Women in india
Objectification of women in India “You can tell the condition of a Nation by looking at the status of its Women. ” Jawaharlal Nehru, Leader of India’s Independence movement, and India’s first Prime Minister. According to a global poll conducted by Thomson Reuters, India is the “fourth most dangerous country” in the world for women and the worst country for women among the 620 countries. Today’s India offers a lot of opportunities to women, with women having a voice in everyday life, the business world as well as in political life.
Nevertheless India is still a male dominated society, where women are ften seen as subordinate and inferior to men. In Ancient India, scholars believe that in ancient India, women enjoyed equal status with men in all aspects of life. Works by ancient Indian grammarians such as PatanJali and Katyayana suggest that women were educated in the early Vedic period. Rigvedic verses suggest that women married at a mature age and were probably free to select their own husbands. So, what happened in the middle age/ Medieval Period of Indian civilization?
Indian women’s position in society further deteriorated during the medieval period, when Sati, child marriages and a ban on emarriage by widows became part of social life in some communities in India. India’s Patriarchal Traditions Dowry Tradition: Much of the discrimination against women arises from India’s dowry tradition, where the bride’s family gives the groom’s family money and/or gifts. Dowries were made illegal in India in 1961, however the law is almost impossible to enforce, and the practice persists for most marriages.
Women as a Liability: The Indian constitution grants women equal rights to men, but strong patriarchal traditions persist in many different societal parts, with women’s lives shaped by ustoms that are centuries old. Hence, in these strata daughters are often regarded as a liability, and conditioned to believe that they are inferior and subordinate to men, whereas sons might be idolized and celebrated. Discrimination against Women: It should be noted that in a vast country like India – pning 3. 9 million sq. km, where cultural backgrounds, religions and traditions vary widely – the extend of discrimination against women also varies from one societal stratum to another and from state to state – some areas in India being historically more inclined to gender bias than others. Present scenario Women are becoming unprotected day by day both at their homes and outside. The NCRB (National Crime Record Bureau) states in its report that every hour in India 18 women are raped.
There has been recorded 700 per cent phenomenal increase in cases of rape from 1971 data’s, whereas in other areas of crime against women this increase is 300 per cent. Evidently, this heinous crime against women reflects the taltering moral and mental state ot men in society . There nas been a marked increase in crimes against women in recent years. Every year around 6000 women are prey to dowry deaths. Bride burning is the major means of dowry death. Rural areas are witness to more violations of women’s human rights. This is more concerning because more than 70 per cent of Indian population resides in the rural areas.
In rural areas women are prey to molestation every 26th minute, rape every 34th minute, sexual abuse every 42nd minute, kidnapping every 43rd minute and dowry death every 93rd minute. While in the educated, urban middle class women’s rights continue to improve, there remains a strong bias against gender equality in those societal parts of India, where patriarchal traditions prevail. Consequently, in these strata any inheritance of a deceased husband or father would be passed down to the oldest son, while his wife or daughters would not receive any financial benefit.
There are laws in place to ensure legal protection for women’s right to inheritance, but the enforcement of the law is challenging, when the woman is refused her right by the family, and when she is not confident or educated enough to claim her right. Bollywood The narratives of Hindi cinema have undoubtedly been male dominated and male centric. Themes have been explored from the male audience’s point of view. The heroine is always secondary to the hero. Her role is charted out in context of any male character which is central to the script.
It may be the hero, the villain, the father, the boss, an elderly male figure etc. She is devoid of any independent existence and her Journey throughout the film is explored in relation to the male character. This kind of straightjacketing limits the women’s role to providing glamour, relief, respite and entertainment. For eg: Priyanka Chopra”s character in Agneepath (2012) is not of any significance to the story as such. It is only to give the audience a reak from the tedious scenes of violence and drama. She is there only as a romantic partner to Hrithik Roshan who is busy in avenging his father’s brutal murder.
Chronicling the male”s experiences, dreams, stories, revenge, angst, ambitions etc has been the essence of Hindi films. In the action genre of films popularized by the likes of Akshay Kumar, Sunny Deol and Sunil Shetty; the heroine is abruptly placed in the romantic track as a distraction for the viewer from monotonous bouts of violence. It is unusual to witness a strong female character in an action movie even if she indulges in some fghts and punches. Where are the Charlie’s Angels of Bollywood (2000) and where can we find a character that Angelina Jolie played in SALT (2010)?
Bollywood has so far dished out such female characters that the audience has almost been tamed into accepting women in certain kinds of roles only. Conclusion It is difficult to come to a uniform conclusion on the portrayal of celluloid women. Considering the fact that women in India are not a homogenous group – they belong to different religions, castes, class, and socio-economic status and have different kinds of ambitions and desires as a result of which they lead different lives, it is mproper to conclude that women on Indian silver screen have been portrayed in an identical manner.
The portrayal ot course nas to be sensitive to the category to which they belong. For e. g. : An urban middle class woman’s story would be entirely different from that of a woman in a village. Films thus have to be responsive towards the context in which they locate women characters. Women characters should possess agency to dismantle the existing power structures as well as be able to negotiate their own position within this structure. It is time that cinema seeks a redefinition of women as objects of male gaze. Women’s experiences and dilemmas as points of narration are the need of the hour.
Going beyond the stereotypes will do a great help to the cause of women in Indian society. Cinema has to create a separate and independent space for Indian women to help them realize their dreams. Cinema’s only end is not to entertain. It must begin a quest for social change through entertainment. As a media product, identified to accelerate the process of modernity, cinema should not stick to the ?formula film”6; it should come up with more progressive representations of women. Such portrayals would do Justice to women and their role in the society.
