In our last class, we discussed a little about the different roles that women and men have in the world. We made a list of the possible roles that men and women have in India. The women mainly take care of the children, cook, clean, are the care givers, care for her husband, etc. The men are mainly responsible for the finances of the house and the family, he probably also leads spiritually. As we discussed the different roles, I thought about the roles that we have here. I thought about my role as a woman, as a female student, and as a Latter-Day Saint woman.
I think that my roles as a wife, when I get married, will not be that much different than those of the Indian women. I will be primarily responsible for the care of the children, while my husband is at work. I will also be doing primarily the cooking and the cleaning, although I expect my husband to help me out a lot. I thought it was interesting that the men don't do anything in the kitchen. It makes sense for me, that my husband would help me out with the house because I will be so tired from the kids all day, and quite frankly, I will be upset if he does not. However, this attitude is one that has been developed in me in a Western environment. The women that I will be around, will not have that mindset, and I will try my best to not be judgmental of a mindset that is different from mine.
Another thing that we talked about was the Ramayana, and how Sita is the ideal women. I thought to myself "what is the ideal woman?" We learned that Sita was 100% loyal to Rama, she didn't have to be exiled with him, but she went. She was beautiful, she was kind, compassionate, devoted, intelligent, basically everything a woman should be. This serves as a role model for the women who are Hindu. Which makes complete sense as to why the women in India act the way they act, and do what to do. The same principle applies to the men and being like the "perfect" man, Rama.
Something that may be a little different for me to try to understand, but I hope that I understand it more as I spend time there, is the fact that men are preferred. I don't necessarily think that it's because women are seen as nothing and that men are better. I just think back on what we talked about in class. When there are daughters in a family, those daughters will get married off, and move with their husbands, and take care of their husband's family, etc. In a sense, men are a better "investment" because a family knows that their sons will take care of them when they are old. I don't necessarily think that this means that women are hated and unappreciated, but I can see why there are crimes against women, etc. I am interested to see how the women I interview, view themselves in this perspective and how they feel about having daughters. It will be interesting to also see how younger girls see themselves in society. Do they see themselves a just another possession for a husband and random family? or do they feel like they belong to their actual family now? I obviously will not be asking these questions to them directly, these are just some thoughts that I have been having regarding the topic and I hope to gain some insight on their perceptions, once I start the observation and participation.
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