Women in India
General comments on being a woman in India:
- When women speak professional they often get much help from males
- A single successful woman is less accepted by her peers than the women who is married.
Women rarely drive cars, but occasionally are seen operating motor
scooters.- Drivers and servants are the norm for successful women.
- Men gather at many places throughout the community such as the well, or a central
gathering spot but women are confined to their immediate home and often visit from rooftop
to rooftop.
- There is much contrast between women’s role in India and other countries.
Women’s Dress
Even in the 21st century women in India continue to wear the tradition style
of clothing, while men on the whole especially those in urban areas have adapted the
Western style of dress.
For women there are two predominant styles of dress. One is the Saree (Sari) and the
second the pajamas with tunic top. These articles of clothing are available in a broad
array of fabric and colors. A separate scarf is almost always worn with either of these
styles. These are worn for practical reasons, not as a fashion statement. They are used to
cover the face, wash the face, protect themselves from pollution and other environmental
hazards as well as being utilized to carry many things needed in a woman’s daily
life.
Work and Careers
Career choices for
women are limited.- Unless the shop or business was very upscale women were not evident as clerks, cashiers
or general help.
- More women are attending college, and many perceive a college education as preparation
for finding an appropriate husband.
- In Rural area’s many men leave home to find work in the city, leaving the wife to
provide the necessary food for the family to survive. The oldest female child must drop
out of school to tend to the younger siblings while the mother works in the field.
- Limited Child care facilities –mothers often take children to the work place.
Marriage
- To insure purity of family bloodline, families insist on arranged marriages. The
child inherits the caste of their father and brides live with grooms’ family. Inter
caste marriages are tolerated if it is the groom who marries down. For consenting to such
a match a bigger dowry is demanded by the grooms family.
- Brides’ and grooms’ families advertise in paper for mates.
- Divorce is rare in India.
- Unlike Western cultures engagement and wedding rings are not exchanged instead a
marriage necklace is given to the bride by the mother-in-law.
- In rural area’s marriage often takes place at 12-13 years of age. This results in
numerous health issues for the young bride as well as any of her resulting children
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Last modified: February 16, 2000