MIND SPACE (Reading for inspiration)

 Exploring the pastiche hegemony of men.

- Bagampiriyal

No matter how high their position or designation may be is in their office, women in India are still viewed as the family manager back home. They are expected to return home at a certain time, cook, clean and take care of family affairs. Mostly women are not seen as independent earners who command respect and dignity. Their contributions is mostly overlooked.  In most Indian families the income of a woman goes into the hands of her father or husband rather than in her hands. Contributions of women are invalidated in many Indian households. Women are thought to lack rationality and are supposed to be less committed to work. Women who earn more in their households are more likely to be psychologically abused than woman who earn less. It appears generally that the trodden pathways of dominance of men

have been undermined in crucial ways but still inequality persists in a more complex and nuanced guise.  Our community society and government intervention is required to put an end to modern slavery.

 

A real life story extracted from womenweb.in

Anita got married against her parents’ wishes. They were opposed to the idea of her choosing a man with very little educational qualifications and no fixed income.

Soon, she realized that her husband was an extremely insecure man who was jealous of his beautiful wife loved by his friends and family alike. He tried imposing restrictions on her movements outside the house. He kept abusing her emotionally driving her towards suicidal thoughts. It was during this phase that she embraced motherhood but her frail state of mind barely let her enjoy this new stage.

The situation became worse with every passing day and she sank into the dark world of depression. When Anita was battling the worst phase of her life, her husband had an extramarital affair with one of their close relatives. Despite knowing it all, she couldn’t afford to leave him because of her financial dependence. 

“It was by God’s grace that my parents eventually accepted my marriage and my mother turned out to be my biggest source of strength in a phase where I started having multiple panic attacks,” she says. 

Unfortunately, she lost her mother very soon yet her emotional wreckage meant nothing to her husband. After suffering in silence for more than a decade, she decided to take charge of her life for her the sake of her late mother. She joined meditation classes and then took up teaching. As her emotional well-being and financial independence improved, her father supported her in getting a divorce without any alimony. Now she lives alone and has found happiness in her family and her job as a teacher.

Her parting words speak volumes about the tough woman that she has turned out to be today, “No one can help us except for ourselves.”