Hindu Women: Social Changes

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"This book is about the social changes of Hindu women over the periods. At present Hindu women of upper castes and classes in the Urban areas are doing well, they appear to be at par with the Western World, but unfortunately, majority of the women from poorer background of rural areas are still suffering, oppressed and above all illiterate. If India wants to progress, the people in power should bring about social awareness to the rural women through education and other means which are conducive to uplift women in the rural areas".

Dipali Ghosh is the retired Curator in charge of the North Indian Section in the British Library at the Department of Asia, Pacific and African Collections. She has compiled following bibliographies :

1. Bengal Works of Rabindranath Tagore into English. -Kolkata: Firma KLM Private Ltd., 2008.

2. Translations of Bengali Works into English. -Revised and enlarged edition. -Kolkata: Firma KLM Private Ltd., 2004 The first edition was published from London: Mansell, 1986.

3. Literature on Freedom Movement in Bengali. -Kolkata: Firma KLM Private Ltd., 1997.

4. Translations of Hindi Works into English. New Delhi: Manoharlal Munshiram, 1995.

She has also published several articles in journals and newsletter.

India is a multicultural and multi religious country-Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Parsi, Buddhist and Jain. I have selected my topics on Hindu women, their social problems and changes. In the 21" century the status of Hindu women in the upper and middle classes in the big cities like Mumbai, Kolkata, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore have changed tremendously, they are at par with the Western world, but they don't constitute the whole of India. What about the general masses, the women in lower strata or, in the villages, they are still struggling to survive-economically, educationally, politically and socially. Statistics reveal that more than half of our women populations are illiterate, underfed, undernourished and exploited by the male domineering society where violence against women is quite common. For dowry women are burnt to death, kidnapping young girls for prostitution, female foetus are destroyed by sophisticated medical means. Despite the fact women workers contribute in the family's wealth and sometime more than the male members, but they meet with discrimination, always suppressed and oppressed by the male. In Indian constitution women have equal rights, but in reality it is not so. The social law has always maintained a double standard for men and women from the Vedic age to the electronic age.

The position of woman changed over the period. The Brahmanical law itself was biased to women. Manu, the earliest exponent of the law said "the women should be under guard, always under supervision- in their childhood by their father, after marriage by their husband and in old age by their sons. Women should not be allowed to live independently". They were almost treated in law as chattels.