on behalf of her son, in the 4th century a.d. Available Exisitng literature designated that married women in higher families did not usually appear in public without coverings.
In this period as in previous time, women were generally considered mentally sub-standard. Their responsibility was to obey their husband blindly. Women continued to be deprived of the right to study the Vedas. Furthermore, the eligible age for girls to marriage was lowered, thus depriving their opportunities to get higher education. However, from some of the dramatic works of the period, it was found the court ladies and even the queen’s maids capable of composing excellent Sanskrit and prakrit verses. Daughters of high administrators, courtesans and concubines were also supposed to be highly skilled in the various arts, including poetry.
If a girl’s guardian cannot find her a match before she becomes of marriageable age, then she can choose her partner. While love marriages were known they were honoured after approval of the girl’s custodians. Sometimes, girls with the approval of their parents opted for a Svayamvara ceremony. Remarriage was allowed under certain condition when the husband had deserted or died, or adopted the life of a recluse, or was impotent or had become an out caste.
In general, women were mistrusted. They were kept in privacy and their life was governed by the male relation, father, brother, husband, son. However, within the home they were given privileged. If a husband abandoned even a guilty-wife, she was to be given maintenance. With the evolution of property rights in land, the property right of women also increased. In order to preserve the property of a family, women were given the right to inherit the property of their male relations. With some reservation, a widow was permitted to the entire estate of her husband if he died sonless. Daughters also had the right to succeed to the properties of a widow. Thus, the growth of feudal society supported the concept of private property. The practice of sati was made mandatory by few authors, but predestined by others. Purdah was not dominant during this period. Generally, their culture was high
Medieval Indian history continued for 500 years. It is principally dominated by Muslim rulers. Muslim appeared in India as a warrior class. Their rule in India is divided into two Eras; The Era of Delhi Sultanate and the Mughal Era. The only women who has power and gained the thrown of Delhi was Razia Sultan. She was not only a wise monarch but also a women of determined courage. She proved herself as the role of model for politically empowered women in India. In Mughal Period, India saw the rise of some renowned Muslim women. Qutluq Nigar Khanm Babar’s mother gave wise advice to her son Babar, during his difficult campaign for the recovery of his father’s heritage. Another example was Gulbadan Begum, women of excellent poetic talent who wrote Humayun-namah. Nur Jahan and Jahan Ara took an active part in the state affairs. Nurjahan was the greatest Muslim queen of India. She had good persona and military courage. Mumtaj Mahal a princess of an exceptional beauty along with excellent intellectual talents and aesthetic tastes. In India, there was also heroic women. Chandbibi, who appeared on the battlements of the fort of Ahmednagar dressed in male outfit and put heart in the protectors of that town against the influences of Akbar himself; Tara Bai, the Maharata heroine who was the life and soul of Maharata resistance during the last determined attack of Aurangazeb; Mangammal, whose benevolent rule is still a green memory in the South, and Ahalya Bai Holkar, to whose administrative mastermind Sir John Malcolm has paid magnificent honour. The Moghul princesses had vital role in the court life of Agra and Delhi. Jehanara, the partisan of Dara Shikoh, Roshanara, the partisan of Aurangazeb, Zebunnissa, the daughter of Aurangazeb, whose poems have come down to us and others represented the culture of the court. Jija Bai, the mother of Shivaji, was more representative of Indian womanhood than the bejewelled princesses who wrote poetry, played within the walls of their palaces or administered states. In the medieval period, there were drastic changes in the social life of women. Dependence of women on their husbands or other male relatives was a protuberant feature of this period. During this period women were deprived of opportunities of any education, having lost the access to Streedhana or dowry, they virtually became the subjugated class with dreadful results for themselves and the nation. Indian women were politically, socially and economically indolent except for those engaged in farming and weaving. Political demotion includes the barring of women from all important decision- making processes. With the initiation of Muslims in India, the social movement of Indian women was limited. They were banned to attend public functions and were not free to partake as men’s equals in religious functions like yajnas, obviously indicating a deprivation of her role as she was kept in isolation. Another social malevolent that existed in society during this period was child marriage. These pre-pubescent marriages harmfully affected the health of the girls. These child brides were deprived of all intellectual, physical and spiritual development. It virtually stabbed the delicate mind of Indian girl child. Her self-image was wavering into shreds by the patriarchal family which repudiated her basic freedom. Indian womanhood was cruelly locked. Likewise, most of the women thought that they have to serve at home. Thus they were influenced by circumstances to accept their subordination and secondary position. Men being providers, women became dependent on them economically, for their survival except for the labour classes, where both men and women contributed in existence farming and other occupations.
Other social evils in this period were female infanticide, sati, child marriages, Purdah system or zenana. The seclusion of women developed during the middle ages, due to the political instability of Northern India, particularly due to various assaults. Muslims who came to India were mainly soldiers and they did not give much importance to Hindu principles like chastity and Pativrata dharma so the seclusion of women was fortified mainly by the Rajputs and the other high castes like Brahmins. Polygamy was the first reason which contributed to the demotion of women. Muslim rulers in India had big aim. Thus women came to be regarded as tools of sensual satisfaction. Even among the Hindus, there was no limit for wives a man could take. Marriage in Islam is a contract. But a Muslim man can have as many as four wives. Thus even religion encouraged, there was the hopeless subservience of women. Islam also made husband the head of the family and insisted that a wife should follow all his commands and should serve him with greatest loyalty, whether he deserved for it or not.
Purdah gained acceptance with the advent of the Muslims. The purdah system existed among Kshatriyas in the period of Dharma Sastras. But the Hindu women veiled only their face or sometimes only covered their heads with sarees or “dupattas.” But for Muslims it meant complete covering. Dowry system was also prevalent during this period. It actually meant “Stridhana” which included gifts, ornaments, property, and cash presented to her by her father or her relatives. But in the medieval period, the term had special importance. It meant money or “Dakshina” which was actually presented to the bride groom along with the bride. In Vedic times, it guaranteed security for her. But during the middle-ages, women was not free to use it as it was owned by her husband and his kith and kin. During the middle Ages, the term “Stridhana” acquired huge magnitudes. The Hindus and Muslims favoured this custom of dowry. It could be paid in cash or kind along with the bride. During the Vedic ages, it was given to bride for her security when a crisis occurs. She was free to make use of this “Dhana”. But the middle Ages observed a sudden change. The Stridhana received by the groom belonged completely to the in-laws. The bride did not have free access to this wealth, which lawfully belonged to her. Dowry system existed even among the Muslims, especially among the Shias. With time, dowry became a vital part of the marriage ceremony. This in a way contributed to female infanticide, as it became a heavy burden on the poor. The birth of girls became a frightening to the majority of the population. Another negative effect of the dowry system was that there was degradation of the Indian woman. She began to be regarded as transportable and removable property by her husband. Many law intellectuals and upholders of religion in the medieval age stated that it literally induced physical as well as intellectual impairment on women in medieval India.
In the medieval period, widow’s condition were more miserable. Inflexibility of caste system deprived of them the right to freedom and social movement. Inhuman treatment was given to the widow. She was forced to lead a life away from sophisticated pleasures. A widow was also isolated from society as well as family. Another pre-requisite for a widow was shaving the head. She was thus shamed mercilessly by modern society. The condition of the Muslim widow was somewhat better owing to the fact that she could marry after a certain gap of time following her husband’s death.
According to Jauha, there was the practice of voluntary immolation by wives and daughters of overpowered warriors, in order to avoid capture and resulting molestation by the opponent. The practice was followed by the wives of defeated Rajput rulers, who are known to place a high premium on honour. The medieval society of the time stimulated “Sati” which referred as self-immolation of the widow. It was thought that by burning herself on the fire of her husband, she proves her devotion. Even the child widows were not safe from this grisly ritual. According to Saroj Gulati “because of the continuous wars, there were chances of too many widows young and old, and main issue was how to accommodate them without getting shame to the family or creating problems for society.” In this period, Sati was considered as the best course though it was the nastiest crime committed on Indian women as it was inhumane.
Another heinous torture of women was prostitution which became a recognised institution. The Devadasi system which was predominant among the Hindus and the courtesans who ornamented the court of Muslim rulers, dishonoured the status of women in civilisation. Under the Devadasi system, women were the brides of gods. But they were supposed to amuse kings, priests and even members of the high classes. Actually, they were abused by the existing male-dominated society.