“Between education and marriage, she lost her happiness.” 

This sentence succinctly conveys all that women in India go through in their lives. They get the best of degrees, bag plum jobs and after marriage and bearing children, either have to give it all to keep their heart and hearth running or struggle hard to make the twain meet somewhere, often at their expense, mental, physical or emotional. 

In common parlance, women are being referred to as ‘working’ and ‘independent’. They are said to be the empowered lot. But is there any truth in these fancy descriptions? 

Women may be career-oriented and in the more glossy term, they may have broken the glass ceiling, but that’s not enough. Apart from doing a day job, they have to double up as the housekeeper, cook and caregiver for the kids after office hours. It is an unsaid deal between most urban couples. It is a situation by default and seldom by choice for most women. It is all or none for them. 

Padmaja Iyengar, a senior consultant at the Foundation for Futuristic Cities, has also stated this fact in her blog (women.siliconindia.com). Men are still dominating women. The domination doesn’t only happen within precincts of the home; women are subject to it even in the workplace. This phenomenon is common across the board and in all the sectors. 

The state of women in India is deplorable, to say the least. Even parents want their daughters to get good grades, and a good job, or else they will force them into matrimony. And marriage will not change things, it might only add to a woman’s woes. Almost four in 10 girls are burdened with this pressure. Even today, a girl isn’t allowed to choose a profession on her own; her parents are the ones who tell her to choose a degree course which will enhance her prospects of finding a suitable boy for marriage. 

But shouldn’t parents, especially the mother, support children in whichever field they wish to pursue their career. Women are still working with all their might without being appreciated. In fact, they are being subjected to prejudice and dominated. It isn’t how it is supposed to be. Everyone talks about gender equality and equal rights for all; feminists have been trying to bring about gender equality in the Indian society but all in vain. The society as a whole needs to do a lot to bring about change. Merely talking about it will not do any good. 

Why not stop “talking” and rather start “working” to make women in India happier and our country a better place for them?

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