Running head: WOMENS STATUS IN INDIA COMPARED TO IN THE UNITED STATES

Womens Status in India Compared to in the United States

Toria Biggs
University of Kentucky

WOMENS STATUS IN INDIA

Abstract

Various aspects of women in India and in the United States are very similar and different
at the same time. Women have just had more opportunities in the United States to find
jobs and roles of higher status than women in India. United States government takes more
actions against violent and sexual crimes. Therefore, there are higher expectations of
what is considered rape. Education in America is extremely important even for women.
However, in India education is looked at as a waste of time for women. Media in India
and the United States similarly, portrays women as objects, rather than people. Personal
life and marriage are extremely different for the two cultures. As a result of all the
problems going on there are empowerment of women organizations in the United States
and India.
Keywords: women, United States, India, roles, status, culture, education, beliefs, society

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Womens status in India compared to in the United States

There is a lot of work to be done in India and in the United States for women to
not be considered second-class citizens anymore, but especially in India. Women in
India take on many different roles than women in the United States. They have many
different obstacles that they all have to overcome in their day-to-day lives. Although, not
many people are aware of the ways women are treated in United States and in India, this
essay digs deeper into the differences and similarities.
Crimes against women in India
Crimes against women in India are increasing. Indrani a freshman at UK that I
interviewed stated women in India get little to no respect from society, mostly from
guys (I. Chatterjee, personal communication, October 4th, 2014). Parents and moms
especially are scared to give birth to girls because of how poorly they are treated in
society. Not only are men seen as superior to women in India, but also women are seen
as lower than second-class citizens, and for that they are treated like it (Current Status of
Women in India). Teenage girls are scared to walk their owns streets because of the
skewed numbers of kidnappings, rapes and abuse their society encounters on a daily
basis. Shivani stated, Being a women in India can be difficult. They are expected to
follow all the norms and traditions. Women here are not told what to wear, but in India
they dont have that much freedom (S. Patel, personal communication, October 14th,
2014). Even though slowly more and more protests and feminist are becoming apparent
in Indias everyday society, there are so many things that still need to be changed.
Due to the overpopulation of women in India, there have been cases where baby
girls are aborted and even killed after birth without the mothers consent. Around two

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million women are missing in India each year (EPW, 2012). The ratio of women to men
is noticeably low. More than 24,000 reported, rape registered a 9.2% rise of the previous
year (BBC, News). A little more than half the rape victims are between 18 and 30 and
majority of the victims knew the person that violated them in some sort of way (EPW,
2012). The women of India are technically legal citizens, but because of the men are not
treated as so. They are the ones expected to have the children and at the same time do not
get adequate health care, while expected to complete laborious jobs on top of that. The
women of the house are the ones who put together dinners, but can only eat after the men
eat. In some cases, women have to eat their husbands left overs, taking in consideration
that the families are not wealthy and the men of the household get to eat everything first.
Education In India for Women
Even though the government allows girls to attend school with no financial
burden to their family until they are 14, only 39% of girls will attend (Current Status of
Women in India). There are many reasons for this, one being that majority of the schools
teachers and students are males so an educated girl can be looked at as a threat and could
be raped. After their education, there is not much opportunity in the work force, so
parents think of it as more useless and the girls time can be used better off at home. The
whole idea is for a girl to eventually be married off to a man, and if she is spending more
of her time getting educated and not learning how to clean, cook and take care of a
family, she may not be wanted by anybody.
Education In the United States for Women
In contrast education in India is relatively more expensive than education in America. In
America education over time has become increasingly more important for women and

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men. A long time ago women were seen as just homemakers even in America. After
World War II, many women had to take over their husbands jobs. When the men
returned from war the women did not want to leave their new jobs to go back to just
taking care of their home and kids. Thats when feminism in America really started to
take off. Feminism is the belief that women should be treated as equal as men.
According to the Census Bureau (2012) 25% fewer men graduate from college than
women. That is extraordinary, but there are still so many things that need to be changed
in America for women to have a bigger voice. The average number of years adults go to
schooling in the United States is twice as much of the number of years adults go to school
in India (Nation Master, 2014). United States has 27% more children that complete
primary school than in India (Nation Master, 2014). These statistics could be linked to
the reason that a majority of girls in India do not finish primary school because their
families do not believe its worth it.
Media In America and India
Media sends the message that girls value is linked to their body, and the more
women or girls that believe that, the less number of them will be seeking political roles.
Only 17%, of woman are in Congress, 34 women have ever served as governors
compared to 2,319 men (J.Siebel, Miss Representation, 2011). The U.S. is 90th in the
world in terms of women in national legislatures in America. Similarly, between India
and America girls values are still not to the standards they should be. The media has
created this unrealistic women that is portrayed in our every day lives. This skews the
views and expectations that men have for women also. This can also be the reason that
women dont gain the respect from men because they are only seen as sexual objects and

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not looked at for their intellectual capabilities. Media even in cartoons make women into
sex symbols, showing them with very little clothes on and making them abnormally not
proportionally. For example, the American and Indian Barbie dolls are not proportional
what so ever, and they would not survive if that were in the physical world due to their
unnatural bodies.
Marriage in India and United States
One thing that stands out to me that I have heard through the multiple interviews I
did is about marriage. In India, women are expected to be pure before marriage and men
to almost go out and test drive before they are married. Arranged marriages are the
ideal way people get married there. Love marriages are seen as wrong, sinful and are
shamed upon. Some believe how other countries get married because of love is the
reason why their divorce rates are so high. Indian girls parents are stricter on daughters
than on sons because they will be giving her away to a man of the parents choice and she
needs to still be innocent. When I hear this, I think about the double standards that are
apparent in my everyday life in America. Guys in general can sleep around and be
acclaimed for it, where as a girl you get labeled as possibly a slut. So double standards
do exist everywhere. It bewilders me that parents are the ones choosing who their
daughters marry because in the environment and society I have grown up in it is the
women and man that are in love that get to make that decision.
Crime In India and United States
Are we really safer in the United States than in India? In America nearly1 out of 5
(18.3%) women and 1 in 71 men (14%) reported experiencing rape at some time in their
lives (CDC, 2012). According to Nation Master (2014) the United States is ranked 9th in

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rape rate, which is 15 more times than India. Considering that statistic, fear of crime in
India is 20% more than the fear of crime in United States. This is also not showing the
true statistics in India because of the pressure society puts on women, there is a lot of
rape cases that are never reported. Rape is so underreported that people can only estimate
to the best of their knowledge how often that rape occurs. Within marriages it is not
considered rape in India even if one of the partners says no. Sexual crime and rape is not
only a problem in India, but is also universal, just handled differently everywhere. The
problem with both systems is that if you have money in either of these places you have
the likely hood of getting away with a crime rather than if you are poor. The figure
below shows rape cases in India in 2011, so that you can get an idea where they are
mostly happening
Table 1
Rape Map of number of reported cases in India in 2011.

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Delhi has been one of the most dangerous places to live for women and has one of the
highest rates of crime.
Personal Life in the United States and India
In America, we value our freedom and rights more than anything, so when those
get taken away from us it is a big ordeal. Americans have the freedom to be individuals
by dressing the way they please, expressing religious practices, and being your own
person. In India it is not that simple, depending on where you live. You are judged
because of societal expectations and taboos on the way you live your life. If you lived in
India instead of the United States you would have 8 times higher chances of dying in
infancy, die 11.78 years sooner and make 93.32 percent less money (If it were my home).
The Indian government controls way more than United States government in the sense of
how you need to act in everyday society.
A 16-year-old girl reported that she had been gang raped. Then was raped again
by the same man the next day and threaten because she went to the police. Once the
charges had finally been filled she was set on fire and later died from her injuries. The
activist of the Delhi police arrest against them for the gang rape of the young girl stated
that:
We shall continue to protest with thousands of others and demand the right of
women, as well as of everyone, including men and women from Dalit, Muslim
and other marginalized identities, to be free and adventurous, as we did on 19
December. If this Government and the Delhi Police holds that this as a crime
deserving our arrest, so be it,

WOMENS STATUS IN INDIA

At the protest Delhi police used water cannons for the first time on the protestors of antirape. This is different because in the United States we have the freedom of speech and
are allowed to speak up for whatever we believe in if we are not causing any harm or
breaking any laws while doing it.
Family Ideals in India
Most women in India are expected to move in with their husband and his
relatives, but they still maintain strong bonds with their own family. A household usually
contains 3 to 4 generations through the male decent (Country Studies). Loyalty is a huge
part of their values and religion. They also take loyalty within a family very seriously.
Families are almost like the Hinduism hierarchy, where each family member has social
roles and the elders are the highest and most respected of them all. While, men are still
held at higher statuses than any of the women or daughters in the family.
Empowerment of Women
Women are being educated about the social problems in India. Therefore they
can educate their children and be better role models. In addition women are allowed to
have a voice in public issues there for sharing issues that need to be taken care of in their
communitys. They just have to be willing to stand up for what they believe in and not
just be another statistic. There are various scholarships that are given to women who go
back to school. These grants are given after they figure out that some women can
achieve different goals better than men if they are well educated and adequate for the job.
In the United States there are large number of women standing up for what they
belief in. Women above society is an organization through my all girl high school, with
the objective of spreading the idea that women have the capability of doing anything they

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put their minds too. Times are changing, and with that the mindset that people have about
society needs to change along with it.

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WOMENS STATUS IN INDIA

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Xu, B. (2013). Backgrounders. Retrieved from
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