60 years of independence- has it brought freedom for women in India?

Dear ILites,

Well, we have celebrated the 60th Independence day. The only way to celebrate for me was to watch Sun TV programs and the famous Solomon Pappaiah's patti manram was as usual hilarious, thought-provoking etc. The topic of the patti manram was ' 60 years of independence has brought freedom for women at home or outside'. The verdict was ' women enjoy more freedom at home only'. Some of the interesting points put forward by the different orators were:

1. Girls are encouraged in their studies at home with th result all top rankers in board exams are invariably girls.
2. Even after 60 years of independence the safety of women in public domain is not there, that is why we have separate seats for them in the buses, separate queues and even police stations with women constables.
3. Government gives lots of encouragement to women such as the income-tax exemption is higher (Rs. 1.3 lakhs as against Rs.1.0 lakhs for men).
4. Female infanticide (killing female babies with kalli paal in Tamil Nadu) is still there etc.

I would like to ask the ILites about their opinion. Do you feel that there is enough freedom for women in India after 60 years of Independence? Please post your opinios here.

Regards,

TDU

Dear TDU,

No, a Big no.

Freedom is only in papers.

Nothing has changed from the roots....

Even today woman who wears western clothes is branded as " Outline" .

She is expected to cry, lament, take brick bats and continue a relationship. If she applies for a divorce, she is again termed "outline".

Female kids are not safe in school, roads, parks, gardens and home too.. Incidents of father raping his own daughter and brother making moves towards it has been hitting headlines everyday.

All eyes are wide on a single woman. What is she up to? Her activities are noted and her achivements are termed as "Easy Ones".

There may be 10% of the total population who respect woman, nothing has changed...

Yes, there are few females who have learned to skip such ropes and reach their heights. But that cannot make the nation proud.

Woman / girls from urban as well as rural from all sectors should have their voice of opinion, should have independence, should have literacy, should be given the freedom to follow their inner voice, she should be able to walk back home at any time of the day or night without fear of attack to her gender only then we can say the nation is progressing towards the upliftment of woman.

Dear Malspie,

Well said and you have brought out the harsh realities being faced by the Indian women. But, I feel nothing is lost and there is light at the end of the dark tunnel with more and more women associations and individual women like the chinnathai of Madurai and a Gujarathi lady who showed that by uniting women and working hard problems like fetching water from miles can be solved.

Regards,

TDU

Dear ILites,

First I thought this would be an interesting topic and would elicit good response from you. Now, only malspie has given her opinion. Either you all agree with her or you do not care one way or another. Ofcourse, many of you are NRIs and I find lots of business women here. This fact itself vouches that after 60years of Independence, Indian women have enough freedom to go abroad and work where once they were not even allowed to proceed for higher studies. So, I think this thread is closed hereby.

Regards,

TDU

Dear TDU,

We are used to the usual grind. We do not want solutions, just discussions and search for more similar sufferings.

I appreciate if you close the thread......

dear TDU,
no independance can give freedom to woman, it is kaliyuga, and the more a woman studies and gets herself empowered she is only tilting the scale against her, as man has been so used to female depending on self, will strip them of their earnings and if refused will dump them to survive, and the future is also the same.

the kids of these broken home need a lot of counselling to treat woman well, i dont think any great change in the society or country is going to help her untill she wants to help herself.

we also notice woman dont want to marry and this is going to tilt the population in the future, about which i have written a lot here. sunkan

Dear TDU Sir,

60 years is a long time in the life of a nation. We have been seeing some progress. We would like to see a lot more.

Women still face gender discrimination at their work places. There is eve teasing in public places. There still are rituals and traditions that are not women friendly at the home front.

The educated women are sprinkled across the metro cities. Rural women either have no access to or are denied education. Women continue to be sold and bought for a price. Even the womb of a woman is not hers - it is her family that decides whether she should have the girl child that she is carrying or not. And this is happening amoung the educated too.

But all is not dark and gloomy. For a society that is still sticking to its conservative roots, we are inching ahead, if not forging ahead.

' 60 years of independence has brought freedom for women at home or outside'.
If you ask me I would say a 'YES' and a 'NO' to both the options 'home or outside'.There are women who are slaves at home too, who seek freedom going out of the prison seeking job just to escape from home and there are an equal number of women who would love to stay at home if they had a choice. On the whole it is a story of 'ikkaraikku akkarai pacchai'. The howling truth is that women are yet to SEEK their freedom. Does it belong to one class of society that it has to be given as charity to women at their will and pleasure? Freedom is the birthright of every living being on earth. But alas! At some time down the ages, the women have surrendered it at the feet of the more powerful, be it in the form of in-laws, husbands or society as a whole (Or may be it was snatched away from them in the name of 'Protection'.).
Now a days freedom has had a wrong connotation. Doing anything in the name of freedom is also not for the benefit of mankind. Whether it is man or woman, freedom has its limitations. As long as we do not cross the Lakshman Rekha, freedom is bliss. Again that Lakshman Rekha may differ from person to person depending on the situations faced. Each individual should have the courage to access that freedom without expecting anyone to hold it for them in a golden platter, and more so for a woman.
On a personal note,if you ask me - 'As a woman have you got the full freedom and have you been availing it to the fullest?', my answer would be a big NO! But then I would like to say with pleasure, I have been using my freedom wherever it would not jeopardise relationships. After all,life is a give and take.

Interesting thread.
Ofcourse YES.
I applied to do my masters in the u.s in the 1990's and there were so many girls, young women etc applying and studying abroad.
nowadays its very common to see numerous indian born women holding high posts in very good international companies.
I'm sure Indra Nooyi comes to mind but there really are many more.
We do have the right to choose, right to balance work and family and most women successfully steer the directions of their households.
I think now more than ever before we indian born women have all the freedom.
regards
anandchitra

hi Tamizha,
On one hand we are sending women into the space (Kalpana Chawla) and on the other, we are physically assulting (Taslima Nasreen) them in the public. We go one step ahead in technology and one step back socially.
What excactly is freedom for women? The the right to do anything I want - regardless of the impact on anyone else? Wearing a dress which leaves nothing for imagination, get drunk and go around in my car at 150 m/hr? Kick the in-laws out or divorce the husband if he doesn't agree with you? Pick up a career so that she can support her future family? I am not So Sure!
All I'd like it say is, we had 60 years of Democracy, 60 years of dirty politics.
Regards,
Sharada