“Lifting women up lifts up our economy and lifts up our country… We’ve got to make sure
that… Somebody is standing up for them” – President Barack Obama
Woman is the glorious image of God, a multi-faceted individual with the force of generosity, adaptability, dignity and patience. She is a partner to man, endowed with fair intellectual capacity, a defender and a supporter, an example of care and devotion. The status of women is a weighing rod and a true indicator of their culture and cultural achievement. In the Ancient India women were considered as superiors. They were highly respected. They enjoyed equal position, opportunities & respect like males. There was no discrimination against women in the ancient India. But the position of women declined mostly during Middle Ages with the invasion of the Muslims. Numerous evil practises, such as “female infanticide, sati and child marriage“, have been practised during this time. “Purdah” has been brought to society.
Women have even been required to practise “zenana“. “Polygamy” also became popular throughout this era. There were so many powerful women during this period like “Razia Sultana, Nur Jahan and Gond Queen Durgavati”. Despite several influential women, the state of poor women stayed the very same. During this stage, the child was forced to marry at a very early age.
The culture also performed Sati, where women were compelled to climb onto their husbands’ burning bodies at funerals. Southern India also followed the Devdasi custom, where girls were forced to marry trees or gods.In the Modern India there’s a little development in the status of women. Many rights has been given to women to live their peaceful life. Many evil practices has been abolished to protect women and many provisions came into force to give what women deserve. Because ” Mahatma Gandhi once observed Where women are respected there gods reside“.
But the crime rate also increased in the modern India, which makes women vulnerable and scared to go out late in the night. Now, there’s no equality between man and woman. Today, women are considered weak. There’s no clear answer. Analysis reveals that the origins of crimes against women exist within unfair power ties between men and women. Even though women has considered themselves in every arena.
Although seeing a woman leader as long ago as 1966, Indian women still traditionally remained marginal in politics, and the political parties have made no attempt to win them over. “Indira Gandhi, our late prime minister, has been held in high regard throughout the world. Vijayalakshmi Pandit has created a record by becoming the first woman president of the United Nations General Assembly”. “Women in India are told what to wear, what to cook, what to say, how to behave, where to go. But with voting, there is a very clear sense that this is one instance that they’re able to register their own opinion, said Mukulika Banerjee”.
In modern times, we recognize the contribution of women in each and every area. The theory that such fields were intended exclusively for men was debunked by women. Women have proven to be more colourful, more creative, more genuine and more ideal in any region. They have the potential to thoroughly engage themselves in whatever role they perform. Not only in the field of politics, but women also ace in the field of education. “P.T. Jawaharlal Nehru once said If you educate a man you educate an individual, however, if you educate a woman you educate a whole family. Women empowered means mother India empowered”.
“Education of women throughout India has also become a major concern of both the government and civil society, as educated women can play a very important role in the development of the country. Education is a landmark for women’s empowerment, since it allows them to adapt to challenges, face their conventional position and transform their lives”. That’s why we cannot neglect education of women, as education is one of the factor to empower women. The growth of women in general is slow, but it is very slow in rural areas.
In rural areas, women are not aware of their rights and all, the only way to aware women is education. This only indicate that a large part of women population is illiterate, weak, vulnerable and exploited. Education is the way to everything like to reduce inequalities, to gave proper opportunities to women and etc. Women are providing so much to this country, it’s only fair that we provide them safety, security and a crime free environment with equal opportunities of jobs and equality in everything. Not only women did their best in education sector, but also in sports and economy sector. Women participation in every sector is very impressive.
Women are progressing very fastly, but there are still people in our society which do not want women to do anything, WHY? because they are old schooled. But this is high time we provide the environment to the women they deserve, so they can progress and give their best to the country.
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