PROJECT

ON
Sociology- II
Topic: Comparative Study of Status of Hindu
and Muslim Women in Society.

Submitted By:-
Yogendra Singh
Roll. No. 147
 Acknowledgement

I would like to thank my sociology teacher, Dr. Lalima Singh,

for providing me the framework of the project without which
this project not has been completed.
The guidelines, framework, timely help and worthy tips
have been provided by her, as and when we required it. Had
not she been there, this project could not have been started.
I would also like to thank Gaurav Shukla and each and
every one who was engaged in the process of completion of
this project. Though this project is mine, yet it belongs to
everyone who helped it during its making.
Heartfelt thanks to all of you.

-Yogendra Singh
 Introduction
The status of women in India has been subject
to many great changes over the past few
millennia. From equal status with men in ancient
times through the low points of the medieval
period to the promotion of equal rights by many
reformers, the history of women in India has been
eventful. In modern India, women have adorned
high offices in  India  including that of
the President, Prime minister, Speaker of the Lok
Sabha, Leader of Opposition, etc. The
current President of India is a woman.
In the present time women are treated at equal
level with that of men. Women have achieved high
goals in every field. On the other hand there are
millions of women who are deprived off education
and their social condition is not very good. They
often become the victims of domestic violence and
other cruel treatments.
 Social and Historical Perspective.
Historical practices
Traditions among some communities such
as sati, jauhar, and devadasi have been banned and
are largely defunct in modern India. However,
some cases of these practices are still found in
remote parts of India. The purdah is still practised
by Indian women among some communities,
and child marriage remains prevalent despite it
being an illegal practice, especially under current
Indian laws.

Sati

Sati is an old, largely defunct custom, among

some communities in which the widow was
immolated alive on her husband's funeral pyre.
Although the act was supposed to be a
voluntary on the widow's part, it is believed to
have been sometimes forced on the widow. It
was abolished by the British in 1829. There
have been around forty reported cases of sati
since independence In 1987, the Roop
Kanwar case of Rajasthan led to The
Commission of Sati (Prevention) Act
Jauhar

Jauhar refers to the practice of the voluntary

immolation of all the wives and daughters of
defeated warriors, in order to avoid capture
and consequent molestation by the enemy. The
practice was followed by the wives of
defeated Rajput rulers, who are known to
place a high premium on honour.

Purdah

Purdah is the practice among some

communities of requiring women to cover
their bodies so as to cover their skin and
conceal their form. It imposes restrictions on
the mobility of women, it curtails their right
to interact freely and it is a symbol of the
subordination of women. It does not reflect
the religious teachings of either Hinduism or
Islam, contrary to common belief, although
misconception has occurred due to the
ignorance and prejudices of religious leaders
of both faiths.
 Devadasis

Devadasi is a religious practice in some parts

of southern India, in which women are
"married" to a deity or temple. The ritual was
well established by the 10th century A.D. In
the later period, the illegitimate sexual
exploitation of the devadasi's became a norm
in some parts of India.

Condition of Hindu and Muslim Women at Present.

The Hindu Woman:

The laws and rights of marriage and divorce (if at all) are undefined
or varied for the Hindu Woman.

Choice of partner is limited because she can only marry within her
own caste; moreover her horoscope must match that of the intending
bridegroom/family.

The family of the girl has to offer an enormous dowry to the

bridegroom/family.

Remarriage is a big problem.

The widow is considered to be a curse and must not be seen in public.

She cannot wear jewellery or colourful clothes. (She may not even
take part in her children's marriage!)

Child and infant marriage is encouraged.

In the modern period there is change in the view of families. Now
women are being given the chance to develop their education, talent
and self-confidence. Women are achieving their aims and are bringing
proud to their families and to the society. Inter caste marriages are
promoted now days.

Muslim Women

The Muslim woman has the same right as the Muslim man in all
matters including divorce.

She enjoys property and inheritance rights. (Which other religion

grants women these rights?). She can also conduct her own separate
business.

The dowry in Islam is a gift from a husband to his wife.

A Muslim widow is allowed to remarry, and her remarriage is the

responsibility of the Muslim society. 

Marriage is between consenting adults. Since marriage is a more

significant institution than a financial one which needs maturity,
Maturity and understanding is required for marriage as much.
Analysis of situation of Hindu and Muslim Women
The economic differentiation constitutes probably the primary
source of differentiation in status between Muslim and Hindu women
in the aggregate, since the household's level of assets ownership,
occupation and income possibilities critically determine the basic
conditions of life of the women. However, there are significant
regional differences in this: Muslims are generally poor in the north
(especially rural areas) and the east, but less so in the south.

But other findings of the study are much less predictable, and do
much to demolish the damaging stereotypes that are so widely
purveyed about Muslim women.

Education
One of the standard assumptions about Muslim women is that
religion prevents them from getting more equal access to education. It
is certainly true that Muslim women are more likely to be illiterate
than Hindu women (in the survey, 59 per cent had never attended
school and less than 10 per cent had completed school). However, the
study shows that this is essentially the result of low socio-economic
status, rather than religion. Across the survey, among all communities
and caste groups, financial constraints and gender bias dominate over
other factors in determining levels of education. Indeed, in those
regions where Muslims are better off (as in the south and to a lesser
extent in the west), Muslim women also have higher levels of
education.
However, two other features that are more specific to the Muslim
community may have operated to devalue continuing education for
girls. The first is that Muslim men also have very low educational
attainment in general. The study found that 26 per cent of educated
Muslim women had illiterate husbands. This low male education level
would create further pressures to impose ceilings on girls' education,
so as not to render them "unmarriageable".

Marriage
In addition, the low age of marriage is a major inhibiting
factor. At the national level, the mean age of marriage of Muslim girls
is very low at 15.6 years, and in the rural north it falls to an appalling
13.9 years.

Low marriage age has a number of other adverse implications: it is

usually associated with high early fertility, which affects women's
nutrition and health status; it tends to reduce women's autonomy and
agency in the marital home and to create conditions of patriarchal
subservience that get perpetuated through life, and it thereby often
reduces self-worth.

This, in turn, may affect women's work participation in direct and

indirect ways. It is well known that the work participation of Muslim
women is very low, but the study indicates that this may be less due to
the force of religion per se than to the patriarchal structures and
patterns as well as low mobility and lack of opportunity that define
their lives. It is worth noting that the work participation rate of
women across communities tends to be low in certain regions,
especially in the north and the east.
Work
Some of this is due to straightforward control over women's agency
by male members of the household. Seventy five per cent of the
women in the survey (both Hindu and Muslim) reported that they
need permission from their husbands to work outside the home.
Interestingly, the study revealed that across the board women in India
tend to have relatively less autonomy of decision-making within the
household.

Less than 10 per cent of the respondents took any decisions on their
own in major or minor matters, and among the 30 per cent who took
decisions jointly with their husbands, Muslim women reported greater
consultation than Hindus for all categories of decisions. Clearly,
however, patriarchal control remains one important constraint upon
the outside work of women, among Muslims as well as certain other
social categories.

But in addition, most of the outside work that the representative

Muslim woman has access to falls in the lowest paid and most
exploited categories of labour. Such activities - self-employed in low-
productivity activities in the informal sector, as casual labourers and
domestic servants - imply poor working conditions and low wages. It
is, therefore, possible that Muslim women are kept out of the paid
workforce not only by religious or purdah type motivations, but
perhaps more significantly by low education, lack of opportunity, low
mobility and the inability to delegate domestic responsibilities.

Domestic Violence
In terms of domestic violence - which is widely recognised to be
increasing in India - the incidence cuts across caste, class and
community. The survey finds that over 50 per cent of the reported
violence (which may, of course, be different from the actual incidence
of violence) is among the Scheduled Caste and the Scheduled Tribe
households, which also happen to be the poorest of the poor. Muslim
women come in third (after Other Backward Castes) at 18 per cent.
What is possibly more significant is that husbands were identified as
the primary perpetrators in more than 80 per cent of cases.

EFFECTIVELY, what this study shows is that

Hindu-Muslim differences in patterns of marriage, autonomy,
mobility and domestic violence are insignificant. There is no apparent
community-wise variation in women's decision-making, mobility and
access to public spaces. Rather, what the survey indicates is that most
women in India - across communities and regions - have very little
autonomy and control over their own lives. Of course, such
constraints are not felt equally by all women, but the distinctions are
determined more by class and geographical location than by
community. Indeed, regional development appears to be a better
predictor of the status of women and "Muslimness" or religion per se.
These are obviously extremely important results, which point to a different
direction for public policy as well. There are clear indications of the need for a
new, less predetermined conception of community and especially of the status
of women within a community. This would go beyond the patterns of special
group recognition, in which notions of "identity" (however patriarchal) are
maintained at all costs. It would also have to avoid getting bogged down by
controversies over claims of the minorities of enhanced representation in
government jobs and the like.

Rather, the social and economic processes that confront marginal groups in
general need to be addressed - to enable greater real democracy across different
social groups and across gender within social groups.
Conclusion
On the basis of above facts, it can be concluded that there are merits
and demerits in both the religion regarding the condition of women.
Due to these very little opportunity has been given to women

As far as condition of women is considered in the

modern time, there is a change in the trend attitude
of the families and society. In the period of
globalisation, women of both the religions are
being given the opportunity to develop their talent
and self-confidence and education has played a
crucial role in this. Today, women are doing
exceptionally well in different areas of life. It is
the need of the hour that opportunities should be
given to the daughters and women of the families
so that not only family but the country would
prosper.
It is rightly said that,
If you educate a boy then you educate a single
person,
If you educate a woman then you educate the
whole family.