Dowry

A dowry (also known as trousseau or tocher or, in Latin, dos) is the money, goods, or estate
that a woman brings to her husband in marriage.
[1]
It contrasts with bride price, which is paid to
the bride's parents, and dower, which is property settled on the bride herself by the groom at the
time of marriage. The same culture may simultaneously practice both dowry and bride price.
Dowry is an ancient custom, and its existence may well predate records of it.
History
Originally, the purpose of a dowry was to help a husband to feed and protect his family, and to
give the wife and children some support if he were to die.
[2]
Even in the oldest available records,
such as the Code of Hammurabi, the dowry is described as an already-existing custom.
Regulations surrounding the custom include: the wife being entitled to her dowry at her
husband's death as part of her dower, her dowry being inheritable only by her own children, not
by her husband's children by other women, and a woman not being entitled to a (subsequent)
inheritance if her father had provided her dowry in marriage. If a woman died without sons, her
husband had to refund the dowry but could deduct the value of the bride price; the dowry would
normally have been the larger of the sums.
[3]

One of the basic functions of a dowry has been to serve as a form of protection for the wife
against the possibility of ill treatment by her husband and his family.
[citation needed]
In other words,
the dowry provides an incentive to the husband not to harm his wife.
Domestic violence
An illustration from JJ Grandville's Les cent proverbes captioned "Qui aime bien chtie bien"
(Who loves well, punishes well), showing a man spanking a child, and another beating his wife.
Domestic violence, also known as domestic abuse, spousal abuse, child abuse or intimate
partner violence (IPV), can be broadly defined a pattern of abusive behaviors by one or both
partners in an intimate relationship such as marriage, dating, family, friends or cohabitation.
Domestic violence has many forms including physical aggression (hitting, kicking, biting,
shoving, restraining, throwing objects), or threats thereof; sexual abuse; emotional abuse;
controlling or domineering; intimidation; stalking; passive/covert abuse
[1][2]
(e.g., neglect); and
economic deprivation. Domestic violence may or may not constitute a crime, depending on local
statues, severity and duration of specific acts, and other variables. Alcohol consumption
[3]
and
mental illness
[4]
have frequently been associated with abuse.
Awareness, perception and documentation of domestic violence differs from country to country,
and from era to era. Estimates
[citation needed]
are that only about a third of cases of domestic
violence are actually reported in the United States and the United Kingdom. According to the
Centers for Disease Control, domestic violence is a serious, preventable public health problem
affecting more than 32 million Americans, or over 10% of the U. S. population.
[5]

Violence between spouses has long been considered a serious problem. The United States has a
lengthy history of legal precedent condemning spousal abuse. In 1879, law scholar Nicholas St.
John Green
[6]
wrote, "The cases in the American courts are uniform against the right of the
husband to use any [physical] chastisement, moderate or otherwise, toward the wife, for any
purpose." Green also cites the 1641 Body of Liberties of the Massachusetts Bay colonists -
one of the first legal documents in North American history - as an early de jure condemnation
of violence by either spouse.
Popular emphasis has tended to be on women as the victims of domestic violence.
[7]
Many
studies
[8][9]
show that women suffer greater rates of injury due to domestic violence, and some
studies show that women suffer higher rates of assault.
[10]
Yet, other statistics show that while
men tend to inflict injury at higher rates, the majority of domestic violence overall is
reciprocal.
[11]

Modern attention to domestic violence began in the women's movement of the 1970s,
particularly within feminism and women's rights, as concern about wives being beaten by their
husbands gained attention. Only since the late 1970s, and particularly in the masculism and
men's movements of the 1990s, has the problem of domestic violence against men gained any
significant attention. Estimates show that 248 of every 1,000 females and 76 of every 1,000
males are victims of physical assault and/or rape committed by their spouses.
[12]
A 1997 report
says significantly more men than women do not disclose the identity of their attacker.
[13]
A 2009
study showed that there was greater acceptance for abuse perpetrated by females than by
males.
[14]
Sex-selective abortion
Female foeticide)
Sex-selective abortion (also referred to as son preference or female deselection) are methods
of sex-selection which are practiced in areas where male children are valued over female
children. Sex-selective abortion refers to the targeted abortion of female fetuses; the fetus' sex
may be identified by ultrasound but also rarely by amniocentesis or another procedure.
These practices arise in areas where cultural norms value male children over female children.
[1]

Societies that practice sex selection in favor of males are quite common, especially in countries
like the People's Republic of China, Korea, Taiwan, and India.
[1][2]

In 2005, 90 million women were estimated to be missing in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China,
India, Pakistan, South Korea and Taiwan alone, apparently due to sex-selective abortion.
[2][3]
The
existence of the practice appears to be determined by culture, rather than by economic
conditions, because such deviations in sex ratios do not exist in sub-Saharan Africa, Latin
America, and the Caribbean.
[2]

Sex-selective abortion was rare before the late 20th century, because of the difficulty of
determining the sex of the fetus before birth, but ultrasound has made such selection easier.
However, prior to this, parents would alter family sex compositions through infanticide. It is
believed to be responsible for at least part of the skewed birth statistics
[2]
in favor of males in
mainland China, India, Taiwan, and South Korea.
Sexism
Gender discrimination
Sexism, a term coined in the mid-20th century,
[1]
is the belief or attitude that one gender or sex is
inferior to, less competent, or less valuable than the other. It can also refer to hatred of, or
prejudice towards, either sex as a whole (see misogyny and misandry), or the application of
stereotypes of masculinity in relation to men, or of femininity in relation to women.
[2]
It is also
called male and female chauvinism.
Generalization and partition
In philosophy, sexist attitudes can be understood or judged on the basis of the essential
characteristics of the group to which an individual belongsin this case, their sexual group, as
men or women. This assumes that all individuals fit into the category of male or female and does
not take into account intersexed people who are born with a mixture of male and female sexual
characteristics. This also assumes a significant degree of homogeneity in the characteristics of
men and women respectively, and generally does not take into account the differences that exist
within these groups. XY males and XX females who are genetically one sex but have developed
the characteristics of the opposite sex during the foetal stage are usually considered with respect
to their phenotypes under this system.
[3]

Certain forms of sexual discrimination are illegal in many countries, but nearly all countries have
laws that give special rights, privileges, or responsibilities to people of a particular sex.
[4]


sex condition of hatred fears discriminatory anti-discriminatory

discrimination of movement of
female femininity misogyny gynophobia gynocentrism feminism
male masculinity misandry androphobia androcentrism masculism
intersex intersexuality misandrogyny androgynophobia

LGBTIQ
transsex transsexuality

transphobia

LGBT
Sexism against women
The view that men are superior to women is a form of sexism. The term 'sexism' is sometimes
used by itself to mean sexism against women.
[5]
When expressed by men, sexism against women
may be called male chauvinism. Related terms are misogyny, which implies a hatred of women,
and gynophobia, which refers to a fear of women or femininity.
The idea that men benefit from certain rights and privileges not available to women is referred to
as male privilege.
Historically, sexism against women has taken a number of forms.
Widow
A widow is a woman whose spouse has died. A man whose spouse has died is a widower. The
state of having lost one's spouse to death is termed widowhood or (occasionally) viduity. The
adjective is widowed.
Economic position of widows
The economic position of widows has been an important social issue in many societies. In
societies in which the husband was typically the sole provider, his death could plunge his family
into poverty. This was aggravated by women's longer life spans, and that men generally marry
women younger than themselves. Many charities existed to help widows and orphans (often, not
children without parents, but children without a contributing father) in need.
However, even in some patriarchal societies, widows could maintain economic independence. A
widow could carry on her late husband's business and consequently be accorded certain rights,
such as the right to enter guilds. More recently, widows of elected officials have been among the
first women elected to office in many countries (e.g. Corazon Aquino).
There were implications for sexual freedom as well; although some wills contained dum casta
provisions (requiring widows to remain unmarried in order to receive inheritance), in societies
preventing divorce, widowhood permitted women to remarry and have a greater range of sexual
experiences.
In some other cultures, widows are treated differently. For instance, in India there is often an
elaborate ceremony during the funeral of a widow's husband, including smashing the bangles,
removing the bindi as well as any colorful attire, and requiring the woman to wear white clothes,
the colour of mourning. Earlier it was compulsory to wear all white after the husband was dead,
and even Widow burning (sati or suttee) was practised sometimes. However in modern-day
culture this has gradually given way to wearing colored clothing. Sati practice has been banned
in India for more than a century. The ban began under British rule of India owing to the
persistence of social reformer RajaRam Mohan Roy.
In other cultures, widows are required to remarry within the family of their late husband; see
widow inheritance. This started as a custom to ensure that no widow could be kicked out of her
home and face a life without financial provision, but it can also be used to keep money within the
family. In addition, it is an important factor in the transmission of HIV within certain
communities, e.g. the Luo, and is being challenged on human rights grounds.
Sexual Assault and Male Dominance
last updated February 1, 2006
With the current understanding of sexual assault as an act of violence, theorists also came to understand sexual
assault as a manifestation of and means for ensuring female subordination. "[R]ape is a result of long-held traditions
of male dominance. This male dominance is reinforced by prostitution and pornography, in which women are
degraded and treated in subservient ways. In other words, rape is the male response to social inequality between men
and women." From Jana L Jasinski, Theoretical Explanations for Violence Against Women, in Sourcebook on
Violence Against Women 5, 12-13 (Claire M. Renzetti et al. eds., 2001).
Sexual assault must also be understood historically, in the context of legal and social frameworks within which
women were considered the property of men. Historically, the crime of rape was a property crime: "Rape was a
crime not against the victim, but against the man who owned her, her husband or father." From Peggy Miller &
Nancy Biele, Twenty Years Later: The Unfinished Revolution, in Transforming a Rape Culture 47, 50 (Emilie
Buchwald et al. eds., 1993). Thus, the "[s]exual abuse of a woman was more a violation of a man's property than a
violation of a woman's 'bodily integrity.' Rape laws, therefore, originated as a means of protecting a man's or
family's property." From Beverly Ford, Rape and Sexual Harassment Around the World, in Violent Relationships:
Battering Abuse Among Adults 47 (2001). As a property crime, the punishment for rape was often the payment of a
sum to the father or brother of the woman. In some countries even today, families of a victim may seek financial
compensation from the rapist's family. From World Health Organization, First World Report on Violence and
Health 164 (2002). The legal and cultural frameworks within which women have historically been considered the
property of their husbands also support the assumption that men are entitled to sexual access to their wives and thus
contribute to the failure to view marital rape as a crime.
Yet sexual assault is not only a reflection of societal arrangements that devalue women (i.e., it is acceptable to target
and violate women because they are not valued), but itself serves to reinforce women's subordination and ensure
their conformity with preset gender roles: "Rape has been used historically for the subjugation of women and as a
means of ensuring that women conform to the behavior patterns required by the community." From Radhika
Coomaraswamy & Lisa M. Kois, Violence Against Women, in 1 Women and International Human Rights Law 177,
179 (Kelly D. Askin & Dorean M. Koenig eds. 1999). Gender roles and societal expectations require women to be
"virginal" and "pure." Women who do not conformfor example, those who dress seductivelyare deemed to have
provoked the sexual assault, thus also ensuring enforcement of these gender norms. From Dorothy Q. Thomas &
Robin S. Levi, Common Abuses Against Women, in 1 Women and International Human Rights Law 139, 149
(Kelly D. Askin & Dorean M. Koenig eds. 1999).

Discrimination against women in India
Violence against women
Domestic violence against women in India is a big problem.
[8]
For example, a New Delhi report
by the Indian Communist Party says that in the state of Bihar between January and April there
were 221 rapes, 159 kidnappings of women, 51 cases of rape and murder or parading naked and
torture and 144 cases of dowry killing.
[9]
A further update gives details as to the extent to which
the perpetrators were backed up by the state.
[9]
A U.N. Population Fund report claimed that up to
70 per cent of married women aged 1549 in India are victims of beatings or coerced sex.
[8]

Sexual harassment
Eve teasing is a euphemism used for sexual harassment or molestation of women by men. This
phenomenon has resulted in various assaults against women. Half of the total number of crimes
against women reported in 1990 related to molestation and harassment at the workplace.
[1]
Many
activists blame the rising incidents of sexual harassment against women on the influence of
"Western culture". In 1987, The 'Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act' was
passed
[10]
to prohibit indecent representation of women through advertisements or in
publications, writings, paintings, figures or in any other manner.
In 1997, in a landmark judgement, the Supreme Court of India took a strong stand against sexual
harassment of women in the workplace. The Court also laid down detailed guidelines for
prevention and redressal of grievances. The National Commission for Women subsequently
elaborated these guidelines into a Code of Conduct for employers.
[1]
Education
Though it is gradually rising, the female literacy rate in India is lower than the male literacy
rate.
[1]
Compared to boys, far fewer girls are enrolled in the schools, and many of them drop
out.
[1]
According to the National Sample Survey Data of 1997, only the states of Kerala and
Mizoram have approached universal female literacy rates. According to majority of the scholars,
the major factor behind the improved social and economic status of women in Kerala is
literacy.
[1]

Under Non-Formal Education programme, about 40% of the centres in states and 10% of the
centres in UTs are exclusively reserved for females.
[17]
As of 2000, about 0.3 million NFE
centres were catering to about 7.42 million children, out of which about 0.12 million were
exclusively for girls.
[17]
Currently, in engineering, medical and other colleges, 30% of the seats
have been reserved for females.
[citation needed]
In rural India girls continue to be less educated than
the boys.
[17]

According to a 1998 report by U.S. Department of Commerce, the chief barrier to female
education in India are inadequate school facilities (such as sanitary facilities), shortage of female
teachers and gender bias in curriculum (majority of the female characters being depicted as weak
and helpless vs. strong, adventurous, and intelligent men with high prestige jobs)
[17]

There are very few colleges exclusively for men, whereas there are many colleges exclusively
for females. Many subjects are taught exclusively in girls colleges, thereby severely restricting
the choice of courses for boys.
[18][19]

The Prime Minister of India and the Planning Commission also vetoed a proposal to set up an
Indian Institute of Technology exclusively for females.
[20]

Child marriage
Child marriage has been traditionally prevalent in India and continues to this day. Historically,
young girls would live with their parents till they reached puberty. In the past, the child widows
were condemned to a life of great agony, shaving heads, living in isolation, and shunned by the
society.
[17]
Although child marriage was outlawed in 1860, it is still a common practice.
[40]

According to UNICEFs State of the Worlds Children-2009 report, 47% of India's women
aged 2024 were married before the legal age of 18, with 56% in rural areas.
[41]
The report also
showed that 40% of the world's child marriages occur in India.
[42]

Selective abortion and female infanticide
The number of girls born and surviving in India is significantly less compared with the number
of boys, due to the disproportionate numbers of female foetuses being aborted and baby girls
deliberately neglected and left to die.
[11]
The normal ratio of births should be 950 girls for every
1000 boys, however in some regions the number is as low as 300.
[11]

India has a low sex ratio, the chief reason being that many women die before reaching
adulthood.
[1]
Tribal societies in India have a better sex ratio than all other caste groups. This is in
spite of the fact that tribal communities have far lower levels of income, literacy and health
facilities.
[1]
It is therefore suggested by many experts, that the low sex ratio in India can be
attributed to female infanticides and sex-selective abortions.
Gender selection and selective abortion were banned in India in 1994, but despite this the use of
ultrasound scanning for gender selection continues.
[11]
Female infanticide (killing of girl infants)
is still prevalent in some rural areas.
[1]
India celebrates an annual Girl-child day, which seeks to
raise the status of girls and combat female infanticide.
[12]

Dowry
Main articles: Dowry, Dowry law in India, and Dowry death
In 1961, the Government of India passed the Dowry Prohibition Act, making the dowry demands
in wedding arrangements illegal.
[13]
However, many cases of dowry-related domestic violence,
suicides and murders have still been reported.
[14]

In 1985, the Dowry Prohibition (maintenance of lists of presents to the bride and bridegroom)
rules were framed. According to these rules, a signed list of presents given at the time of the
marriage to the bride and the bridegroom should be maintained. The list should contain a brief
description of each present, its approximate value, the name of whoever has given the present
and his/her relationship to the person. However, such rules are hardly enforced.
[15]

A 1997 report claimed that at least 5,000 women die each year because of dowry deaths, and at
least a dozen die each day in 'kitchen fires' thought to be intentional.
[16]
The term for this is
"bride burning" and is criticised within India itself.
[14]
Amongst the urban educated, such dowry
abuse has reduced dramatically.
Dowry death

This article is missing citations or needs footnotes. Please help add inline citations to guard
against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (October 2007)
Dowry deaths are the deaths of young women who are murdered or driven to suicide by
continuous harassment and torture by husbands and in-laws in an effort to extort an increased
dowry. Dowry deaths are reported in various South Asian countries such as India, Pakistan, and
Bangladesh. Dowry death is considered one of the many categories of violence against women in
South Asia.
Most dowry deaths occur when the young woman, unable to bear the harassment and torture,
commits suicide. Most of these suicides are by hanging, poisoning or by fire. Sometimes the
woman is killed by setting her on fire; this is known as "bride burning", and sometimes disguised
as suicide or accident. According to Indian police, every year it receives over 2,500 reports of
bride-burning
[1]
, while human rights organisations in Pakistan report over 300 deaths per year.
[2]

The Indian National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that there were about 6787 dowry
death cases registered in India in 2005. Incidents of dowry deaths during the year 2005 (6,787)
have increased significantly by 46.0 per cent over 1995 level (4,648). However, the increase was
marginal (0.1%) over quinquennial average of 2000-2004 and there was a decline by 3.4 per cent
(7,026) compared to year 2005. The bureau, reported a total of 2,276 female suicides due to
dowry disputes in 2006, that is six a day on an average
[3]
.
Dowry law in India
Payment of a dowry, giftoften financial, has a long history in many parts of the world. In
India, the payment of a dowry was prohibited in 1961 under Indian civil law and subsequently by
Sections 304B and 498a of the Indian Penal Code were enacted to make it easier for the wife to
seek redress from potential harassment by the husband's family. Dowry laws have come under
criticism that they are misused by women and their families.
Dowries
Gifts given by the parents of the bride are considered "stri-dhan", i.e. property of the woman,
traditionally representing her share of her parent's wealth
[1]
.
The 1961 Dowry Prohibition Act
This act [1] prohibits the request, payment or acceptance of a dowry, "as consideration for the
marriage". where "dowry" is defined as a gift demanded or given as a precondition for a
marriage. Gifts given without a precondition are not considered dowry, and are legal. Asking or
giving of dowry can be punished by an imprisonment of up to six months, or a fine of up to Rs.
15000 or the amount of dowry whichever is higher and imprisonment up to 5 years. It replaced
several pieces of anti-dowry legislation that had been enacted by various Indian states.
IPC Section 304B
This Section of the Indian Penal Code was inserted by a 1986 amendment. The Dowry deaths
law[2] defines a 'dowry death' as the death of a woman caused by any burns or bodily injury or
which does not occur under normal circumstances within seven years of her marriage. For a
woman's death to be a dowry death, it must also be shown that soon before her death she was
subjected to cruelty or harassment by her husband or any relative of her husband for, or in
connection with, any demand for dowry. If this is proved, the woman's husband or relative is
required to be deemed to have caused her death. Whoever commits dowry death is required to be
punished with imprisonment for a term which shall not be less than seven years but which may
extend to imprisonment for life.
IPC Section 498A
Section 498A was inserted into the penal code in 1983 it reads:
Whoever, being the husband or the relative of the husband of a woman, subjects such woman to cruelty
shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years and shall also be liable
to fine.
In practice, cruelty is taken to include the demanding of a dowry. This section is non-bailable,
non-compoundable (i.e. it cannot be privately resolved between the parties concerned) and
cognizable (i.e. the police can arrest the accused without investigation or warrants) on a report
from a woman or close relative. Another examples of a cognizable law in India was the
Prevention of Terrorist Activities Act.
Police often file charges against the husband, his parents and other relatives (whoever being
named on the complaint by the wife or her close relatives) and put them in jail. There is no
penalty (even a fine) for filing a false case. Many individuals have claimed this is being abused
by the wife or her close relatives.
In urban India, the majority of families have inadequate knowledge regarding section 498A of
the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The Malimath committee in 2003 proposed making amendments to
this section although such amendments have been opposed by women's groups and radical
feminists.
The Centre for Social Research India has released a research report[3] opposing amendments to
section 498A. According to this report, in the studied cases there were no convictions based
solely on section 498A. Although the report states that 60.5 percent of the studied cases were
falsified. They also state that many people believe the law has been abused by "educated and
independent minded women." A police official asserted that in his district one-third of dowry
murder cases were found totally false by the police. [4].
However, on December 17, 2003, the then Minister of State for Home Affairs, I.D. Swami said:
There is no information available with the Government to come to the conclusion that many
families in India are suffering due to exaggerated allegations of harassment and dowry cases
made by women against their husbands and other family members involving them in criminal
misappropriation and cruelty. [5]
On 20 July 2005, Justices Arijit Pasayat and H.K. Seema of the Indian Supreme Court declared
Section 498A to be constitutional."The object is to strike at the root of dowry menace. But by
misuse of the provision a new legal terrorism can be unleashed. The provision is intended to be
used as a shield and not an assassin's weapon. If [the] cry of "wolf" is made too often as a prank,
assistance and protection may not be available when the actual wolf appears," the Bench said.
[6].
Several reports of the abuse of Section 498A have involved couples based outside India
especially in the US & Canada. The United States Department of State has published the
following travel warning:
A number of US men who have come to India to marry Indian nationals have been arrested and
charged with crimes related to dowry extraction. Many of the charges stem from the US citizens
inability to provide an immigrant visa for his prospective spouse to travel immediately to the
United States. [7]
The courts sometimes order the US citizen to pay large sums of money to his spouse in exchange
for the dismissal of charges. The courts normally confiscate the Americans passport, and he
must remain in India until the case has been settled.[8]
It is stated in Travel Advisory by US, since the police may arrest anyone who is accused of
committing a crime (even if the allegation is frivolous in nature), the Indian criminal justice
system is often used to escalate personal disagreements into criminal charges. This practice has
been increasingly exploited by dissatisfied business partners, contractors, estranged spouses, or
other persons with whom the US citizen has a disagreement, occasionally resulting in the jailing
of US citizens pending resolution of their disputes. At the very least, such circumstances can
delay the US citizen's timely departure from India, and may result in an unintended long-term
stay in the country. Corruption in India, especially at local levels, is a concern, as evidenced by
Transparency Internationals Corruption Perception Index of 3.5, ranking India in 72nd place of
the worlds countries.
[2]

In a well publicized case, Dr. Balamurali Ambati, who earned his MD at age 17, and his family
were detained in India for over three years in a suit related to alleged dowry demands by the
family for his brother's wife Archana, which delayed Dr. Ambati's entry to the ophthalmology
program for two years, leaving him to begin his residency in 1998. All charges against him were
dismissed in October 1996 and all his family members were acquitted in June 1999.
[3]
During the
course of the trial the Ambatis produced a tape in which the father of Archana demanded US
$500,000 to drop all the charges although the details of this particular case are still debated in
India.
Sati (practice)
Sat (Devanagari: , the feminine of sat "true"; also called suttee)
[5]
is a funeral practice
among some Hindu communities in which a recently widowed woman would either voluntarily
or by use of force and coercion immolate herself on her husbands funeral pyre. This practice is
now rare and outlawed in modern India.
[1]

The term is derived from the original name of the goddess Sati, also known as Dakshayani, who
self-immolated because she was unable to bear her father Daksha's humiliation of her (living)
husband Shiva. The term may also be used to refer to the widow herself. The term sati is now
sometimes interpreted as "chaste woman."
Origin
Few reliable records exist of the practice before the time of the Gupta empire, approximately
400 AD. After about this time, instances of sati began to be marked by inscribed memorial
stones. The earliest of these are found in Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, though the largest collections
date from several centuries later, and are found in Rajasthan. These stones, called devli, or sati-
stones, became shrines to the dead woman, who was treated as an object of reverence and
worship. They are most common in western India.
[2]

By about the 10th century sati, as understood today, was known across much of the subcontinent.
It continued to occur, usually at a low frequency and with regional variations, until the early 19th
century.
Some instances of voluntary self-immolation by both women and men that may be regarded as at
least partly historical accounts are included in the Mahabharata and other works. However, large
portions of these works are relatively late interpolations into an original story,
[3]
rendering
difficult their use for reliable dating. Also, neither immolation nor the desire for self-immolation
are regarded as a custom in the Mahabharata. Use of the term 'sati' to describe the custom of self-
immolation never occurs in the Mahabarata, unlike other customs such as the Rajasuya yagna.
Rather, the self-immolations are viewed as an expression of extreme grief at the loss of a beloved
one.

Notable Indian women
Arts and entertainment
Singers and vocalists such as M.S. Subbulakshmi, Gangubai Hangal, Lata Mangeshkar and Asha
Bhosle are widely revered in India. Many actresses such as Aishwarya Rai. Anjolie Ela Menon is
a famous painter.
Sports
Although the general sports scenario in India is not very good, some Indian women have made
notable achievements in the field. Some of the famous female sportspersons in Indian include P.
T. Usha, J. J. Shobha (athletics), Kunjarani Devi (weightlifting), Diana Edulji (cricket), Saina
Nehwal (badminton) , Koneru Hampi (chess) and Sania Mirza (tennis). Karnam Malleswari
(weightlifter), is the only Indian woman to have won an Olympic medal (Bronze medal in 2000).
Politics
Through the Panchayat Raj institutions, over a million women have actively entered political life
in India.
[33]
As per the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendment Acts, all local elected bodies
reserve one-third of their seats for women. Although the percentages of women in various levels
of political activity has risen considerably, women are still under-represented in governance and
decisionmaking positions.
[18]

Some of the notable women leaders in India include Indira Gandhi, Sushma Swaraj, Vasundhara
Raje Scindia, Sheila Dikshit, Jayalalitha, Uma Bharati, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee Sindhu
Joyand Sonia Gandhi. On July 25, 2007 the country's ever first woman president Pratibha Patil
was sworn in.
Literature
Sudha Murthy, Sarojini Naidu, Chandabai, Subhadra Kumari Chauhan, Mahadevi Varma,
Shivani, Anita Desai, Arundhati Roy, Shashi Deshpande, Shobha De, Kiran Desai, Jhumpa
Lahiri, etc. are some of the notable female Indian authors.
Religion
Mata Amritanandamayi, Mother Meera, Mate Mahadevi
Other fields
Shahnaz Husain is one of the popular Indian beauticians and entrepreneur. Mirudhubashini
Govindarajan is a women's healthcare specialist.