Page 130 - Gyananda YearBook 2022-23

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INDIAN

WOMEN

One of the groups in our society that has had the most challenges is the women of India. Women have
been subject to every form of pain, from social ills to inequality. They had to follow practices like Sati
Pratha, a widow's sacrifice to burn in her husband's funeral pyre, and the pardha system, in which they
had to always be covered with a pardha around their faces. Women were considered the inferior
gender, and men dominated them. The practice of female infanticide has been going on for several
centuries, especially in the rural parts of India. Dowry, giving gifts and money to the groom's family is
prevalent even today. In some parts of the country, women are not allowed to study and receive
education.

After independence, changes started happening, but the position of women in society is still a struggle.
Some women are sexually and mentally harassed and assaulted even at their workplace. There are no
laws to help and protect them, and the laws that were already in place since the British period were
not strong enough. This gross injustice was taken on and fought back by certain women who changed
the course of history. Abala Bose and Savitribai Phule were known for their activeness and efforts for
the education of women. Many Bengali reformers put efforts into abolishing the sati, pardha system,
and child marriage and started reforms for women's education, laws allowing women to own property,
and laws to acknowledge women's status. Ramabai Ranade made efforts to make women independent
and established Seva Sadan in Pune and Mumbai to teach women various life skills.

Now Indian women are everywhere.
From Kalpana Chawla, the first Indian
women to go to space or Kamala Harris
the first woman of Indian origin
becoming the vice president of
America. Even though women have
made renowned efforts for their uplift
and are on the right path, there are
still spheres where women are
discriminated against and treated
wrongly, which we, as a society, need
to cease.

MEDHAVI LANGOO
GRADE VIII