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Lot is being talked about the liberation of women. Lots of women’s liberation organisations have sprung up in India. From their style of functioning it appears that they are trying to give a symptomatic treatment to women’s problem. None seems to have been trying to diagnose the real cause of the problem. In this paper, the real cause of the problem and its permanent remedy has been looked into. Dr. Ambedkar the revolutionary of 20th century has played a vital role in securing the basic human rights for the women in general and Mulnivasi women in particular. His role has also been discussed here.
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Today’s problem of women has its origin in the vedic times. Women those days were considered inferior to women. They were equated with the Shudras/ati-shudras, the fourth/fifth varnas of the vedic religion. Women were not considered fit for spiritual attainment as they were not allowed to read Vedas. All the law books of Hindus have very distinctly written about their degraded status. Few verses from these Hindu law books are mentioned here. There are many a verses in the Vedas, Smritis, Puranas etc., which are very derogatory and obscene in nature and are avoided here:
“Let a female child be born somewhere else; here let a male child be born”
-Atharva Veda 6.2.3
“The nature of women is like that of the hyena”
-Rig Veda X.95.10
“Women have no right to study Vedas”
-Manu Smriti IX 3
“It is the highest duty of the woman to immolate herself after her husband”
-Brahma Puran. 80.75
“If a wife, proud of the greatness of her relatives or (her own) excellence, violates the duty which she owes to her lord, the king shall cause her to be devoured by dogs in a place frequented by many”
-Manu Smriti VIII 371
“In childhood a female must be subject to her father, in youth to her husband, when her lord is dead to the sons; a woman must never be independent.”
-Manu Smriti V.148
“Shudra dhol pashu nari ye hai sub tadan ke adhikari ( Shudras, drum, animal and women deserve beating)”
-Ram Charita Manas
Liberation of Women a Historical perspective
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As stated above the women were not allowed to read Vedas during the vedic times. Hence their last rites were also not performed by chanting vedas.
Gautam Buddha was the first master who gave women, status equal to men. Secondly he provided women access to knowledge and learning by providing them entry into the Buddha’s order. He considered women capable of attaining spirituality. Many women under the Buddhist Order attained very high level of learning and intellect; so much so that their contribution in the name of “Therigathas” (The songs of the Buddhist Sisters) occupies a prominent place in the Buddhist Canonical Scriptures.
With the decline of Buddhism and subsequently its extinction from the land of its origin, position of women went back to its original low grade position as was in vogue during the vedic times. In fact it deteriorated further when brahmins imposed stricter derogatory and obscene laws through Manu Smriti and other Puranas. These Hindu law books are full of derogatory remarks about women. And interestingly so, these laws, though superceded by the laws framed under the constitution of India, still rule the minds of the people in India. If any real improvement has to be brought in the status of women in our society, this mindset has to be changed or forced to be changed.
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During the 19th century, some genuine efforts were made to bring about the liberation of women. Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his Wife, Savitribai Phule did pioneering work for providing access to education for women. Jyotiba Phule first taught his wife at home and then she in turn started teaching in the school, which was started by Jyotiba Phule for girls. They are also the ones who started the school for the girls of untouchable communities in 1850; probably the first of its kind for the untouchable girls in the country.
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Dr. Ambedkar continued the pioneering work of Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife. Right from the beginning of his struggle for the eradication of caste prejudices, he started involving women in the struggle. He realised that the real progress of the mulnivasi could not be achieved without liberating the women themselves. He started motivating the women. His first demand of adult franchise, which was met in the early 20s after resistance from the brahmins, gave voting rights to untouchables as well as to women. That was the beginning of an era of liberation for women.
Dr. Ambedkar then brought women, the mulnivasi women in particular into the struggle. In December 1927 during the Mahad Tank struggle, on the first day (of the second leg) when the procession was taken out, women marched in the procession along with men. Second day, Dr. Ambedkar exclusively addressed women. He told them to participate in the struggle against the tyranny of caste system. He emphasized to them that men alone cannot fight this menace. The main theme of his speech was “Importance of participation of women in the struggle of depressed.” He also wanted to prepare the women for a cultural change. He told them to change their style of dressing, to do away with unwanted ornaments, which they used to wear all the time and told them to send their girls to school, keep cleanliness etc. His speech was so effective that women dropped the unwanted ornaments in that meeting itself. Next day the women could be seen with their style of dressing changed completely. Thus Dr. Ambedkar brought about a revolutionary change in the attitude of mulnivasi women. That gave an extra boost to his movement.
Dr. Ambedkar was an ardent supporter of family planning. He emphasized the need of family planning way back in 1938. At that time nobody even dreamt of it. He even criticised his own parents in public speeches because he himself was the 14th child in the family. This showed his concern for the well being of the women.
Dr. Ambedkar had also been encouraging women to organise themselves. One such historic women’s conference was held on 20 July 1942 at Nagpur. Some 25,000 mulnivasi women participated in the conference. Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar was highly impressed by the large gathering. In his speech he told the women to be progressive and told them to abolish traditionalism, ritualism and customary habits, which were detrimental to their progress. He also advised them not to indulge in early marriages, not to infuse inferiority complex among the children.
Through the constitution of India, as the chairman of the constitution drafting committee, Dr. Ambedkar was instrumental in granting equal status to all the citizens irrespective of sex, religion etc. Thus the women, contrary to their low status as per Hindu law books, were for the first time got equal status lawfully.
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The next landmark, pioneering work, which Dr. Ambedkar did was the “Hindu Code Bill”. He introduced this bill in the parliament on the promise from Jawaharlal Nehru that the bill will be passed as it is. He basically prepared this bill to empower women by way of giving property rights and giving rights in many other matters like marriage, adoption, divorce etc. However the orthodox Arya Brahmins who had the mindset of Manu Smriti did not allow this bill to be passed in parliament as it is. This bill was so dear to Dr. Ambedkar that he resigned from the Govt. in protest against the dropping of the bill. After his resignation, the bill was passed in bits and pieces.
The property rights section was immediately passed. This itself was a landmark in empowering women. The entire credit for this goes to Dr. Ambedkar. The other sections of the Hindu Code Bill were passed in the form of following acts:
Hindu Marriage Act 1955
Hindu Succession Act 1956
Hindu Minority and Guardianship Act 1956
Adoption and Maintenance Act 1956
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The main reason for the suffering of women even today is the grant of low grade status to women in the law books of Hindu religion, like Vedas, Puranas, Manu Smritis, Bhagwad Geeta, Ram Charita Manas etc. Though these law books are superceded by the constitution of India in the last 50 years legally, the Hindu shastras still control the mindsets of the people.
Gautam Buddha was the first preacher who revolted against the discrimination against the women in the society. He then gave them equal status by allowing them to enter his Order. He allowed women to have access to knowledge and spirituality. Prior to his time, women were not allowed to read Vedas. Women were not considered fit for spiritual attainment. Buddha removed all these restrictions. Under Buddhist Order many a women attained high learning and sprituality. “Therigathas “, meaning the songs of Buddhist Sisters, have found a prominent place in the canonical Buddhists scriptures.
After the decline of Buddhism, women were again degraded to their unequal and low status under the newly made laws of Manusmriti.
The equal status was again restored to women legally after Indian independence; particularly securing the property rights to women were exclusively through Dr. Ambedkar’s efforts.
Mahatma Jyotiba Phule and his wife Savitribai Phule provided the breakthrough for women in education in the 19th century.
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Inspite of the legal equality status provided by the constitution of India, women in India are still being exploited in the society. If this problem of exploitation of women in our society has to be solved permanently, then a crusade against the law books of Hindu religion is required until it is wiped out from the minds of the people in India. This is the way forward for the women’s liberation movement.
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