How are women and girls treated in the country you have selected?

            In order to develop a more clear and coherent answer to this question there are several aspects of life that need to be acknowledged. The country I have selected to study is India, and the women and girls are treated in a very particular fashion. However factors such as westernization, revolutions, and other sociological developments have deterred relatively stable measurements as the data will go on to suggest. In order to answer this question, several aspects of life will need to be acknowledged and further looked into in order to develop a relative opinion. The aspects I will be touching on will include: reaching puberty, and moving from parents homes.

            The first topic is reaching puberty. According to several sources I have read, there seems to a puberty ritual that is followed in terms of religious standards. With this being said, it should be worth mentioning that this main religion that is followed in India Hinduism. Through this, several ideas and Hindu philosophies power what the puberty ritual entails. From what appears to be the case, the general consensus of these puberty rituals are to avoid contact and isolate the girl for nine to eleven days as she is beginning to go through her menstrual cycle. With this being said, there are several parts of this ritual that entail a more deeper understanding as to why Indians ultimately choose to isolate girls accordingly. It seems that a food made with a lot of iron, specific lentils and sesame oil is put together in order to ease the digestion system and also lower hormone release. Furthermore, the girls are not allowed to pray as they fall into this menstrual cycle as the containment of such hormones are considered to be demonic in Indian mythological tales. By far the things I have spoken about are taken up till the second day. The third day, a maternal uncle is supposed to come over and provide the girl going through puberty several gifts. Several of these gifts can include a series of items such as sarees (traditional Indian clothing), dry fruits (rare to find the Indian subcontinent), gold, and other gifts of the sort. All – in – all, this eleven day ritual consists of several different events that are supposed to yield the retelling of Indian mythological tales where a girl fights her inner demons to blossom into a woman.

            That previous part was about girls going through puberty, another part worth touching on would be moving away from parents home. This also entails a similar ritual, however although a lot of women’s treatment is in relation to religious philosophies and the structure of society accordingly. It may be well noted that there are several ideas between the three main religions in India that make for the embodiment of the “leaving the parent’s house” ritual. This ritual is primarily in relation to women alone and this occurs between all three main religions in India: Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam. This ritual is followed when a girl gets married. In an event as such, the bride walks away from her house and throws flowers that held within her veil. This is considered to be a girl’s final sprout of blessings that will ensure the protection of her parents as she begins to ideally move in with her in – laws.

            Puberty, and leaving parent’s house are two of several important ideas that occur during to women in India. The things and rituals I have listed above are ideally what would happen in a traditional setting. Multiple articles ultimately alluded to how the westernization and development of several Eastern Hemisphere countries (such as India) is also changing the culture as a whole. Therefore it would be critical to take this into account before judging how Indian living conditions are for girls. My personal answer is: over time although the stern nature of Indian culture has disallowed girls the freedom to explore and be something beyond the ideal wife, times are slowly changing and so is Indian culture, Indian girls are still oppressed in many ways, however important improvement is evident.

Works Cited

AurovilleVillageActionGroup, director. The Female Puberty Video in South India. YouTube, YouTube, 28 Dec. 2011, www.youtube.com/watch?v=OL56mbqvgH0.

“Contents.” The Female Bridegroom, 2012, doi:10.1515/9781400843114.toc.

Indian J Physiol Pharmacol. “IS THERE A SECULAR TREND IN THE MENARCHEAL AGE OF INDIAN GIRLS ?” 2003, doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.

N, Mehan. “Age of Onset of Puberty in Apparently Healthy School Girls from Northern India.” Age of Onset of Puberty in Apparently Healthy School Girls from Northern India., 2019, doi:10.3897/bdj.4.e7720.figure2f.