What is it like in India for women?

[MIdgebabe]

So we have a defendant woman burned to death on the way to a trial

Shooing of defendants by police celebrated

Accusations of false rape apparently being very widespread ( this may relate to sex being classed as rape if marriage was promised and not delivered.)

It feels like a disgust of sex , policing of them peoples lives, with blame often put at the woman's feet but wondered if anyone had insights

I grew up in India and I have to say the attitude towards women depends on your province, city, income levels, community, school etc etc. It is a HUGE country of thousands of cultures and tens of thousands of mini-cultures.

I grew up in a matriarchal society where women inherited family wealth, chose their husbands and with 95% of girls going to school, more girls than boys in universities and females outnumbering males. (You can easily figure out where this is). Women empowerment there is miles ahead of what I see in the UK, with tonnes of women politicians, doctors and lawyers. So if you ask me about women issues in India, I would say I faced none.

That doesn’t go for several other communities in India, though.

Thanks for the book recommendation, Nonnymouse1337 - have ordered a copy.

Username - are you from Meghalaya? I would love to visit that region, it looks fascinating.

Hope you enjoy the book GCAcademic! I think it was written in the early 2000s so maybe a bit dated in some areas, but there's a lot of info about Indian culture and Hinduism that I wasn't aware of, so I found it an enlightening read.

I had completely forgotten about her until this thread. Realised she has a bunch of blog posts and articles on her website that I haven't come across before, so I've started reading them. :)

No I suspect she’s from Kerala?

I teach gender in India. Happy to post some links to stuff to read at the end of the day if anyone is interested.

Hulo - Ah, OK. I did wonder about Kerala, but am a bit confused about the situation for women in that state, because there's been a lot in the news lately about women not being allowed in certain temples.

I would love some further suggestions for reading if you have time to post some. What I'd be really interested in reading about is the history of women's / feminist movements in India.

Women empowerment there is miles ahead of what I see in the UK, with tonnes of women politicians, doctors and lawyers

The intake into medicine, law and veterinary medicine for women at university has been over 50% for years. It might even be as high as 60%. In these professions the current levels are pretty much equal. On mps progress is needed but Holyrood has 35% female members.

I don't know how you can seriously talk about "women empowerment" in a country which has one of the highest female foeticide incidents in the world.

Can you point to a single incident of a rape victim being set on fire when travelling to court in the UK? Whereas this awful incident is yet another one.

Is this "empowering" for lower class women?

www.theguardian.com/global-development/2019/jan/14/indian-village-where-child-sexual-exploitation-is-the-norm-sagar-gram-jan-sahas

I think she meant KERALA her home state. Not India as a whole.

There is rape, domestic abuse and misogyny all over the world. It’s not a competition.

In terms of education, Kerala has an extremely high literacy rate for both women and men. It's common for women to be in professional roles in the engineering, medical and financial sectors. Kerala has historically had a strong influence of communist and very left wing political parties.

That said, women can still experience pretty abysmal treatment behind closed doors. My father comes from the region as do a number of my friends from school and people we know from my parents' social group. Some fairly abusive and coercive patterns in the stories the women tell one another when the men aren't around.

Just seen this. Poor woman.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-50684475

There is rape, domestic abuse and misogyny all over the world

I didn't say there wasn't.

It’s not a competition then why post comments that an unidentified part of India is better at empowering women than the UK complete with supporting statistics that are extremely questionable?

www.thenewsminute.com/article/man-hacked-death-broad-daylight-near-phoenix-mall-bengaluru-111213

And marital rape is not a crime under the Indian penal code unless the couple are separated.

Wrong link

www.google.com/amp/s/www.thenewsminute.com/article/keralas-rape-problem-alarming-numbers-indias-most-literate-state-42609%3famp

The shooting in OhHJ'S link seems more related to idiotic levels of lack of gun control than misogyny as such.

I went to India travelling around 20 years ago as a backpacker. I was sexually assaulted multiple times. None of them were that serious though I did have to physically fight off one guy as he tried to pull my trousers off. I put it down to me being foreign and therefore assumed to be up for it at all times.

What all the reports from India have made me realise is that local women were probably subject to exactly the same behaviour and that I was in a lot more danger than I realised.

@GCAcademic No I am from Kerala, but Meghalaya also has a matriarchal society and it’s a lovely place to visit!

@SomeVelvetMorning I didn’t mean the whole of India, of course, the small state of 34 million people or thereabouts I am from is quite progressive. Some of the empowerment initiatives I now see in the UK has been happening there for decades. As was mentioned above, it’s not a competition and there is good and bad everywhere.

@SomeVelvetMorning if you want to talk about marital rape, that has only been illegal in the UK by virtue of case law since 1992 and legislation in 2003!

It’s pretty clear @username12756 was referring to Kerala - she even says other parts of India will vary.

I think your comments show that you may not understand the vastness and diversity of India as a sub continent. Someone from Kerala is worlds apart from someone from Punjab in terms of ethnicity, language, culture, possibly religion. And the figures and articles you keep quoting are based on India as a whole!

Of course it’s got absolutely horrendous parts to it but there are still very matriarchal societies.