The status of women has been a topic of grave discussion for many years in the past. It encompasses various burning issues of girl and women education, maternal health, economic empowerment of females, and the role of women in family, community, politics, and more.
Throughout the world, various social norms, in some form or the other, deny women their right to education, health services, economic opportunities, and political participation. This gender inequality hinders the progress of environmental sustainability, financial stability, global health, and human rights and is the primary cause of hunger and poverty.
The place of women in society is a critical factor in judging the success of any civilization. Talking about India’s culture, Manu, the great law-giver, said ‘where women are honoured; there reside the Gods’. In Hinduism, a man without the participation of his wife cannot take part in any religious ritual with perfection. The wives are called ‘Ardhangani’ (the better-half), and without them, any crucial work is impossible to accomplish. Hence, they share equal positions with men.
But does this happen in reality?
According to a study conducted by the United Nations, women constitute more than two-thirds of the world’s illiterate population. Another research depicts that 80% of the world’s refugees are women. Also, women only own 1% of the world’s resources and earn a small part (1/10th) of the world’s income.
Literature writers and filmmakers, through their works, have tried to demonstrate the roles and identities of women in family and society. These pieces bring out the status of women in the past centuries and the present-times very well. An ample amount of information and statistics on different interrelated factors is also available in the form of research publications and magazines. It includes several areas of debate viz., comparison between the condition of women in the past to that of the modern woman, their achievements around the globe, their lives after marriage, numerous opportunities available for them, the social and cultural attitude of the world towards them, to name a few. All this portrays the one aspect very clearly, time and time again — Gender Inequality and the horrors (in the form of its uncountable consequences) for females associated with it.