Women Issues: Patriarchy
"Religion is the opium of the masses"
Karl Marx
"Religion is like an instrument of deception"
"Religion is not only an instrument of oppression but also deception"
Simon de Beauvoir
Patriarchy - The concept of gender stereotype draws its legitimacy from a patriarchal society.
Patriarchy refers to a system of social structures and practices in which men dominate, exploit and oppress women.
Patriarchy is not constant and gender relations have changed over time and space, i.e., the nature of control and subjugation of women varies with respect to caste, class, religion, ethnicity, etc. Hence, we can say Brahmanical patriarchy is different from Dalit patriarchy which is also different from Tribal patriarchy.
Structures of Patriarchy
1. Family -
- Patrilineality
- Patrilocality
- Male preference of child
- Perceiving girl as 'Paraya Dhan' and boy as 'Inheritor of the family'
The first lesson of Patriarchy (Gender stereotype) is learned in family. For example - Boy child is considered as the inheritor of the family where as girl child is considered as paraya dhan.
Most of the families are patrilineal and patrilocal in nature. Hence, girl child is accorded a lower status.
Family is responsible for primary socialisation with respect to gender stereotyping. Hence, Family acts as the agent of cultural reproduction rather than social change.
2. Knowledge System
- Media → Objectification & Commodification of women
- Education → Content, Infrastructure wrt women, Role of teacher
Patriarchal construction of knowledge perpetuates patriarchal ideology and this is reflected in educational institutions and media which re-enforces male dominance.
Media:
Objectification → treating women as an object (of sexual desire)
Commodification → trading women in market (as a commodity)
These are also quite evident during a marriage, advertisement, etc.
For example -
In a matrimonial relation, men sought an attractive, tall, fair, homely, educated women (a perfect women) → Objectification of women (perceiving women as a perfect object). The more women fits in his criteria the more she is desirable → commodification of women.
Advertisement → Fairness creams, caring works, preference to pink, etc. → Women were shown in those ads.
Education:
Content → In books father is shown going to office whereas mother is shown doing household chores, Fair means beautiful and Dark complexion means ugly, etc.
Also, Annual status of education report (ASER) finds that the majority of dropouts among girl is due to absence of functional toilet (infrastructural issues).
Education:
- With respect to education there exists three aspects content, infrastructure and role of the teachers.
- With respect to content - The gender bias content leads to faulty socialisation of the children.
- With respect to infrastructure - According to ASER report, the majority of dropouts among girl child is due to the lack of functional toilets.
- With respect to the role of teacher - Teachers act as role model and have significant impact of the value system of the children. Hence, if the teachers themselves are patriarchal, it would be reflected the value system of the children.
3. Symbolism
- The more subtle expression of patriarchy is through creating a self sacrificing and self effacing image of women.
Self-effacing → first pursuing the interest of others then for herself.
Self-sacrificing → sacrificing own interest for others
These are manifested through ideological indoctrination.
For example - Pativrata Stree (पतिव्रता स्त्री), Pati Dharma (पति धर्म), Pati Parmeshwar (पति परमेश्वर), etc.
Manusmriti says that there is only two purpose of the women.
- A devoted mother
- A faithful wife
Ideological indoctrination (notion of ideal womenhood) also resulted in patriarchy.
According to Gandhi Ji, Women has an infinite capacity for suffering as she is the mother of a man.
- Gandhi Ji's perception → how strong a women is
- New interpretation → women and suffering are interconnected
Ideological indoctrination can also happened through Media (Television, Cinema, Scriptures, Advertisements, etc) which creates an image of women where she is held responsible for keeping the family integrated, to provide the value system to the future generation, etc.
National Commission for Women commented, "Stop treating us like goddess, treat us like human being".
4. Religion
- Religion also perpetuates patriarchy.
- Patriarchal construction of social practices are legitimised by religion and religious institutions as most practices regards male authority as superior.
- The laws and norms regarding family, marriage, divorce, inheritance are often biased against women.
Simon de Beauvoir commented, "Religion is not only an instrument of oppression but also deception".
Devi Dichotomy, a concept given by Veena Das, where she described the two contradictory/opposite status/treatment of women.
- On one hand → women are treated like a god
- On the other hand → they were also treated as dasi
Goddess of wealth is a women (Laxmi) where as women do not have any financial independence.
Goddess of education is women (Saraswati) where as women do not herself have access to education.
5. Caste
- Caste and gender are closely related and the sexuality of women is directly linked to the purity of the caste.
- Caste system and caste endogamy retains control over labour and sexuality of the women.
- Hence, caste not only determines the social division of labour but also sexual division of the labour
Social Innovation - When the solutions are provided for the existing challenges with an intent to promote equality, justice and empowerment; it is referred as Social innovation.
For example - All Mahila Police Station, Pink Public Transport, Mahila Police Volunteers, Pink Booth during elections, etc.
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Note - This is my Vision IAS Notes (Vision IAS Class Notes) and Ashutosh Pandey Sir's Public Administration Class notes. I've also added some of the information on my own.
Hope! It will help you to achieve your dream of getting selected in Civil Services Examination 👍
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