The status of women in India has been subject to many great changes over the past few years, actually, 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.
Yes it’s true that Medieval India was not women's age. It is supposed to be the 'dark age' for them. Medieval India saw many foreign conquests, which resulted in the decline in women's status. The status of women in modern India is a sort of a paradox. If on one hand she is at the peak of ladder of success, on the other hand she is mutely suffering the family violence.
As compared with past, women in modern times have achieved a lot. Women have left the secured domain of their home and are now in the battlefield of life, fully armored with their talent. They are proving themselves.
The plight of women in medieval India and at the starting of modern India can be summed up in the words of great poet Rabindranath Tagore:
"O Lord! Why have you not given woman the right to conquer her destiny?
Why does she have to wait head bowed,
By the roadside, Waiting with tired patience,
Hoping for a miracle in the morrow?"
When we hear “Indian women who have brought a change in our country”, the names that may pop into most of our heads are Jhansi ki Rani, Indira Gandhi, Mother Teresa, Kiran Bedi, Kalpana Chawla, Saina Nehwal, Medha Patkar, Aishwariya Rai Bachchan, Lata Mangehkar, Arundhati Roy, Prathiba Patil… But what about names like Bachendri Pal- the first Indian woman to climb the Mt.Everest, or Justice M.Fatima Beevi- the first woman judge of the supreme court of India or perhaps Harita Kaur Deol- first Indian woman pilot in the Indian Air Force on a solo fight.
Names like Kamaljit Sandhu- first Indian woman to win a gold in the Asian Games or Punita Arora- the first woman in the Indian Army to don the highest rank of Lieutenant General, do not really strike us. We must not forget that Indian women are not lagging behind men but have reached and even proved themselves better suited in each and every height and pinnacle that men have.
If I am asked to tell about a woman who has been an agent of change in my community or country, I could go on, as the list is endless. Whether it is in the field of sports or in the political front, in literature or in the sphere of art and entertainment, Indian women have mastered anything and everything which a woman can dream of. They participate in all activities such as education, media, art and culture, service sectors, science and technology, etc. It is not merely about names by which I shall support my argument. Statistics of 2009-2010 have shown that a total of 276,806 women were enrolled in engineering and technology courses at the start of the academic session. This shows that women have broken yet another glass ceiling- one of the most resilient ones in Indian academics.
However the woman I would like to mention is an eminent personality yet remains unknown to many people. She has been in politics, she was the aunt of the first woman prime minister of India- Indira Gandhi, and has held the post that no woman in the world ever had held, and till date no Indian has either.
When Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa was appointed President of the sixty-first session of the UN General Assembly, she became only the third woman to occupy the prestigious post. The first woman (and first Indian) president of the United Nations General Assembly, in 1953 was Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit. She was the President of the eighth session. Since then, only two more women have held that prestigious post namely Angie Elisabeth Brooks of Liberia and Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa of Bahrain. Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit spoke against apartheid and in favour of world peace.
Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit was born in Allahabad on August 18, 1900 and was given the name Swarup Kumari ("Beautiful Princess") Nehru. She was the eldest daughter of a distinguished Brahmin lawyer, Motilal Nehru and his wife, Swarup Rani Nehru. She was eleven years younger than her brother, Jawaharlal Nehru.
She is not known as Jawaharlal’s sister, but for being elected a member of the Legislative Assembly of the United Provinces in 1937. Not only that, she also became Minister for Local Self-Government and Public Health, the position which she held till her party resigned from office in 1939. She was President of the All-India Women's Conference from 1941 to 1943 and was the founder and President of the All-India Save the Children.
She was arrested in her mid-thirties during British rule and sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment for presiding over a crowded public meeting where the Independence pledge was taken. This was the first of her three imprisonments.
Following India's independence from the British in 1947 she entered the diplomatic service and became India's first ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1947 to 1949, the United States and Mexico from 1949 to 1951, Ireland from 1955 to 1961 (during which time she was also the Indian High Commissioner to the United Kingdom), and Spain from 1958 to 1961. Between 1946 and 1968 she also headed the Indian delegation to the United Nations. She also led India’s first Goodwill Mission to China.
Her brother’s death on May 27, 1964 came as a great shock to her. In India, she served as governor of Maharashtra from 1962 to 1964, after which she was elected to the Indian Lok Sabha from Phulpur, her brother's former constituency. She held office from 1964 to 1968. In 1979 she was appointed the Indian representative to the UN Human Rights Commission, after which she retired from public life.
When Indira Gandhi, niece of Mrs. Pandit, was appointed Prime Minister of India in 1965, she became one of the first Heads of Government for an Asian country, continuing the tradition of Sri Lanka’s Sirimavo R.D. Bandaranaike, who became the first woman Prime Minister in 1960. Pandit was a harsh critic of her niece Indira Gandhi. Furious at Indira Gandhi’s state-of-emergency suspension of democratic processes from 1975 to 1977, she campaigned against her niece. Her efforts resulted in an electoral defeat for Gandhi.
She died on December 1, 1990 at Dehradun. Vijaya Lakshmi used to say that none should mourn her death as she had lived long. Her family members took her word to heart and at Sangam instead of mourning her death they celebrated her life. On the occasion of her death, President Ramaswami Venkataraman described Pandit as a ‘luminous strand in the tapestry of India's freedom struggle.”
Her presence can be felt even today. Her daughter Nayantara Sahgal is a wonderful novelist. Gita Sahgal, the writer and journalist on issues of feminism, fundamentalism, and racism, director of prize-winning documentary films, and human rights activist, is her grand-daughter.
Pandit's own writings include So I Became a Minister (1939); Prison Days (1946); The Evolution of India (1958) and The Scope of Happiness: A Personal Memoir (1979).
Mrs. Pandit was a trailblazer in women’s rights in India, laying precedent for future generations of empowered women in the civil and governmental services. According to her, politics is a mean of social economic reform which strengthens human rights and empowers women. She was against monopoly of power by one family. Distinctive in her elegance, courage, and dedication, Mrs. Pandit was an asset to the national movement. She had great will power. She was courageous in her agonizing situations and led her life triumphantly. Her life was an example which all humanity should follow. A famous quote taken from her life is "The more we sweat in peace the less we bleed in war."
There is thus no doubt that we are in the midst of a great revolution in the history of women. The evidence is everywhere; the voice of women is increasingly heard in Parliament, courts and in the streets. Now that women of India are emerging in every aspect of life, I feel much more proud to say that I am an Indian. And even though I will not be able to excel to the extent Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit has, I hope I too will be a crusader in the journey of change for my country India and perform to my fullest.
The desire of Indian women can be best summed up in the following lines of 'Song of an African Women':
I have only one request.
I do not ask for money
Although I have need of it,
I do not ask for meat . . .
I have only one request,
And all I ask is
That you remove
The road block
From my path.
No matter what one says, it can be rightly said, hats off to the ladies…
