Women in India Essay -- Gender Roles, Misogynistic Societies, Oppressi

Historical records show evidence of a continuing trend of women across the globe becoming victims of misogynistic societies. The oppression faced by women on a continual basis has led to a fight for equal rights in each sphere of society. However, there has been limited success and more failures than one wishes to recall, and women continue to be oppressed in nearly all aspects of life, from political to personal and from public to private. It is essential to address and comprehend that the foundation for women's inequality today, is patriarchal cultures, which are majority of the time, founded on patriarchal religions. Women are not considered to be fully equal human beings deserving of the same dignity, rights, and treatment as men. Women are, instead, valued for providing sex to men — whether as wives or as prostitutes — and then for their ability to spend their entire time keeping house, preserving the family, and raising children (Cline, 2007). Most cases of inequ ality to this extent are present in third world and developing countries such as India where women are victims from birth as they are marginalized as second class citizens in the patriarchal community. The patriarchal culture of India is an excellent example of a culture where a woman has always been the sole property of her father, brother or husband without any will of her own. The majority of the time, women in India are victimized at the hands of these relatives. According to the National Crime Records Bureau, every hour that ticks by in India inflicts more brutality on women, with two rapes, two kidnappings, four molestations and seven incidents of cruelty from husbands and relatives (The Times of India, 2008). Such staggering statistics are rooted in a combina... ... involvement in disputes over dowry transactions may result in members of the woman’s own family being subject to criminal proceedings and potentially imprisoned. Moreover, police action is unlikely to stop the demands for dowry payments (Hitchcock, 2001). Married life is something that young women around the world look forward to, but for most women in India it results in being a nightmare through which they have to fight to survive. Majority of the women are brought up with very orthodox morals, so they are not very likely to ever defy the male figures in their lives even if it means that it will cost them their lives. The newlywed brides who bring with them an adequate dowry or are fortunate enough to find good in laws do not go through the horrors that some face, but could possibly have to deal with other pressures which are pushed upon them by their in laws.