Indian Women's Struggle with Feminism

Feminism has promised the emancipation of women from structures that marginalized and rendered them invisible in society and international relations. However, for a theory that promises emancipation for women, it overgeneralizes the experiences of women around the world by putting Western concept to third world countries and Feminism tend to overlook the cultural, historical, traditional and religious structures that shape the roles and identities of women in different societies. Feminist scholars have argued that gender evolves historically and culturally, and it would be vastly different from country to country (True, 2001). Therefore, Feminism has been failing short on its promises if it is undermining the experiences of third world societies by merely painting third world women as victims that simply needed liberation.

India’s liberal and reform minded women have often refused to use feminists to refer to themselves because they see that feminist ideas are too Western and cannot be applied to explain the plight of Hindu women since its ideas cannot be translated to their religio-cultural context. Also, they do not view men as their oppressors but as partners who often propel Indian women to leadership roles; they have seen that their caste system is the cause of subordination and subjugation of men and women (Basharat, 2009)

India’s daughters are not merely shackled by their patriarchal society, but they are also oppressed by their societal system which is the caste system that has been legally abolished but still lingers in India’s rural communities and by their culture, religion and tradition. In the sacred texts of Hinduism, the Vedas, states that women are inferior to men which is rather ironic as these texts contain hymns to praise and exalt empowered warrior goddesses that slays demons.

A Hindu woman is nothing more than property. It is often said that Islam has treated its women better by allowing them to inherit and own properties and they have the right to divorce their own husbands. Hindu women cannot own any properties, and this rendered her to become financially dependent on her husband. Girls are also considered as an economic burden to her family because they have to pay for her dowry when she gets married (Komath, 2013)

She can only be considered as a human once she has a husband. Her husband also bestows his caste to her and she cannot keep her caste if she decided to marry someone in the lower caste. However, once she becomes a widow, she is reduced to nothing more than a creature whose very shadow is considered offensive and unclean. Her presence is considered inauspicious and this stigma prevents her from joining and participating in religious rituals and festivities. She has to renounce all worldly pleasure, such as wearing bright coloured saris and jewelries. If she is an orthodox Hindu she will have to shave her hair off too. Aside from that, she also has to adhere to strict dietary restriction (RNW,2009)

A widow is financially dependent on her family and if they decided that the do not want or can no longer support her financially, she’s on her own. If a widow is still young, which is often the case in Hindu societies due to the prevalent practice of child marriages, then she could still work in low paying jobs such as cleaning houses because being a child does not exclude her from the harsh treatment and ostracization of widows in their society. Older women have to resort to begging for scraps of food to survive in widow cities such as Vrindivan and Varanasi. Many of India’s widows are waiting for their death which they see as an end to their misery; their only hope is that their circumstances will change in their next life by being born into a higher caste (Damon, 2007).

Ancient Hinduism has prevented women from attaining education because enlightened women are seen as undignified. However, it is changing now as women are clamoring that they have the same right as men when it comes to education. India has seen the rise of women in high positions of power, such as Indira and Sonia Gandhi. The economic rise of India has sent ripples throughout her society that caused it to overhaul and rethink its societal view of a woman’s role and identity.

As India continues towards her slow strides to modernity, there are people who want to impede her efforts to better the lives of her daughters. Hindu fundamentalists are calling for a return to their old culture and tradition as they are trying to protect the idea of the traditional ‘Hindu family’ by objecting to a woman’s right to attain education. In the eyes of the fundamentalist, a woman in a traditional Hindu family should always be quiet and subordinate to her husband (Basharat, 2009)

According to Vaishna Roy, there is a rising Indian indigenous feminism which it back by Hindu nationalists who wanted a return of their traditions by twisting feminist ideas and using these ideas to oppress than emancipate women. In its indigenous feminism, women are also presented with a ‘choice’, however, these choices are lulling women back to their traditional gender roles. Women have to give more attention to her family rather than her work and that she cannot raise young proper men if they do not behave the sanskari (typical expectation of Hindu women behavior as well-mannered, meek and quiet) way she does not deserve freedom but to have a ‘meaningful’ role in their society through channelization.

According to Bithika Misha Rahman, Indian feminists tend to overlook the Dalit (untouchable caste) women and instead of achieving emancipation for all of India’s women, it only provides freedom for a privilege few. In order to work, Feminism in India needs to be intersectional; it must take into account the social hierarchies that gives privileges and at the same time oppresses people. An Indian feminist should not only focus on fighting the patriarchy, but they also have to wage war against the social system that perpetrates oppression in India.

Another shortcoming of Feminism was its assumption that men are the oppressors and thus benefits greatly from the patriarchy, but it has also hurt them by confirming to the ideals of a patriarchal society. Men are forced to conform to the idea of ‘toxic masculinity’; they repressed their emotions because they are forbidden to express it and that they also have to put up a strong and rational front to the world. Being emotional, nurturing and caring are seen as feminine traits and a man is not allowed to show these traits because it is highly frowned upon in a patriarchal society.

India’s men suffer a dissonance from what they have been taught and the interdependence that they have with their mothers; the dissonance causes chauvinism because they have to see women as lesser than them as they are being groomed to become the next patriarchal head of their family (Amarnathan, 2018). Aside from that, there is widespread social acceptance of violence in Indian men; these perpetuate harmful gender stereotypes and these men will grow up believing that they are excused for certain behavior just because of their gender (Vijayann, 2015).

In India’s state of Haryana, rape is considered as part of their society. Men are taught to blame women merely because of their smile and clothing attracts them which is the reason why women are raped. When a woman has also reached a certain age (e.g. 14-15 years old) it is no longer considered as rape since they have reached the age of consent. These teachings are being drilled into young men’s mind in Haryana and that emancipation cannot be attained if both genders are not freed from these teachings imposed by their patriarchal culture.

Feminism has a great promise not only for the emancipation of women but the emancipation of all genders. All genders are victims and they should unite against their common enemy: the patriarchal society and societal structure that binds them.