Women suffer universally

Oppression of women seems to be a universal phenomenon. It could be more severe where religions like Islam and Hinduism are in control. It is also more pronounced in the poor societies where women remain largely illiterate and having no say in deciding her fate. She is a stooge at the hands of men and her life is largely decided by the norms of the society which have been put together by the 'stronger' sex and enforced by him.

The exponents of each religion claim that in their faith women are respected, and their status is as dignified as man. They quote extensively from the holy texts to prove the same.

Those who expound the Hindu perspective, for instance, want others to believe that women were respected and were equal to men in the Rig Veda. Also they mention that women were equal to the priests and could function shoulder to shoulder with them. In the later scriptures, there is ample mention of the female ‘Sakthi’ and that women are personified as divine goddesses (‘devis’). Each one of the ‘Thrimurthi’s had a female part and their later avtars are known as’Radha-Krishan” (Radha is the wife of Krishna) and Sita Ram (sita is the wife of Ram) and the destroyer God, Siva is powerless without Parvathi, his wife.



Women like Gargi, were an integral part of the intellectual discourses on the Vedas and Upanishads during her times.

Hindu marriage is a scared thing and there is no scope for divorce. Even death cannot part them and that is why women immolate themselves in the funeral pyre of their husbands!



The same way Islamists speak of the dignity of their women and how their Quran expounds this view. This is irrespective of the fact the Mohammed had a number of wives some of them were just in their childhood. A man can take any number of wives as long as he can provide for her. He can also can divorce her at his will by saying some word/s three times or so. Also temporary marriages are permitted too. The whole text gives the view that woman is for the pleasure of man.



In Christainty, God has made man in his image and women in the mage of man. She sinned and she brought all evil upon humans. She is seen as a temptress and evil incarnated, by later saints. Christ did not choose any woman desciple and his church has banned her from becoming priests. His desciples, through thier epistles, have asked women to be quiet in a congregation and to be subservient to the man.She has to cover her head while praying (may be beacuse she brought in the first sin).

Hindus moslems oppress women more than other sects, it seems. From conception to death, women are suffering.

Even Budhism and Jainism do not treat women equal to men. They are always decrimnated gainst. They are oppressed everywhere. At least one in three women suffer at the hands of men-even in the advanced societies! This is too much.



It is not her fault that she is born a woman nor is it his superiority that he was born a man. Both are intellectually and otherwise equal and no man has a right to harm or suprress or opress a woman. It is the duty of every society to give equal education and employment opportunities for both men and women and to treat them at par.