HINDU AND MUSLIM WOMEN

For a long time SPRATians believed that it is the Muslim women that were the more harassed variety. Urban, educated middle class Hindu woman is perhaps far more oppressed and exploited. Here are some real life instances: One lady is married into a very prosperous family but comes from a poor one. She wishes to support her younger sibling’s studies to help her poor old father. But the M-in-L collects all her salary. So she takes a lesser salary officially from her employers and collects the rest in cash to pay to her father. She is also not allowed to visit them within the same city. So she claims to travel in bus, actually hires a rickshaw to pay hurried visits to her mother occasionally. Another is far smarter than her hubby. But that Johnie makes all her decisions. He even makes an ass of himself in friendly get-togethers but bosses over her publicly. This one toils all day at her work, only to go home, cook and serve an ailing MiL while her husband watches TV day after day. She says she gets to talk with him only on weekends for an hour or two. Women having to take leaves from work, regardless of harming their careers, to serve in-laws, and to attend unwanted ceremonies and guests is so common that it doesn’t even make news. Most of these can be seen walking typically with the husband a few paces ahead, and with hands free, while she trailing with a baby or a bag in the hands. This is so common from the villages even to the cities that I wonder if these men ever truly loved their wives. I absolutely find that on an average the Hindu educated working class woman works at least 50% more than her husband.