Essay Sample on Influence of Female Autonomy on the Indian Society

Introduction

In the past, the Indian society viewed women to be mainly made for motherhood and other domestic chores. Females are prevented from taking part in the active roles of decision making, politics, education, and many others when compared to their male counterparts. The kind of discrimination is perpetuated and encouraged by the society to the extent that a particular gender is preferred to individual roles more than the other. In India, the women are restricted from primary roles in the society and confined to be home managers and companions to their spouses. However, this notion of women playing a more passive role in the society by mainly engaging in domestic chores has warranted attention from not only feminist movements but also non-governmental organizations and human rights activists in some parts of the Indian society and globally to liberate the female. Despite the numerous challenges that Indian women face, they manage to gain power in education, employment, and decision-making.

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Traditional beliefs within the Indian society have played a significant role in stereotyping of women concerning education. The ability of women to obtain an education is determined by other people in the society apart from herself. The legitimacy of them having the right to attain an education is guided by expectations of relatives, kinship, parents, networks and status positions of their men (Mitra & Knottnerus, 247). Adhering to the will and aspirations of the people given mandate by the society to determine the fate of women is considered to be morally correct. Therefore, values of Indian culture violets the position of women and the girl child in obtaining an education as they have to sacrifice their educational expectations to be groomed into their domestic chores (Mitra & Knottnerus, 252). The female gender is only idolized if they perform their duties as household keepers. This role is passed down from one generation to the other. A mother has to train her child on how she can manage her home instead of the girl child going to school and obtaining the same education the boy child is given. The girl child engagement in household chores is thus higher as this is their future task in the society. According to Kambhampati, 10% of girls in India identify their primary activity to be household chores when compared to the 0.7%, (83). Furthermore, denial of the mother's right to attain education by the society also limits the intrinsic value they could play in her children s' education as they do not have access to the social networks and money to pay at school.

Although the society favors the boy child in attaining education more than the girl child, women are using their positions in the households to try and revolutionize the oppression of the girl child by passively influencing the possibilities of all their children attaining equal education (Rao, 1027). A revolution that is being achieved slowly in the name of complacency yet realizing similar identities through kinships and the way marriages work. Although not as effective and as fast as active lobbying for their rights, still attains the same objective in a manipulative manner free from shunning and societal influence. Mothers are also trying to increase their contributions in the sustenance of the family by seeking employment and ways they could influence their husbands to view schooling of their girl child as necessary as the boys. Additionally, a mother's autonomy is also reinforced by the autonomy of most mothers in a region (Kambhampati, 99).The latter plays a significant role in changing the perception of girl child education as most mothers struggle to empower the girl child by keeping them in school rather than involving them in household chores. In enlightened parts of India, women have also emerged at the forefront of women moments demanding equal rights and opportunities such as education given to women as they are given to males.

Employment opportunities for women in Indian society are scarce mainly because of the dominance in male education level, empowerment and tradition beliefs, and practices that discourages working of women. The dominant male culture reduces the girl child probability of ever attaining the freedom to work except only in involvement in household chores (Kambhampati, 93). Furthermore, the traditional beliefs in India appreciate a wife to be 'Karta' (domestic and caregiver) than in economic roles (Bharat, 386). The inheritance factor in Indian society also means bequest of roles. The son inherits his father's role and the daughter her mother's. Thus, mother's engagement in domestic chores also warrants the involvement of her daughters in the same as a way of fulfilling her role in the family as a wife. Consequently, the mother has to forsake the possibilities of having paid employment so as to cater for the domestic requirements of her husband, children, and other close family members such as in-laws.

However, most women are women actively engaged in volunteer activities that aim at lobbying for the empowerment of their fellow women and the girl child in general (Mitra & Knottnerus, 245).The engagement of women in these civil works with the aim to transform the gender roles and provide their female children with opportunities they never had such as the ability to get professional employment opportunities (Mitra & Knottnerus, 262). Besides working as volunteers, women who have had the chance to get employed have gone against the established traditional norms by offering their girl child an education that would secure them employment in the future. Women in various Indian states are also actively engaging in politics to act as role models and lobby for equal gender considerations in employment.

Indian men are the head of the family in most aspects except for domestic tasks and nurturing of children. This role comes with the responsibility of making major decisions affecting the family. The latter is made possible by the continued preservation of the cultural and tradition hegemonic order due to fears of destabilizing the existing norms in the society which influences segregation of women from playing active roles as decision makers. Through the observance of 'purdah' (men as sole family providers), decisions relating to education, health, food and other essential responsibilities and family expenses are assigned to the husband (Rao,1040 ). These traditions deliberately aim at influencing the acceptance of women's role as domestic keepers while men being sole providers and decision makers in the household, thus relinquishing any chances of the woman sharing the power to make vital decisions with her husband. Furthermore, the social perspective of different cultures and positions occupied by women in the Indian society plays a significant role in dictating the standpoint towards stereotyping in decision making.

Mothers are striving to increase the extent to which they can contribute to the expenditures of the family and management of financial affairs. Both through active professional employment or domestic chores these mothers are have managed to influence the decisions made by the household rather than leaving the task to their husbands and the society. According to Kambhampati, mothers in Indian society are striving to attain autonomy by seeking jobs so as participate a great deal in the contributions of the family expenditure (100). Such contributions put them in a significant position to influence the decisions made by the household. At the household level, mothers in rural parts of India help their husbands fulfill their provisional roles as caregivers and manage to increase farm earnings with the aim of improving the level of collaboration and reciprocity within the marriage (Rao, 1042). Women have sought to be decision makers by seeking employment. Women in more professional positions and earning considerably than their spouses have managed to influence their husband's perception of family and sexual roles than women without careers or with careers below their spouses (Bharat, 385).Working women are also able to alter headship roles by contributing significantly to the family needs therefore actively opposing the traditions in determining their role. Thus, the strategy of modifying the roles played by Indian women aims to balance their domestic and employment roles more liberally to give them a chance to participate in decision making at households and in the society.

Conclusion

Despite the numerous challenges that Indian women face in the society, they manage to gain power in education, employment, and decision-making. The women have maneuvered through various means and positions to lobby for their freedom of practice and demand for equal treatment as their male counterparts. Additionally, by actively seeking to save the girl child from going through the same deeds they are subjected to the future of the girl child in getting opportunities in employment, education and decision making is made possible within the discriminatory traditional norms.

References

Bharat, Shalini. "Attitudes and Sex-Role Perceptions among Working Couples in India." Journal of Comparative Family Studies, vol. 26, no. 3, 2005, pp. 371-388. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/41602412.

Kambhampati, Uma Sarada. "Child Schooling and Work Decisions in India: The Role of Household and Regional Gender Equity." Feminist Economics, vol. 15, no. 4, 2009, pp. 77-112. EBSCO host, doi:10.1080/13545700903153997.

Mitra, Aditi, and J. David Knottnerus. "Sacrificing women: A study of ritualized practices among women volunteers in India." Voluntas: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations 19.3 (2008): 242.

Rao, Nitya. "Male 'Providers' And Female 'Housewives': A Gendered Co-Performance in Rural North India." Development and Change, vol 43, no. 5, 2012, pp. 1025-1048. Wiley-Blackwell, doi:10.1111/j.1467-7660.2012.01789.