Friday, April 23, 2010

The Mindset of Indian Women

Visionary Views, Indian Roots

Financial independence, opportunities for growth and education have triggered a radical change in the mindset of Indian women, both in the positive as well negative sense.

Gradual change in social values is another major contributor affecting the mindset of the Indian women. Indian women of current times have learned to ‘Walk the Talk.’ They have come a long way from the days of dread to the days of a self-sustaining culture. Indian women have excelled in each and every field from politics to space missions. There is no field, which has remained unconquered by Indian women.

All the above changes come at a big price. The mindset of women in modern India is a sort of a paradox. On one hand, some women have truly understood the meaning of a modern mindset in terms of education, professional talent, learning to strike work-home balance and positive self transformation. They have lived up to the efforts of great social reformers. Whereas on the other hand, some others have misused the freedom and social liberty to suit their own needs, going to any lengths, deprecating morals in order to achieve their goals, and all this in the name of women liberation. In the process, they have lost out on the respect that they would have rightfully earned, if they had understood the underlying true essence of women liberation.

Urban women have come a long way, but still their rural counterparts are mutely suffering the violence and ill-treatment inflicted on them by society. Modern Indian women have learned to take bold steps to gnaw at dogma-centric notions of society - child marriage, female child abortions, etc. The mindset of Indian women has come out of the cocooned space of four walls, slogging on for hours together doing household chores. Now, they are independent thinkers and vigilant decision makers equipped with all the traits to take on the world.

To maintain a positive progressive mindset, the Indian woman herself needs to strike a balance between the two extremes - the first image is that of the uncontrolled, unabashed woman and the other prototype is that of the down trodden Sati. Modernism and freedom are equal birth rights for both men and women. The innate need of expression of freedom and independence is always a good thing, but not at the cost of doing away with well grounded traditions like family, marriage and relationships. Just as men are held responsible for maintaining the social and ethical fabric of the society, so are women. I would rather say more, as a woman is the creator of life. She is the archangel of values and morality.

Given the fact, in certain parts of society, women are humiliated even today, yet the mindset of the Indian women has grown stronger and stronger by the day. This transformation in mindset is a change to which she herself has largely contributed to. In days to come, if this personal osmosis and its dimensions transform into a progressive social mindset, then we are sure to see more and more women joining the bandwagon of positive progress and a stable society.