Exploitation Of Women
Woman is considered to be the beautiful creation of God. She is considered to be lighter than the leaves, more charming than sunlight, more swift than winds, delicate than feathers, sweeter than honey and more gorgeous than a peacock. Any role given to her, may be of a daughter, mother, sister, wife, she plays it well and plays it picture perfect. She cannot be described in words, such is the beauty and greatness of woman. It is often heard that man and woman are equal. They are like two wheels of a carriage. Carriage is compared to life and it is said that it cannot move forward if one of them is not present. Man and woman are incomplete without one another. Their personality becomes complete only in each others presence.
Earlier in our society, women were not given equal rights. They were confined to home work and not allowed to go outside and face the outer world. Earning and fulfilling the responsibilities of home was the task of man. He was bread earner. Woman was just confined to home and given all the responsibilities like cooking, washing, cleaning and looking after the necessities of her children and family. Today, the scenario has changed. She is given rights and perform equal duties. She totally contributes for the development and progress of the country in all the ways. She is considered to be the companion to man in this journey of life. But, still she is denied of her rights in many ways and in major part of the country especially in those rural areas where people are illiterate. She is considered to be weak in comparison to man. She is regarded as home maker and nothing more. Some of them still think that it is not necessary for woman to get education. All she has to do is work whole day in kitchen and complete all the chores of home and work hard in the fields.
Even today, in certain rural areas girls are married at an early young age. Her wish is not important. With or without the consent of girl, she is married to a boy chosen by her parents. Early marriage devoid girl of her right to education. At marriage and after it she faces exploitation of her in-laws in the name of dowry. In-laws and her husband tortures her badly, if her parents cannot meet their demands. She is accepted for what she brings and not for what she is.
Woman is always considered to be of low status. She is regularly reminded that she should not present herself as important and extrovert. She should not show her boldness or appear clever. Boys are given more importance right from their birth. Parents, grand parents and especially mothers give more privilege to boy in comparison to girl. This is a backward thinking. It's been changing but still in our society birth of boy is celebrated with much pomp and show and birth of girl leads to unhappiness. This discrimination is seen in almost all walks of the life and in all the fields. Education is considered not very important for woman. Boys are sent to better schools and girls are asked to stay at home.
This was not the case during vedic age in ancient time. Women were honored during the time of Aryans. They enjoyed full respect. They were considered equal to men. They were educated and were asked to participate in all sacrifices or Yajna and it was considered to be incomplete in their absence. They had liberty to choose their life partner through swayamvara.
Purdah system started with the beginning of Muslim era. With the advent of foreign invaders, many social evils arose. Hindus and Muslims did not allow their daughters and women of the house to go out freely and face the society. This was because they were scared that other communities or foreign invaders may exploit their women. Thus, she was devoid of education and many other facilities. Many social evils could be seen by then like child marriage, sati system, dowry etc.....
Dowry earlier was voluntarily given by the parents of the girl to her in-laws as a subject of love. There was no pressure on girls parents. But then, it became a compulsion and an evil which exists even today. It is curse to them who are poor and to marry their girl they need to borrow lots of money from banks or from others. This further worsens their condition. This custom is practiced even today and it shows women are inferior to men. Girl is exploited even after marriage. She is forced to bring gifts and cash from her parents and if she fails to meet their demands, she is burnt or tortured to such an extent that she kills herself. This system has ruined lives of brilliant girls who would have been so successful, if had good support of their in-laws and let out to do something good in their career.
Sati system was the worst system practiced over few decades back. It is secretly practiced even today in some parts of the country. It is illegal. After the death of husband, wife enjoyed no right to live. With or without her wish, she was burnt along with her husband. Even widow remarriage was a strict no. Social reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Jyotiba Phoole and many others fought against these social evils and promoted widow remarriage.
We call ourselves modern. But, amidst this modern society, women are exploited and that too badly. She cannot walk freely. She is eve teased, wherever she goes. She is exploited physically. Crowd often takes advantage of her when found lonely, this has installed fear in her heart. She has become dependent on others. Though 67 years have passed since India achieved independence but yet she has not been freed. Unlike men, she cannot travel freely by herself, not at least during nights. She is raped physically as well as emotionally. Such is the horror of the society.
However, society is changing today and status of women too is changed. Though not equal, they are given certain rights in the society. They have come forward in all the walks of the life and perform their duties equally. They apart from home maker have shown their skills as doctors, engineers, lawyers, teachers, poets, scholars and even politicians. They have even made space travel. Government and some non-government organizations have come forward to work in the favor of women. They work for the betterment of women and help them from being exploited. They are given right to education and equal powers.
There is need to focus the people's attention to improve status of the women. Women should gain equality and integration in social, economic and political life. They are not the objects of exploitation. They are equal to men. They have proved it and proved it well. All society need to do is change its thinking and love the dignity and pay respect to them.
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