Status Of Women In Ancient India Essay

INTRODUCTION

It is said that in ancient India women had enjoyed equal status with the men in all fields of life. Women were educated in the early vedic period. We can see this in the works of Grammarian such as patanjali and Katyayani. Women got married at a mature age and were also free to select their husbands. And there was a special thread ceremony in which girls were tied threads of honour based on merit. And later this ceremony was replaced by child marriage because of many holy books. Girls were married when they were infants. They were sent to their husband house when they attained puberty. They were not permitted to gain education. The Jain institutions had strongly fight against it but it was of no use as only few girls attended the institutions.

At this period the practices of child marriage, sati and female infanticide was largely practiced. The Muslim seclusion in India introduced the purdah system by and large on Muslim women. These women were also forced to practice ‘Zenana’.

The modern India had witnessed the improvements in the status of women. There were many women reformers who worked for the betterment and upliftment of their other female counterparts. Many reformers like Ishwarchandra vidyasagar, Jyotiba phule with his wife Savitribai phule undertook various measures to eradicate social stigmas from the society. Sir Sayyed ahemd khan established the Aligarh muslim university for the spread of education among the Muslims. He also abolished the purdah system among muslim women.

In the modern India, women were given liberties and rights such as freedom of expression and equality as well as right to get education. But still today, we are fighting for crisis such as dowry, female infanticide, sex selective abortions, health, domestic violence