MAMOOR AHMED

BA LL.B (REG)

IInd SEM

Status and Social Position of Women

Sociology
Introduction: Status and Social Position of Women
The women are the soul of our community and they are self built and self trained
human responsible for the morale development of their children, inspiration for the
family and an example for the community to follow. As a wife, woman is his best
friend and inspiration. The history conveys that, "Each successful man has an
inspiring woman responsible for success".

According to Swami Vivekananda- "That country and that nation that do not respect
women have never become great, nor ever be in future."

According to Historian Romilla Thapper- "Within the Indian sub-continent there have
been infinite variations on the status of women diverging according to culture malice,
family structure, class, caste, property rights and morals."

Tagore said, "Women are the ornaments of society". The society was male dominated
and he ruled mainly by ethics and morals. But now a day’s women’s are enjoying the
topmost supremacy and these have won over intelligence and mental capacity of the
men. Today if it was that the society was "Male-Dominated" then India wouldn’t have
produced such a dominating personality such as "P.T.Usha-The Women Athlete",
"Lata Mangeshkar-The Nightingale and the Singer", "Sonia Gandhi-Politician" and
"Klpana Chawla-The Indian Astronaut". Today the proverb given above has proved
true. A woman is the pillar of a family, and succeessively that of a nation. The statue
of liberty which is symbol of peace and liberty is none other than that of a woman.
Therefore, respect women in every life. [2]
In spite of fifty percent of the population on the world wide, women were not in
equal status with men. This differential position causes socialization raising different
roles for boys and girls. As a traditional form, the status and social role of the women
in every society, specifically in Indian society women are weaker than men. Women
are the teachers of the society and they are not competitors. "Woman as the mother
is the best friend and teacher for the child, especially girl child (Firestone, Catlett,
1993, the Mother-Daughter Bond)". Woman as friend is an inspiring support for any
task. Woman as wife is a best friend and supportive partner for the husband. Woman
as a family member is a best family manager and care taker of family values and
traditions. Women as a community member are an example of love, friendliness,
inspiration and the best worker. These are the normal roles and responsibilities
performed by the women community around the world. Woman is an all-round
player in the game where, playground is ‘family’. The only difference is that, woman
is an all-round player at almost all such play grounds around the world. In family,
woman is an excellent manger cum worker. [3]

The social stratification of women in-India however leaves them as a second rate
citizen. This is no more evident than the violence to which a woman is subjected in
her domestic setup. Violence against woman is present in every society cutting
across boundaries of class, culture, education and age. Even though most societies
proscribe violence against woman, the reality is that she is tortured physically,
psychologically, sexually and economically, the right to equality, security dignity and
self worth are denied to woman. At times the place where a woman seeks love, safety,
security and shelter, becomes a place of terror and violence at the hands of
somebody close to them whom they trust. [4]

If we visualize the multiple view of the, woman from various families working for her
children, family and herself; we will find that there several women working for the
development of their respective families. In broad sense, they are working for
combined development of the family, community and society in which they live
because; community is the united form of varied families. A woman is never
appreciated for her indirect participation in this strong development and in the
progress of her children, family or external community. She can be said as a silent
and selfless leader. We take woman as a strong pillar on which the progress of the
family and community depends. If she is educated enough to utilize and manage the
family resources in smart manner and every woman does so, than such community
will definitely progress irrespective of the variations in the religion, tradition, culture
and financial background that are present in any community around the world. There
can be many circumstances that can prevent woman from performing at her best. It
can be lack of peer support, illiteracy, lack of knowledge, lack of resources or lack of
inspiration. [5]

Crime, atrocity and violence against woman is a revelation of the factual

disproportionate power relation among man and woman, which led to the
domination of a woman's fuller advancement. Violence in the domestic spare is
usually committed by them who are or who have been, in position of trust and
intimacy and power-husband's father, brother, uncle sons or other relatives. It does
not mean that women are not violent but their actions account for a small
percentage of domestic violence. Such as outside homes these type activity boy
friend with unknown person.

The criminals, atrocious abuser and the abused are tied together because of
emotional, physical, biological, familial, residential and financial ties, and are often
their intimate partners. [6] Perpetrators of domestic violence seek power and control
over their survivors. The factors which contribute to the continued prevalence of
violence are mainly the woman’s lack of deprivation of approach to legal information,
to provide support or safeguard) and also the lack of laws that protect woman
against violence) . [7] There is also failure to reform existing laws and the efforts
made on by public authorities to create awareness of and implement existing law are
also inadequate. Illiteracy and other means to handle reason and effect of violence is
also the reason behind the prevalence of violence.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) declares that 'Motherhood and
childhood are entitled for special care whether born in or out of wedlock shall enjoy
the same protection. [8] The Indian constitution enshrines in Art.14, 15, 39(a) (d) and
(e) that the state shall ensure a just social order for women based on equality and
dignity. In spite of all these, and on the sacred land of Sita, Sabitri and Damayanti it
found that women are being seduced, tortured, and enjoyed and betrayed. In spite
of Constitutional guarantees and legal protection there is a rise on the trend of
committing offenses against women and the domestic violence is one of them.
Women have always played a specific and crucial role which has been veiled in
society and history. Traditionally, the Indian woman has been the keystone of the
family and society in general. She creates life, nurtures it, guards and strengthens it.
In her task as mother, she plays a vital role in the development of the nation. [9]

Status and social position of women in India

This can be discussed in the following different periods.

Ancient Period

Medieval Period

Modern India Period

British-India Period.

After Independence Period

Brief description of each period are as follows :

A) Ancient Period
The women have consolation themselves with a view of plenty scholars that women
were honoured in the Vedic times of ancient India. They rejoice learning
opportunities, status and freedom. We can probably compare Vedic women to the
modern women in the edge of freedom. In recent time women historian give it a try
to interpret original Brahmanical Texts. On the one hand Scriptures have also
aggrandized womanhood. Men and women were treated equally. On the other hand
some sacred texts reveals women were disrespected and even in positive hatred.
There are disagreements and agreements, which can be elucidated in either way.

Women were bearing very key position in ancient society of India. There are written
evidences that woman destroyed mighty sovereign and royal kingdoms. Elango
Adigal’s Sillipathigaram wrote that Pandyas capital Mudurai was burnt when a
woman’s husband was killed by Pandyan ruler Nedunchezhiyan. Though this incident
happened because of misunderstanding, In Mahabharat, fall of Kauravas was
because they humiliated Duropi Valmiki's Ramyana tells, Ravana killed when he
abducted and tried to marry Sita powerfully. Lord Shankar Ardhanareeshwar,
appearance is worshipped this appearance is half-man and half-woman.

For example:-

1. Manu told that God are subsist where women are honoured, No reward were
yields in the place where women are not honoured. Same Manu has told "Pita’
rakshathi Kaumare Bhartha rakshathi yavvane Rakshanthi Putrah Stavire, na Sthree
svatantram arhati". women has to depend on her father in her childhood, on her
husband in youth and on her sons during her old age and no woman is fit for
freedom.

2. Yagnavalkya stated that women are the manifestation of all divine virtues present
on earth. Soma has bequeathed all his purity on women. Gandharva has given them
kindness of speech and agni has drizzled all his brilliance to make women most
adorable. Manu says women can lead off the path not only the ignorant but also
learned men and make them slave of anger and lust. Such elevated moral beliefs
about women have been illustrated in Ramayana and Mahabharat also.

B) Medieval Period
Medieval period of India has not women’s good time, it is term as "dark age "for
them. Many foreign conquests have been seen during Medieval, which resulted in
the degrading of women status. When foreign conquistador like Muslim attacked
and encroached India they brought with them their own culture.

These period women were treated as sole property of male gender, and she was not
allow to do anything with their own will. This thought also approach unnoticed into
the mind of Indian people and they also started behaving with their women like this.
Other reason of degrading women status and their freedom was that Indian wanted
to protect their women from Muslim invaders. Polygamy was a prevalence for these
invaders they take any women as per their wish and kept them in their "HAREMS" .
Women started using "PARDHA"(a veil),which covers their body, to protect
themselves .Women were not allowed to go alone and move around freely, this
resulted in further deterioration of their status. Above circumstances resulted in
attitude change of common people, they started differentiating among male and
female child, girls child were consider as burden which need to be protected from
intruders eye and extra attention/care is required for them whereas for boy child
were consider as extra earning hand and need not required extra care for them. Due
to above reason some new evils such as Purdha system, devdasi , restriction in widow
marriage child marriage, sati practice and restriction on girls education.

Sati:
Hindu ritual of dying at the funeral pyre of husband is known as Sati. In Hindu
scriptures if women will do sati they will go to the heaven and they would be
honoured by society. It is said that sati practice was voluntary but some instances are
stated in scriptures and history women were forced to do practice sati. In some
Indian society women considered sati was better option than living widow in this
cruel world. In some of the scriptures such as "Ramayana" , "Mahabharta" and
"Medhatiti" had different view about sati practice, they criticize and termed as
committing suicide.

Jauhar:
Our religion always presses on the need of piousness and sanctity of women at any
cost. Jauhar which can be dubbed as Sati at a mass scale is setting up a large pyre
and willingly jumping into the flames for burning themselves alive. The ritual which
was practised during the medieval and early modern period among the Rajput clans,
was basically done to save honour and pride from the hands of invaders (in most of
the cases the Muslim invaders). When it became apparent that a defeat at the hands
of enemy is inevitable, then the Rajput women used to perform this otherwise
heinous act of saving pride and honour.

Child Marriage:
During medieval times, the girls were often married at a very early age of about 8-10
years, some even at infant stage. The reason behind child marriage can be attributed
to desire of creating powerful alliances, or caste system or social problems where
girls becomes a burden and cause of concern to its family as she grows older. Child
marriage creates a lot of physiological and emotional problems to a girl. Child
marriage has given birth to other problems such as population explosion, high
maternal and infant mortality rate and poor health of the women.

Condition of Widow and Restriction on Remarriage:

During the medieval times the conditions of the woman deteriorated to the nadir.
The women whose husbands died were first forced for Sati and if not then their life
would become miserable. A lot of restrictions were imposed upon her stripping her
off the basic rights which every human being should get. They were forced to live
solitary and tough life and were not allowed to attend to any social functions. Many
times a widow was forced to undergo tonsuring. She was forced not to wear any
colourful dress and ornaments. She was not allowed to marry anybody else again.
Due to a lot of efforts by social reformers like Raja Rammohan Roy, the condition
and perception of society against widow has improved somewhat.

Purdah System
Purdah system is predominantly followed by both Muslim and Hindu people. This is a
practice in which the face of a woman is covered by cloth to conceal it from other
men. The origin of Purdah system can be traced back to the need of protection
against medieval invaders particularly the Muslim invaders. Whatever the purpose
may be but this system definitely cuts down the basic rights of women to express
and interact freely.

Girl Education
Girl education in Ancient, Medieval and rural parts of Modern India has not been
given due importance. Their education was limited to the household requirements.
Maharishi Vatsyayan had however advocated about need of educating women in the
fields of cooking, spinning grinding, medicine, recitation and many others.

C) Modern India Period

Modern India witnessed some developments in the status and social position of
women. There were many reformers in India who worked for the betterment and
upliftment of their other female counterparts. The Begum of Bhopal discarded the
‘purdha’ and fought in the revolt of 1857. Many reformers measures to eradicate
social stigmas from the society. Sir Sayyid Ahamad Khan established the Aligarh
Muslim University for the spread of education among the Muslims. Among many the
Widow Remarriage Act of 1856 was important. The education system was also
elevated. English was introduced in this period. Various female English writers like
Sarojiini Naidu, Kamala Das made their presence felt in this period.

In the modern times, women in India are given freedom and right such as freedom of
expression and equality, as well as right to get education. Women in Contemporary
India are doing the same what a male can do. Various prestigious positions are held
by Indian women. They are enjoying the ‘ladies first’ facility in various fields. But still
problems like dowry, female infanticide, sex selective abortion, health, domestic
violence, crime and atrocities are prevalent in the society. Several acts have been
passed to demolish all these problems. But illiteracy and lack of awareness are the
obstacles in the path of Indian women to stand against these follies.))))

British India Period

Women’s struggle and Emancipation

It is generally concluded that women in India do not enjoy the same status as her
counterpart in the Developed Countries but her struggle for equality continues.
When we talk about the era of British rule in India, there are several examples of
extraordinary courage and daring which showed other women how to fight for their
rights. One such example is the queen of Jhansi, Rani Lakshmibai popularly known as
‘Jhansi ki Rani’. Even though the revolt of 1857 sparked at Barrackpore, the credit for
spreading it to Central India goes to her only. She fought for her rights which were
stripped by the British Rulers. She stood in the way of Lord Dalhousie’s doctrine of
Lapse and finally when the new Viceroy arrived in India this doctrine was renounced.
However, to the rescue of the oppressed women came a few men of extreme
courage who fought for the basic rights of women. To name some of them there
were Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, Swami Vivekanad, Swami
Dayanad Saraswti and Bhartendu Harischand.

Raja Ram Mohan Roy

When we talk about reforms for women in modern India, the first name which comes
to our mind is Raja Ram Mohan Roy. During his time a lot of evils against women
were prevailing like Sati Pratha, painful Conditions of Widow etc. He fought hard with
the society and the rulers and finally got the Abolition of Sati Act enacted in 1829. He
was a great supporter of education for women and worked hard in this field. He
taught people about evils of child marriage and fought with the rulers for widow
remarriage act. He himself married a widow to set an example for others. He
established Brahmo Samaj in 1828 with the help of Debendranath Tagore which
started one of the most influential religious reforms in India.

After Independence Period

The condition of women in modern India is a story of contrast. It can be said that she
has made big strides in every field but still we find her lagging far behind her male
counterpart. This is very apparent from the condition of Indian women in rural India
which shows a marked increase in domestic violence. There have come a lot of
women organisations yet women are struggling hard to find their way to equality.
Women have come forward and are working with others shoulder to shoulder and
they are also making their presence felt but still they are struggling to make their
impact felt. As per census of 2011 the sex ratio in India is 940 female per 1000 males
which is much below the world average. The irony is that it is women herself who in
many cases is responsible for misery of other women or herself. There exists a
plethora of problems for women in India, which can be -Malnutrition, Poor Health,
Maternal Mortality, Lack of education, Mistreatment, Overworked, Lack of Power,
Marriage, Dowry, Female infanticide/foeticide.

Malnutrition
Women in India being dubbed as ‘annapurna’ makes sure that everyone in the family
get their share of meal before she can feed herself of whatever is left over. Added to
that she does not think that she also needs the same quality balanced diet that the
other members of the family are taking, thus it does not take a lot of research to find
out why she suffers from under nutrition. The UNICEF in one of its reports clearly
suggested that women in South Asia gets improper care which finally leads to higher
level of malnutrition. The under nutrition itself kicks off a vicious cycle which starts
with malnutrition and ends at malnutrition. A woman who is malnourished becomes
anaemic and never reaches up to her full growth and when she gets pregnant she
gives birth to an underdeveloped baby.

Poor Health
The male dominated society does not spare some basic rights for the women which
include right to free movement, right to education, and right to expression and so on.
She never gets her quota of balanced diet whereas the male child is given proper
nutrition and care. Lack of specialist female doctors in rural areas adds to more
problems for her. Over and above that in poor families proper medication of girl
child is always deemed secondary to a male child. Desire for male child also does not
help the deteriorating of health of women as she is pressurised to give birth to next
baby of the previous one is a girl child ignoring the health complications she may
have. Thus even from her childhood she has to fight with the problem of poor health.

Maternal Mortality
According to the latest UNICEF report, infant mortality rate (IFR) is one of the highest
among world. High Infant mortality rate is itself an indication of how malnourished
the mothers are and when they give birth to an underdeveloped baby, life
expectancy of child as well as the mother is jeopardised. Even though the
Government has so many programs running for the expecting mothers in rural India
yet their penetration and effectiveness has always been a moot subject.

Lack of education
Women education in India (especially rural India) has never been a subject which is
met with very high level of enthusiasm. We have seen how in medieval times and
even in modern era under British rule there were a lot of attempts by many social
reformers for upliftment and education of women. The census 2011 boasts of 65 %
female literary rate in India but the picture is not very rosy when we divide it to rural
and urban literacy rates. While female literacy rate in urban India is close to 80%, the
rural counterpart is well behind at 59% which was 46% in 2001. However we can see
the marked increase in the last ten years yet a lot is needed to bring women out of
the claws of illiteracy. The main reason for this shortfall is attitude of people towards
education of women in rural India; they treat girl child as a burden which has to go to
somebody else’s house after marriage and hence they do not bother to spend
money on her education.

Added to this there is lack of female teachers and availability of schools in nearby
locations which hampers the commute of a girl child because there are always fears
of sexual abuse associated with her.

Lack of education cannot be talked in isolation. Associated with it are a further

uneducated girl child which she can give birth to (as an uneducated mother is less
likely to fight for her rights), a malnourished child, improper hygiene, lack of
knowledge of balanced diet and healthy cooking and so on which give rise to more
social problems.

(Source for data:

http://censusindia.gov.in/2011census/censusinfodashboard/stock/downloads/Profile
s_6/PDF/IND_6.pdf)

Marriage
There is a tradition of arrange marriages in India. In this system the family of girl (and
boy’s family also) depending of various parameters, like boy’s background, his
family’s status, financial capacity and what not, chooses a right candidate for her
according to their perceptions. In our villages vey often the prior consent of girl is
not sought. After marriage the girl has to follow and fulfil the wishes of her husband
and his family. She is not even allowed to go to meet her parents without permission
of her husband or his family.

Dowry
There have a lot been written and talked in media about pompous Indian weddings.
Indian wedding is a seriously costly affair and added to this is the brunt of dowry.
Dowry is hefty cash or any material of good monetary value which is demanded or
expected by the groom’s family at the time of marriage. This tradition is an old one
which was also practised during Vedic times when the parents of the girl used to give
her some money as a gift for her use during bad times. Now this tradition has
become a compulsory one. Many of the times marriages are fixed on the basis of
how much dowry can be fetched from the girl’s family. When the girl fails to bring
with her, even after a lot of sacrifices of her parents, dowry as per expectations of her
husband’s family she loses her respect, many times she is abused, beaten and even
tortured to death. According to a BBC news a dowry death occurs every 77 minutes
in India.

Divorce
Divorce as itself is not a crime against women but it is necessary to understand the
inside story of divorces in India. A divorcee woman is looked down by the society as
the main culprit for the breakdown of marriage. More often than not she does not
become able to get married again. In Muslim communities the women did not have
the right to divorce her husband until recently Muslim Law Board has given the right
to divorce to the women too. In recent times Government of India has accepted to
pass a few amendments to Marriage laws which propose that while a wife would now
be eligible to oppose a husband's plea for divorce under the new "irretrievable
breakdown of marriage" clause, the husband shall not have such a right if the wife
moves the court on the same grounds. [Source:
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/cabinet-clears-change-in-divorce-law-women-
to-get-part-of-husband-s-property/950887]

WOMEN'S MOVEMENT
There are different perception has given rise to three major ideological movements
and they are:
l. Liberal Feminism

2. Radical Feminism

3. Socialist Feminism

Let us see the different ideological approaches taken by them.

1. Liberal Feminism
Liberal feminists have championed equal legal and political rights for women to
enable them to compete with a man in the public realm on equal terms. The
philosophical basis of liberal feminism lies in the principle of individualism and they
campaigned for all individuals to participate in public and political life. Mary
Wollstonecraft, besides others, is a well-known liberal feminist, famous for her ardent
support for women’s causes. Amongst the first systematic and serious works on the
subject is "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" published by her in 1792 was the
first great feminist treatise. The basic idea of the work was that women are first and
foremost human beings and not sexual beings. Women are rational creatures,
capable of governing themselves by reason. Hence, if women are denied natural
rights, it must be proved that they have no rational capacity. Wollstonecraft preached
that intellect will always govern and sought "to persuade women to endeavour to
acquire strength, both of mind and body, and to convince them that the soft phrases,
susceptibility of heart, delicacy of sentiment, and refinement of taste, are almost
synonymous with epithets of weakness."

Liberal feminism flourished in the 1960s but it did not provide more insights into the
roots of woman’s subjugated status. The liberals began to enlarge the concept of
equality beyond the formal equality in civil and political spheres, to child care
facilities, the rights of poor women and women's control over their reproductive life.
They advocated improvement in social customs, institutions, laws and attitudes while
accepting the existing social structure. According to them, reforms will transform
society but radical restructuring is not essential.

2. Radical Feminism
Radical feminists have campaigns against a number of things on the grounds of
equality for women. Each of these things could be objectionable on grounds of
sexual equality only if there were an asymmetry in the way the sexes were treated in
respect of them. However there is no such asymmetry for any of these things. What
these things do have in common is that, in some way or another, they concern - or
bring to attention - the issue of sex. The radical feminist campaign against these
things, despite its ostensible concern for women’s equality, is merely an attempt to
suppress sex.

The beginning of radical feminism coincides with the second phase of feminism
around 1969-1910. It is contended that radical feminism has important ties with
liberal feminism, the feminists who spoke of sexual politics. Liberal feminists
overlooked the necessary connection between sexual oppression, sexual division of
labour and the economic structure, therefore their claims remained reformist.

The main averment of radical feminists was not only removal of all sex distinctions
but also there being no place for men in their lives. Man was considered as an enemy
and subordination was seen as bio psychological supremacy of male over female.
The radical feminists believed in sexual preference, control over one's body, free sex
and collective child care. According to them, masculine hostility manifests itself
through rape, pornography and sexual violence. The overthrow of male dominance
requires a complete sexual revolution which would destroy traditional sex taboos.
Through consciousness raising women should be made aware of this dominance,
solidarity among them be developed and they should be made self-reliant so that
they are not dependent on men in any sense.

3. Socialist Feminism
The thinkers of sociological school prominently Karl Marx and Engels advocated the
socialist pattern of movement. The socialistic pattern of society is against capitalism
and patriarchy system but the inferior status of women cannot be rooted out unless
the concept of communistic society is wiped out. The emergence of concept of
private property, confining women to production of children and persistence of
gender inequalities caused a great hurdle in women's socialistic movement. Thus, the
Marxist theory was found to contain restrictions in terms of political participation
/representation of women.

Indian social reformers of 19thcentury did approach of the line of liberal movement,
campaigning right of education to women so that women become better mothers
and wives and they also campaigned for removal of social evils like Sati, Child
marriage, prohibition on widow's re-marriage etc. However, issue of sexual freedom
and sexual preference etc could not be agitated as in developed western countries
because it is oppose to basic concept of Indian society.

According to the socialist view, women's inferior status is rooted in private property,
and class-divided society. Sexist ideology and structures such as the family maintain
women's inferior status in society. Oppression is inclusive of exploitation but reflects
a complex reality. For the socialist feminists it is imperative to understand the
operation of hierarchical sexual ordering of society within the class structure. They
also feel that overthrow of the capitalist system by itself will not mean transformation
of patriarchal ideology. It would be necessary to organise struggles simultaneously
against capitalism and patriarchy.

Socialist feminists believe that the powerlessness of women in society is rooted to

four basic structures: production, reproduction, sexuality and socialisation of children.
Family, as the radical feminists observed, was an institution which reinforced
women's oppressive condition. Family and economy should not be looked upon as
separate systems but as vitally interacting systems. The unequal and hierarchical sex
role operates in both the domains, of family and economy.

Conclusion
When we have talked about the status and social and legal position of women, an
individual’s standing vis-à-vis others. While discussing about women status and their
legal position , a question come in our mind why, in the country where we give
women as a status of goddess to worship and altercate about their status as a human
being. However we have to accept the fact that women status should have been
recognised as identity, has been converted to a debatable topic.

The last few decades or after Independence of India have no doubt seen women
have been coming out in the open and joining the mainstream of development of
the country. Ever, it is to be seen whether this has helped them in achieving a status
for themselves, in the minds of people at large. Can we consider women now equal
to men in status, at least those who are working with men? No, I don’t think this has
been achieved. Women are today, found in every field of man’s working, and several
have even become economically independent but has even that enhanced our status?
On the contrary, with this see on the one hand, we can see a mushroom growth of
crimes against women, never heard of ever before. At one time a young girl only was
an item of lust for every man, but with this advent of so called women’s lib, infant
girls of four to five years and even less, or ladies of sixty and above are becoming
objects of man’s lust. It has been high time that we analyse the cause of all this, for if
our achievements on the one side result is such disorder on the other, we will have to
weigh the advantages accrued to women against the burnt sacrifice set for them.

So now, after six decades of trying to rival men it is time for women to take stock of
the situation and make a more strict effort to fight for our rights and equality with
men and women with a changed attitude, and not only a change of assignment or
appearance. Two people with different assignment can surely be equals so, why does
women have to hanker for stepping into men’s shoes and take up the roles of men.
Let us now change our strategy of the struggle and not only stamp men but create
for us a new horizon.