Answering Roy; the womens position in India.

Following past comment, and the negative reflection of Indian men that may inadvertently be cast in my previous post, I thought I'd better explain some of the cultural background behind some of our experiences.

The women's situation in India was a topic that was covered at length during our induction training at the Idex offices in Jaipur, both to prepare us, as well as encourage us to try to change peoples views during our work placements.
The discrimination is a result of both religion and culture, and although it is changing, starting with the educated and city-dwellers, many women in rural areas continue to suffer discrimination of a magnitude unheard of in modern western society.
But even amongst educated professional families, things such as a token dowry may still be paid, despite the dowry being made illegal in 1961 in India.

Women are discriminated against throughout life:

From Birth:
Due to financial and traditional Hindu beliefs, the male son is believed to lead to salvation- but women are seen as a liability, due to the requirements of dowry, lack of employment and leaving the family upon marriage. This has and does lead to selective abortion, murder and abandonment of female children. Although sex-determination prior to birth is illegal in India, it is still widely practised. The resulting balance that we were told was 100 males to 92 females, but in some states in India, the gap is wider.

Childhood:
Girls are believed to have less requirement for food than males, resulting in higher malnutrition for girls. Education is also seen as more important for boys than girls, resulting in a literacy rate for women at 54%, while for men it is 76%. Also, India has the highest population of non-schooling girls, and further education for women is not encouraged.
The irony is that India has the highest % of female professionals in the world, and its constitution grants the same rights for everyone, regardless of sex, race or religion.

Before marriage:
Young girls are prepared from an early age for housework and motherhood, with their marriage pre-arranged by their fathers. If they should choose not to marry their determined partner, they will be disowned by their family.
In order to achieve salvation, many girls are married off as children. Although illegal, this is passed off as a "custom" to allow it's continuance.

After marriage:
In rural areas, childbirth for these young wives is very hazardous, with a mortality rate 25 times higher when the mother is aged below 15 years of age. These children of child-mothers are much less likely to be properly nourished, educated and able to escape this discrimination and oppression.
Once married, women automatically join their husbands family, forced to undertake all household labours and work, and only seeing their own family on organised visits. This can lead to abuse and mistreatment of the wives by the other family members.

As Widows:
If the wife dies, Indian men are free to re-marry. However, this is not the case for women- they cannot re-marry. So they are left with no money, education, skills or support, as the woman's family would very rarely take them back, having left for marriage. Inheritance for women does not exist either, with inheritance money, land etc "passed over" them to go to the next male relative, despite having full legal right to it under Indian law.

Bride burning:
Perhaps for me, the most shocking indication as to the woman's situation in India is the practice of bride burning.
It is when after receiving a large dowry upon marriage, the groom/grooms family will murder the bride, thus keeping the dowry and allowing the groom to re-marry for further financial gain. It is recorded that 7000 women in India are murdered every year, surprisingly primarily in urban areas, the victims and murders hailing from educated middle to upper middle social classes.
Although murder is obviously illegal, Indian law also states that if the bride dies within 7 years of marriage, the matter should be heavily investigated as a bride-burning. However, due to the cultural context, and a heavily corrupt system, bribery ensures only a 7-8% conviction rate, if, and only if, the matter even gets to court.


There is established legal framework for equality, and strong strive for change. However, this is the situation for women in India at present, as it was taught to us upon our arrival in India.
It still maybe didn't fully prepare us for what the female volunteers seen and experienced during our stay here.

Despite this discrimination and oppression, there are women in high positions of government and in all professions in India, and many men have told me with great pride they have daughters. Love-marriages do take place, and in Delhi, women dress in western clothes and go out to bars with their friends, just as they do in the UK.

I have never seen women in the villages of Himachal pradesh, Uttaranchal, or Rajhistan wear anything but tradition clothes and bindi, and have never seen them drink alcohol, smoke or even make eye contact with me in the street (though they will occasionally stare in disgust at Mrs Grasshopper, possibly due to the "loose western women" idea here).

Conversely, it is in Delhi, the 'urban educated India" that the leers, groping, blatant sexual assault and eve-teasing seems to constantly occur, mainly by males aged below 35. Although men did stare at us in the villages and small towns, it was never with any malice, the older gents often tipping their head in greeting or smiling when I made eye contact.

In my view it is generally a good, safe country, particularly when with other travellers, and using a bit of common sense. The Indian people are generally extremely helpful, kind and accepting, despite initial perceptions of rudeness.

I think considering,and when suitible, respecting the cultural differences also goes a long way, as does a smile and a patient disposition.

Not that it's always been easy here...