Gender Roles

(Gender law psda)

Name- ASMITA SRIVASTAVA

Semester- ix-a

Roll .no.- 02117703814

 The Dark Reality Behind the Veil
According to Hinduism, marriage between two souls is a very sacred
affair that stretches beyond one lifetime and may continue up to at least
seven lives. The relationship between the two does not necessarily have
to begin only when they have attained birth as human beings. The
gender of the two partners also does not have to be the same in all the
births. As the stories in the Puranas confirm, two individual souls may
come together any time during their existence upon earth, even when
they assume a lower life form, such as that of any animal or bird, and
carry forward their relationship further into higher life forms such as that
of human beings. Once married, a couple are expected to uphold their
family names by remaining faithful and truthful to each other and by
enacting their respective roles as laid out in the Hindu law books. As the
epic Ramayana and the Mahabharata illustrate, a couple ought to stick
together through the ups and downs of life, however challenging and
arduous the situation may be, taking care of each other and keeping
faith in each other.

In traditional Hinduism, marriage is the best means for the continuation

of family and the Hindu tradition, by fulfilling which the two partners in
the marriage cocreate their future and become qualified for their
salvation. The roles of a husband and wife in a marriage are expected to
be complimentary, because without the help from the other neither of
them can fulfill the duties and obligations of the married life. The Hindu
law books try their best to delineate the roles and responsibilities of each
partner in a marriage so as to avoid any confusion. The couple have to
follow their family rules and make sure that they do not contribute to the
social disorder. In a traditional Hindu family, married couples have to
perform many traditional duties, some of which have to be performed by
them alone and some in association with the other.

Jayaji Krishna Nath, M.D. and Vishwarath R. Nayar wrote in the

Encyclopedia of Sexuality: “While it is mostly the husbands who are
breadwinners, the women generally take care of the household activities,
besides bearing and rearing children. However, due to widespread
educational programs and improvement of educational facilities for girls,
women nowadays are accepting jobs outside the home, and thus
contributing financially to the family budget. Also, because of constant
efforts in making women aware of their rights and the importance of
their involvement in day-to-day family matters, the status of women has
increased significantly. Due to all these measures, women nowadays
actively participate not only in their family affairs, but also in social and
political activities in the communities.

“The occupations that were earlier monopolized by men are gradually

being shared by women. Similarly, various professional courses like
engineering, architecture, and allied disciplines are also studied by
women. In spite of these changes initiated for the benefit of women in
India, the people’s attitude to equal status for women has not changed
significantly in actual practice, and in this regard various educational
programs for men are still in great need of changing their outlook. For
instance, although the legal age of marriage for girls is set by the
government at 18 years, people, especially in rural and tribal India,
encourage early marriage for girls, mostly within a short time of their
attaining puberty. Similarly, in the educational development, the dropout
rate among females is very high.

“Due to rapid social and technological changes, it is observed that in the

recent period, traditional gender-role differentiation is breaking down,
especially in the fields of education and work. The historical analysis of
the status of women shows that in Vedic India, as revealed by its
literature, women were treated with grace and consideration. However in
the postvedic age, there was a slow but steady decline of their
importance in the home and society. A decline, indeed a distinct
degeneration in their status, is visible in medieval India. The purdah
system of female seclusion, the sati tradition of immolating the widow
on the husband pyre, dowry, and child marriages were obvious in the pre
independence period. Following independence from England, however,
there was a distinct, if uneven, and gradual liberal change in the attitude
toward and status of women.

“In India’s male-dominated tradition, and everywhere in Vedic, classical,

medieval, and modern Hinduism, the paradigms in myths, rituals,
doctrines, and symbols are masculine. But just as goddess traditions
encroached successfully on the territory of masculine deities, so too has
the impact of women’s religious activity, the ritual life in particular, been
of increasing significance in the overall scale of Hindu tradition. To put
this another way, in traditional life the unlettered folk have always
shaped Hinduism, and half of them have been women. It is not feminine
roles in Hinduism that have been lacking but rather the acknowledgment
of such in literature, the arts, and institutions such as the priesthood and
temple and monastic administrations. Only now, in a world rapidly
changing because of education opportunities, are such institutions and
media beginning to reflect accurately the total picture of Hindu class,
caste, gender, and regional life.

“The urban/suburban environment has given birth to a fascinating mix of

traditional and new male/female roles and role models among the
affluent middle class. Bombay films are much more influential in creating
new role models than the Hollywood films were in their early days in the
United States. While the United States had one example of a film star
succeeding in presidential politics, India has seen many famous film
stars, both male and female, achieve political prominence. In 1966, Indira
Gandhi became prime minister of India, at a time when few Western
nations would have accepted a woman head of state. And yet India
remains a very male-dominated society.

A married woman is expected to treat her husband as if he were a god

and bow to him and touch his feet as sign of respect and subservience.
When a girl leaves her village and moves to her husband's home, she
belongs to her husband's village not her parent's. When she moves in
with the family of her husband she is expected to do much of the
housework. The first thing she has traditionally done when she enter the
house of her husband's family is kiss the feet of her in-laws. Bahu is a
word that describes the dutiful daughter in law. According to one survey,
90 percent of the men interviewed said they were happy with their
marriage while 90 of the women said they weren't."

Professional urban women often live a double life. In New Delhi she is a
modern career women dressed in smart clothes. On the weekends she
visit her husband's family dressed in a veil, with bangles and rings on
hands, wrists, ankles and feet.

Ideally, the Hindu wife should honor her husband as if he were her
personal god. Through her marriage, a woman becomes an auspicious
wife (suhagan ), adorned with bangles and amulets designed to protect
her husband's life and imbued with ritual powers to influence prosperity
and procreation. At her wedding, the Hindu bride is likened to Lakshmi,
the Goddess of Wealth, in symbolic recognition of the fact that the
groom's patri lineage can increase and prosper only through her fertility
and labors.

The young wife is pressed into service as the most subordinate member
of her husband's family. New brides often must sit apart from the family
in deference to her mother-in-law. If any misfortunes happen to befall
her family after her arrival, the new wife may be blamed as the bearer of
bad luck. Not surprisingly, some young women find adjusting to these
new circumstances extremely upsetting. A small percentage experience
psychological distress so severe that they seem to be possessed by
outspoken ghosts and spirits.
By producing children, especially highly valued sons, and, ultimately,
becoming a mother-in-law herself, a woman gradually improves her
position within the conjugal household. In motherhood the married
woman finds social approval, economic security, and emotional
satisfaction.

In a traditional Indian household women are expected to serve their

husbands. All a man has to say is "get some water," seeming to speak to
no one in particular and one of the veiled women in his household will
get it. The water cannot give it directly to the man—as this violates
Hindu customs about pollution—it must laid down in a place where he
can fetch it. Men cannot ask other men about their wives or enter a
courtyard unannounced out of fear of surprising an unveiled woman.

The worst years for a woman are when she is a new bride. As she gets
older and her position in the household is improved she gains more
freedom and privileges and can order the younger people in the
household around. It is not surprising that young brides look forward to
trips back home. Sometimes they stay away for three or four months.