Being an Indian girl and facing Indian girl problems!! Oh Dear!! Taking birth as an Indian woman in Indian society is an immense struggle right from the very start. Isn’t it? If I begin with few cases in point, it will be easy for you to understand what struggle I am talking about.
“Be a good wife.”
“Be a decent daughter.”
“Be a nice sister.”
“Maintain the integrity of your family.”
“Be pleasant and well-mannered.”
“Don’t raise your voice.”
“Don’t start an argument.”
“Don’t be stubborn.”
“Be humble and courteous.”
“Don’t speak out.”
One way or the other, all of us hear these things almost every single day. Don’t we? We lay open to an endless set of instructions as the world considers that ‘we are born to be weak.’ But does sticking to these rulebooks help us all the time? The answer is a big “NO.”
I know that we are living in the 21st century and things have changed at the moment. India is not just a land of snake charmers any longer. I know that not all the people similarly think of this condition, but still, there are a lot of people who still think in this way.
Almost every day we come through one or the other Indian girl problems. News bulletin that’s full of events of rape cases, domestic violence, dowry killing, exploitation, woman harassment and so forth are reported every day in the media. Most of these mishaps reflect the problems faced by Indian women.
It may seem that women are now boundless and independent to decide on their career, life partner, and lifestyle. But, is it true? No! The truth is that the natural feelings of unfairness, discrimination, inequality, and chauvinism continue due to the bossy outlooks of men and the enduring traditions of the society.
Indian girl problems in ‘modern’ society – In a nutshell!
In the middle of the whole struggle for modernism, liberty, and independence, there are quite a lot of problems faced by women in Indian society that only they will understand! So, I decided to list down the most common problems of Indian women. Read on to know these Indian girl problems.
Indian girl problem #1: How can you stay out-of-doors?
To begin with, as you are an ‘Indian girl,’ you cannot go out of your home late at twelve o’clock in the night. Why? Because you’re a GIRL!! You can’t; you just can’t! Imagine what would happen if some rape or sexual assault occurs. Phew!! Dear me!
But, this “modern” society is unable to picture the fact that there are better ways to defend the girl rather than controlling and confining them. Why don’t we teach the art of ‘self-defence’ to the girls? Why doesn’t the society take firm strides to stop the lawbreakers and offenders? Why don’t we teach our sons to respect women and not treat her as an ‘object’?
Indian girl problem #2: Discrimination between male and female children
When talking about the Indian girl problem in the social context, even in the present day, a male child is favoured to a female kid. Henceforth, female children are subject to unfair and prejudiced treatment. Discrimination between sons and daughters regarding nutrition, clothing, health, schooling, and household is particularly predominant. Why this difference? It is because males are considered to be an “investment” while a girl is nothing more than a “responsibility.” Perhaps, a son can, in some way, offer protection to their parents in the course of their old age. In the same way, men have better scope than females, and professional avenues are broader for them than for women.
The biggest shudder is that this ‘discrimination’ starts right in the mother’s womb. Yes! People misuse the super sonographic equipment to find out the gender of the kid even before a child is born. And if the kid is found to be an ‘undesirable female child,’ then the professed ‘mothers’ go for abortion. The cost of these medical tests could range from 200 INR to 2000 INR. As a result, these tests are within the means of the middle and upper-lower class as well. On account of this, we still have a significant number of “killings of the female foetuses” in India at the moment. Yes, in the leading-edge era of the 21st century!
Indian girl problem #3: Discrimination in the Distribution of Power and Work
Most of the families in India are male-controlled or “patriarchal.” Thus, the idea of ‘equality of gender’ is not tolerable to them. So, what’s the role of women in the house responsibilities then? Well, all the household tasks are the “woman’s duties.” Errands such as – cooking, serving the family, cleaning the house, looking after the kids, washing clothes and utensils – needs to be done by a woman. Even when they fall sick! No sympathy for them!
The irony is that every person in the family needs care and courteousness except the women. She has to be the nurse, and everyone else is a patient. Yet, when the question of exercising control and authority comes, it is always the man (the head of the family) who takes over. His judgements are final, and his instructions are crucial. And what about the woman? Well, don’t you know that “a woman must keep her voice low?” In fact, several ‘men’ have a ‘distinct opinion’ that the women of the house must not go out to work. You see, suppressing a woman and pressing his beliefs over her is how a ‘man’ proves his “mardanagi’ (masculinity).
Indian girl problem #4: Harassment of Women at Work Place
Modern Indian women establish themselves to be a vital labour force. In the present day, a growing number of Indian girls are working outside the family to attain wages for them and the family. These “working woman” constitute about 1/3 of our labour force. That’s right, 32% of the total working population in India are Indian women. These “working women” constitute just about 16.43% of the female population of the nation. Well, forget about these alarming stats for a moment as what I’m going to talk over right now is not these troubling figures. It’s another startling Indian girl problem.
The main difficulty these “working woman” face is that they are harassed in places of work. By “Harassment,” I mean the elementary abuse of a person’s rights. Not only are the constitutional rights of these workers defiled on a regular basis. In fact, time and again, they are sexually bothered as well. However, every organization has an obligation to make a cell dealing with harassment complaints from any female employee. At least, that’s what the Indian legal system proposes. But then again, the reality barely has to do anything with this ‘legal system.’ Again, this nuisance doesn’t end here. You’ll always find some male employees with some severe troubles working under a ‘female boss.’ As is evident, it is against their supposed ‘ego.’
Indian girl problem #5: Economic Exploitation at Workplace
It’s not just sexual and mental harassment that a woman goes through in the workplace. In fact, a “working woman” needs to work a lot more and is paid a lot less, particularly in the unorganized sector. And why just blame the “unorganized sector”? Why do you think Priyanka Chopra is not paid as much as Akshay Kumar? So, that means, the motto of “equal pay for equal work” is yet again another myth. This exploitation doesn’t end here. We all know about other kinds of harassment, right? No? Well, constant staring at women, mistreating female workers, passing vulgar comments, dirty jokes, “accidental” touches, making them stop over even after the working hours, invitations for picks and drop and the list goes on and on and on…
Indian girl problem #6: The Problem of Dowry
The long-standing practice of dowry is another Indian girl problem where the bride’s family is forced to pay some wedding gifts as a price for the groom. Yes, even the grooms are sold here, in the ‘magnificent India.’ This nuisance refers to the bargain of property, cash, gold, diamonds or any other form of riches that a groom or his family obtains from his ‘significant other’s family.’ (In case, if you’re unsure, though you won’t if you are an INDIAN.) Why won’t you know about it? After all, every so often, the media flash news broadcast about the disastrous consequences of the dowry system. We’ve all heard about the married Indian girls being the sufferers of harassment, violence, abuse, killing, and suicide.
No wonder, a single Indian woman looking for a man to tie the knot is an outright atrocity! In fact, there exist some immoral and money-minded young males who even tie themselves in more than one nuptial bond. Yes, just for the sake of dowry and money. Some deprived and poor fathers, who cannot pay a huge sum as dowry, are even constrained to arrange the marriage of their single girls with old men. At times, even to the physically or mentally disabled men. But, who cares? In spite of everything, dowry exists in the society as the “the civil right of the groom.” No matter if its prevalence imitates the lesser status of women in society. No matter if it makes a daughter “a burden” on her family’s resources. No one cares!
Indian girl problem #7: Unbelievable pressure to manage work and family duties
In an Indian parent-in-law’s dictionary, the words like ‘supportive,’ ‘caring,’ ‘considerate’ or ‘sympathetic,’ by and large, doesn’t exist. So, the day of a ’typical Indian woman’ begins two hours before one and all in the family. Cooking, cleaning, packing lunch boxes, preparing breakfast, serving each family member with all the stuff they need, sending children off to school, sending husbands off to their office and then getting ready for her work. Just say it, and she has to do it. That’s why; every so often a wife is renowned by the ‘label’ of “a glorified maid.”
Indian girl problem #8: Increasing Offences and Crimes against Indian woman
We all are aware of the ever-increasing problem of crime against Indian women. This issue is mounting on a regular basis and turning out to be a serious issue in India. Domestic violence, molestation, rapes, dowry killing, kidnapping girls and selling them into brothels, eve-teasing, wife-battering, sexual harassments at workplaces and what not!
According to the latest statistics from the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), crimes against Indian women turned to be greater than before (over the last four years to 2015) by 34 percent. Out of this, the cruelty by spouses and in-laws came to be the most extensively reported crime. The rate of crime against women – grows from 41.7 to 53.9 between the year 2012 and 2015.
The same report mentions that the three states that report most crimes are:
- Uttar Pradesh: 35,527 cases
- Maharashtra: 31,126 cases
- West Bengal: 33,218 cases
Indian girl problem #9: Women suppressing women
Yes! Indian women have problems with women. Be it an issue of wearing a “short” outfit, girls talking confidently, or I must say, “shamelessly,” women raising their voice against anyone in the family, women making friends with men, women making her own decisions or women not following the commands of her husband. All over, you can see an Indian woman criticizing another woman. It’s unacceptable to hear such crap from a woman herself. If women cannot “stand” their successful status in society, then how can we expect to progress in any way? It particularly matters in a male-controlled society like India where the axis slants towards the men in their approval.
It’s high time that women become the ‘messiah” for their own cause!!
I hope I can ever sign off from the social problems of an Indian girl
So, now you know what the real Indian women problems are, right? The real problem is that an Indian woman is a daughter, daughter-in-law, mother, mother-in-law, wife, everything but not a human. The real problem is that she is a ‘liability.’ The real problem is that she is unable of taking the lineage of her family name forward. The real problem is that the same country that regards woman as goddess “Laxmi” forces her to accept all kind of control and detention.
I know we have quite a lot of urban educated females who label themselves as liberal, progressive and broad-minded. I know that there a more than a few who follow the Western lifestyle at the moment. But the reality is that the inherent hang-ups and ancient limitations and all other Indian girl problems stuff their mind. At a glance, you’ll find women getting a lot of reverence and respect. In particular, on ‘mother’s day’ or ‘women’s day’ but in reality, women enjoying equivalent privileges, rights, and freedoms are a ‘fairytale.’
So, in the end, I’d request you to treat every single woman with respect and earn reverence for yourself as well.
“Let us empower our women as we cannot imagine of a ‘developed nation’ without developing its women.”
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