Tag: patriarchy
Why can women not name their husbands?
Community Correspondent Madhuri asks Sindhu, Gayatri Devi, Rita Devi and Srisati Devi the names of their husband. The women, of varying age, all smile shyly and unanimously respond that they cannot refer to their husbands by their names. The reason being the husband is a superior creature, equivalent to a...
Periods, Patriarchy and Priesthood
Menstruation within religion: deep-rooted taboos still perpetuate perceptions of impurity and prevent woman from taking part in religious practices.
Mother of six daughters abandoned by husband, stigmatised by society
Married for 26 years, Phoolkumari has been deprived of her share of the family property. The reason? She has six daughters. “My relatives told me you have no one to continue the family lineage. What will you do with property? Give it to your sons-in-law?” she says She works as...
Act like a Man, Act like a Woman – Roles defined by Gender
Twenty-six-year-old Parvez casually slaps his wife Shabana, 23, on her head while saying, “A woman is a woman and a man is a man. The very language tells you that the position of a woman is below that of a man”, he says. He underscores that the relationship between a...
The Bare Life: Discrimination Against Widows
A Hindu widow is supposed to take off all ornaments, wear only black or white, cut her hair short, walk barefoot after her husband dies. It’s a living death for her–she cannot even participate in auspicious ceremonies like weddings, nor is she allowed to remarry. By contrast nothing changes for...
The Bare Life: Discrimination Against Widows
A Hindu widow is supposed to take off all ornaments, wear only black or white, cut her hair short, walk barefoot after her husband dies. It’s a living death for her–she cannot even participate in auspicious ceremonies like weddings, nor is she allowed to remarry. By contrast nothing changes for...
Oppression of the Veil
“I don’t like it, But I am forced to do it…[t]here’s a lot of pressure to veil myself”. This video examines how women’s choices and their voices are repeatedly nulified under patriarchal oppression in the garb of tradition. The video reveals women performing hard labour like fetching water and...
Let’s give up the veil, so that we can breathe
“I want to be able to go out and work too. Purdah and other such practices should end”, says a woman who has been forced to don the veil in her marital home poignantly. “Why is it that men are not forced to wear the veil our?” asks our Community...