Study of status of women in India, for women empowerment Movement in India

To discuss about woman empowerment we have to study about status of woman in past, present & future in India.

The Indian culture contents of Vedas, Upanishad. To study about women status in past we have to study it from Vedic period which is spread over from 300 BC to 600 B.C.

1. Freedom of women in Vedic period

At the time of Vedic period there is freedom given to women to take part in public activities. It indicates women enjoyed Vedic period. They also allowed selecting their male life partner. They could educate. Even they can judge ‘vadvivadas’. Wedows was allowed to remarry. Divorce is not permissible, even men also did not have rights to divorce. Women have permission to take part in family matters and were treated as ‘Ardhanginis’.

2. Equality of women

At the time of Vedic period girls were received education like boys.  They also went through the ‘Brahmacharya’ discipline and ‘Upanayana” ritual. Women studied the Vedic Literature, some of them are became auther of vedic hymns.

3. Status of women related to marriage and family matters

In the Vedic period marriage was considered as social and religious duty. Marriage was considered as it is not only unity of two persons but it is a unity of two families forever.   

No one was blamed women if they remain spinsters throughout their life, they had that right. Marriage was not forced to women. Child marriage was unknown. Girls were given in marriage too after completion of their education. Women had right and freedom to select men as their life partner. There were also love marriages called ‘Gandharva vivaha’.

Widows were allowed to remarry. There is number of references of ‘Niyoga’.  Means brother of her deceased spouse or nearest relative marry  with widows with the permission of elders. Niyoga was mostly practiced to obtain child for continuing family tradition.

In Rig-Veda spinster had recognized the right to inherit her father’s property. ‘Sati” is nowhere mention in Veda.

4. Freedom of Occupation and Economic.

In Vedic Period there was economic freedom for women. Some women are work as a teacher. Production place is their home. Women were make cloth production. Women also helped their husband in agricultural activities. 

After Vedic period we have to study status of women in Medieval India

The Medieval period is Period between 500 A. D to 1500 A.D. This period was highly disappointing for the Indian women. Muslim ruling on India changed the direction of Indian history. The influx of foreign invaders was main causes for such degradation.

As far as women were concerned, her freedom was shrinking, knowledge of not only the Vedas but even letters was denied to her. Her status was reduced. That of an appendage on man. Caste laws dominated the entire women social life. Widow Remarriage was disallowed. Women could not inherit any property. Girls were treated more as burdens, liabilities.

  During the medieval period status of women became equivalent to status of slaves. The women faced many problems in this period. Problem like child marriage, practice of sati, worst status of widows.

Thus in the medieval period, the status of women went on declining.

However, during the 14th, 15th centuries, the social situation had undergone some changes. Many Social servicemen like Ramanujacharya who organised the first Bhakti Movement during this period.  Bhakti Movement introduced new trends in the social and the religious life of women in India.

The great saints like Jyaneshwar, Muktabai, chaitanya, Nanak, Kabir and others fought for the rights of women to religious worship in India. Due to all these collective efforts Bhakti Movement unlocked the gate of religious freedom to women. As a result of this, they secured certain social freedom. Due to this freedom could go out of their families to attend pravachanas, Krirtans, Bhajans, and so on.

In this Bhakti movement “Grihashram” is there, which did not permit saints to take to sanyas without the consent of wife. This system gave women some important rights. The saints of this movement encourage women to educate themselves and to read religious books.

Thus the Bhakti movement gave a new life to women, it brought some positive changes in their life. But this movement did not bring any changes in economical rights of women. Because of that women continued to hold low status in the society. The revival of ‘Sati’ the prohibition of remarriage made her position worst.

Thus in Vedic period and in medieval period there was a vast gap as per status of women.

Male and Female are two basic components (In India called tire of a chariot) of human society. Half of the population constitutes by these both. And both are depend upon each other.

Many sociologists have tried to assess the problems faced by woman. They studied changes in the status of women in Indian society and around the globe. We find that man and woman have been established as the two wheels of a chariot and are equally important for healthy Society.

Woman empowerment movement not only offering equal rights to women but also give assurance that they are intrinsic and equitable partners in the workforce.  We see gender inequality every time. History shows that the time has indeed changed. In 1950 India saw the first wave of women empowerment when government granted right to vote to all Indian citizens including women. And second was access to education for women. These two rights set the base of women empowerment in India.

Women today are multi-tasking and in front of everyone almost in every field. The percentage of women Pales compared to the percentage of men in workforce. This is because a woman’s space in the economic system. Which is influenced by external factors like work environment, safety or support from their families and partners.

Brands and companies can drive women empowerment by offering more and better opportunities for women.

At Sahakaryam, we make sure we extend the same opportunities to female job applicants as their male counterparts, while maintaining a healthy gender-ratio among employees.