The socialsystem of patriarchy is outdated as feudalism, but this old system of ideaswon’t go away overnight. Historically, the idea of patriarchy is a culturalinvention, not a natural or inevitable phenomenon. Patriarchy is an institutionalizedpattern of male dominance in society, it is not based on biological differencesbetween men and women but the stage of human development. This subordination ofwomen is deeply entrenched in our society where women are still undervalued andprovided worse jobs and wages as compared to male counterparts.
In modernsociety, women play a variety of important roles from birth to the grave. Thestatus of women is described as an aggregation of the position she occupies asa vocation, daughter, wife, and mother to any part of time including theattributes attached to these positions as well as consequential expected rightsand duties. Women play a significant role in everyone’s life; without women, wecannot imagine the progress of life. They are highly responsible for thesuccessful continuation of the life of this planet. In the olden times, therole of women was limited to only wives, and mothers with responsibilities tomake food, tending children, and taking care of the family members. But thecondition has been improved, they have started taking part in many activitiesother than family and kids.
When we talkabout the traditional role of women in Kashmir society, we imagine a lass withheadgear performing her daily chore. It is a fact that the tradition andculture of women’s lifestyles in Kashmir have remained the same for manycenturies. They were characterized by dominance and having lower social statusin society, in those days, women were the victims of the widespread illiteracy,segregation, and complete denial of individuality. Socially, women sufferedfrom the denial of freedom in their own houses and suppression, unequal, andinferior status. In traditional society, women were always considered assubordinate to male supremacy, they remained dependent on male members of thefamily and could not develop their personality or be independent within oroutside their family.
Women in thepast were in a paradoxical situation, where their role was minimal, theyparticipated actively in social, economic, and other activities, but often wereconsidered as inferior and subordinate to male supremacy. They were confined towork in the handicraft sector, with no formal education and social roles to beplayed by them in this male-dominated society. In rural areas, women workedside by side with their family members in the agricultural fields, but theircontribution was never considered as substantial. Nevertheless, in both ruraland urban areas women worked in and out of their homes and were socially andeconomically productive, but they were never appreciated for these roles.
When we talk about today’s world, we see a drastic change in our society. In Kashmir with the introduction of social reforms, works of the social sector, appearances of political consciousness, spreading of cultural awareness in which women felt concerned about their position, role, and status in and out of their family. Women, in general, developed an interest and motivation to come out of their homes for education, employment, and entertainment. Due to the rapid growth of education, modernization, urbanization, development in the field of transport and communication not only helped Kashmiri women to find themselves as per with men in the highest offices of Govt. but also opened new social norms and values for their development. The women started getting their education and showed interest in the political and professional fields. Besides, the other areas of social living, they have begun to come out of the domestic sphere and took professional roles outside their homes, this helped them to realize their potentialities, broaden their outlook and create a new meaning for themselves. The traditional role of a housewife gradually evolved into the dual and more fulfilling role of a professional working wife and housewife at the same time.
The woman inthe society of Kashmir has been subjected to great pressures over the pastyears. Their status in socially, economically, politically, and generally inKashmir is much higher than from past decades. A complete dramatic change hasbeen taken place by the Govt. in the changing status of Kashmiri women afterindependence. Cultural and structural changes reduce the exploitation of womento a great extent and provide equality of opportunities to women in variousfields. The Kashmiri women have left the secured domain of their home and arenow in the battlefield of life, fully armored with their talent. Now, no arearemained unconquered by Kashmiri women.
San’na Firdous is a Research Fellow