Status Of Women

Women have always been an integral part of human civilization. The position of women in Indian villages has seen many significant changes from the ancient period to the contemporary period. Historical incidents of sati are also celebrated in folklore. in which The women were forcefully burnt with their dead husbands and made Sati. they were given in marriage at an early age of only 4-5 years and the young widows were also not allowed to remarry.

However such examples don’t have any relation to the actual status of women. Hamirpur is not a developed city. So like other rural parts of the country, one may found women cooking, working in fields, grazing cattle, collecting dung, bringing water, collecting firewood and doing manual labor at construction sites yet their contribution is unrealized.

Currently, Womens are doing heavy manual labor in compression to the man yet they receive lower daily wages. This phenomenon is happening in the entire Hamirpur region.

Domestic violence is common in Hamirpur. Female partner is more commonly the victim of domestic violence. They have to face abusive or violent behavior of other family members. Due to the poor education they are unable to report it to the authorities. Women from SC groups are also vulnerable to sexual harassment exercised by upper caste men. There is no strong women’s rights movement, although many small, localized efforts exist

There is no data on how many such cases take place in Hamirpur - and we have no way of knowing how many such cases go unreported - but some indication can be got from state-wise figures.

Also, widows and women rejected by husbands are ill-treated by the society. It was noted in female group discussions that except for a few very old widows, many of the women chose to live with another male, often their brother-in-law ('jeth').

There were also instances of women moving away with the new men in their lives, leaving their children to be looked after by aged parents.

Categories: Female