I am not getting inclined suddenly towards thinking about different issues, I have been thinking about them for a long time. But then again, I am neither preacher nor someone who knows a lot or can figure out a way to remedy all that makes us suffer. That was the reason I never wrote anything about anything here. But this time what I thought was more interesting, or at least I thought it was so.
It was about 9:30 in night as I was standing outside a Sai temple, on crossroads. A lot of people were there, leaving and coming. I had to stay there for a while so I just started looking at girls. But before you assume that I was checking them out, let me tell you that I was rather analyzing that how many were wearing western dresses and how many were wearing Indian ones. Not that I have any kind of prejudice for any of above dressing senses, it was just to get an idea of female demography of dressing sense in Udaipur.
But I was soon thinking about something else. What happened was that I didn’t find many girls to come to any conclusion. In about 8 minutes, only 13 girls passed, 7 wearing western and 6 Indian. What I started thinking was about the reason of dearth of girls. Not only girls, there were very few women too, while men were everywhere. Last I saw, India had a sex ratio of 1000:933 (2001 census), which is quite OK, at least it made sure that there was not actually a true dearth of females. It was there for some reason-for some reason females were not coming out, especially in night. I can confirm that this is not the case in daytime. After thinking a while, I narrowed it down to four reasons-
1. 1. Our society is male dominated-Which means here men ‘call the shots’. So they decide to go out and decide what to buy or not, not needing the female opinion or help. Women are restricted in homes, doing all that they are supposed and asked by men. Men don’t care for, and won’t need, any kind of suggestion from their female friends of relatives and so, no woman out there. But this argument fails to provide a sufficient reason for the presence of women in daytime.
2. 2. Our cities are unsafe for women- Easiest reason to think of. It is dangerous for women to come out in night, for there are eve-teasers and offensive people. No need to elaborate.
3. 3. Our society is indeed really well structured and defined- Which implies that women and men both are given their specific tasks and everything goes as supposed. Men are supposed to do all the stuff which needed to be done outside, like buying stuff, getting laundry, booking tickets or even bringing someone home. Women are supposed to do all the stuff that goes in home, like cooking, cleaning, feeding the children or anything else. So it can be said that women are not actually restricted to homes, it is just that they are happy and satisfied with the system, doing what it expects from them. A simple and satisfying argument it might be, but just like the first argument, it fails to explain that why then there are enough females out in daylight and not in night. But still, we must consider it in absence of specific data and professional opinion.
4. 4. Society restricts itself- Ever heard of an infamous girl, who used to come home at 12 in night daily? Sure you have. But who actually knew why she did so? Some people might know. It is highly possible that she was doing a job at some BPO firm or was chief chef at a restaurant. But rather than thinking along these lines, those who didn’t know the reason, were thinking that she was ill-character girl who was probably hanging out (and going further) with her male friends. This made her infamous, and some even called her a whore. Who girl, who knows this incident, would like to go to buy something late in night (provided the markets are open anyway)? Probably very few. So it turns out that women are not coming out because they don’t want infamy in society and hence, the society is restricting itself.
Conclusions-
Argument 2 and 4 are more probable, as they at least successfully explain why there are women out in daytime and not in night.
There can’t be a single argument summing it all. In a society like this which is so complex, there must be families with different reasons for this. Let’s say in one family, men indeed call the shots (and women of those families neither come out in night nor in daytime) or that some regions of the city are indeed unsafe for women or some families do have a well defined job for everyone or that though coming late in night is not a material in high-rise buildings but is in middle and lower class families.
I am neither professional nor I know anything about this, I just wrote what I thought was a little bit interesting and insightful. I am not writing a thesis or doing survey or research on it. It is just a proof that sometimes, when you have got plenty of time and nothing to do, you come out with interesting things.
Any other reason popped in your mind? It will be appreciated and will entered here with due credit. Contact me at- kittoo4202004@gmail.com
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