An Indian Brand of Feminism
Shubha Tiwari
Feminism has to assert the shared identity of both the genders, that is, both men and women belong to the human race. What is feminism, if not, part of humanism. All that it demands is sensitivity towards woman. It calls for the creation of an environment where both women and men can fully realize their potential, express themselves freely and move fearlessly.
In this context, it becomes essential for the Indian feminist to evolve her own ideas and methods. Western brand of feminism is different from its Indian counterpart. What is applicable to America is not applicable to India. There is no denying the fact that feminism is a powerful philosophy and it has influenced every branch of knowledge. But the point to remember is that the definition, and dimensions of this concept change from place to lace, person to person, community to community and so on. This change in the intensity and mode of feminism is only too natural as well as justified. Militant feminism does not work in India. The life style, thinking and cultural patterns of the Western world are entirely different from us. The aims of Indian feminism must be more welfare oriented. Female foetecide, female illiteracy, child marriages, malnutrition, dowry-these are the evils that have to be targeted.
In terms of traditional philosophy, womanhood stands for ‘being’ while manhood stands for ‘becoming’. Womanhood is taken to be acceptance of things while manhood becomes the mane of making efforts. If taken nicely, the preposition gives womanhood the higher place of accomplishment while manhood becomes the name of continuous striving and trying and toiling. Taking the allegory further, we may infer that the male is a symbol of outside world, tension and mundane affairs of life. The female is a symbol of the inner world, peace and tranquility. Swami Ramakrishna Paramhansa lived the life of a woman, dressed like a woman and behaved like a woman in order to complete his spiritual quest. All great men have realized this reality and have identified with the female spirit of acceptance. The ultimate feeling of ‘being’ is important; this is what ‘samadhi’ is. Gandhiji too realized this and that is the reason, perhaps why women had such a vital role to play in his scheme of things. He tried to imbibe the femaleness of existence.
But philosophical concepts are often misconceived and wrongly practiced. Acceptance is misconstrued as acceptance of suffering. Silent suffering has wrongly become a female quality. Womanhood is a celebration of life, not misery. Womanhood is the name of creativity, not barren struggle.
The feminist thought comes in different packages. It has influenced the thinking of the humankind in a big way. People have come to feel that there is something amiss in the traditional approach towards women. Although most men prefer to take a cynical view of this change of thought but they know that things have changed. Ignoring a thing does not change the status of its existence. Men might prefer to ‘un-see’ the changed status of women but the fact remains that their status has changed. The reality strikes and will finally find acceptance.
Indian thinkers believe in the harmony of life. Their attitude is not confrontational. Life depends on mutual cooperation. Life is a network and we are all part and parcel of that network. Male and female are both building blocks of the fabric of life. Life depends upon the peaceful coexistence of both the genders. As said earlier, feminism is part of humanism. We have to internalize the pain and pleasure of the other half of the human race. We want men to realize how difficult and how multiple are the roles that women perform. This should be the spirit of feminism. We must go through, at least mentally, the miseries of other people as well as other forces of nature. We should speak for those who are not in the mainstream, who are not in the focus of attention, who find themselves to be marginalized.
The Role of Women in Organized and Unorganized Sectors:
In India as well as other countries, the role of women in unorganized sector has been phenomenal through ages. The role of women in organized and unorganized sectors should be thoroughly scrutinized. Public sectors jobs and private companies form the organized sector while personal entrepreneurship; cottage industries, self-employed group and NGOs come under the category of unorganized sector. The unguarded and highly risked factors in the unorganized sector are job security and gender equality. But the biggest anomaly is the non-recognition of contribution of women, housebound or otherwise in household activities. Indian women literally sustain their families on their shoulders. House management of Indian women is exemplary. Right from cooking to cleaning to making children study, these women perform jumbo–multiple tasks. A maid performing household duties is recognized as an earning entity but a house woman performing the same duties in the household is not recognized to be so. There are so many other forms of unrecognized labour by women.
The Definition of Working Women:
In a society like India where women form the backbone of agriculture and cottage industry, the Western definition of an earning woman (working woman) ought to be modified. In West, all men and all women move out of their houses in order to work. They work outside their houses at least twelve hours a day. But in the context of ‘HOME’ occupying the most important place in an individual’s life in India, the staying back of women to run homes smoothly ought to be formally recognized. The term ‘working woman’ as it is popularly understood is very limited. It assumes that the work of managing a household, rearing up children, cooking, washing and looking after the needs of members of family is no work at all. Official work, corporate participation, administrative interference – all this is categorized as work; it is given the respect of ‘work’. But housewives are not given the status of earning members either by the family or the society. It is a very simple point; nevertheless it is very relevant that the definition of a ‘working woman’ should be changed. The daily chores performed by women in order to keep their homes running must get due recognition.