1.1: ACHIEVING GENDER EQUALITY IN INDIA........WHAT WORKS AND WHAT DOESN'T.........

-Smriti Sharma

Smriti Sharma is a lecturer in economics at new castle university business school, U.K. She does research in numerous
fields. Especially focuses on importance of behavioural traits and socio emotional skills both as predictors and outcomes
in the process of Economic development, while the other areas of research is on Caste and Gender based discrimination,

The present topic is an article written by smriti Sharma on Gender discrimination against girls and women in the Indian
society from the ages. The discrimination against women and girls is existing in the Indian society from time immemorial.
Even though we can witness a little improvement in the present scenario, but it is replacing day by day If we perceive the
Indian GDP of the past decade, we have clear evidence in increased GDP (6%) while there is a large decline in the female
labour force participation from 34% to 27% The wage gap between male and female has been stagnant at 50% even in
the white-collar jobs, we can spot 27% of Gender pay gap.

The Indian culture, tradition and beliefs give much priority to male child as they are considered as the care givers to the
parents at their old age. This kind of patrilineality and patrilocality where in the inheritance bestowed upon sons lead to
the negligence of daughters in terms of time, money, and attention and also sex elective abortions

The Gender discrimination that girls face in their early childhood and adolescence tends to continue into adulthood, this
results in things such as poorer jobs and wages which lead to reduced autonomy and un independence in matter of
decision making in their household. This effect the health and education of their children, further, it keeps them in
increased stress as well as domestic violence. According to the national family and health survey of 2005-06, 37% of
married women have been victims of physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their spouse.
Smriti Sharma opined that there is a need of policies like affirmative action which represent one third of female positions
in the local governance body to enhance the value of the women. These kinds of policies have showed a promising result
in the villages as women are the representatives. In the villages, where women have leadership are more confident in
solving problems of women and they are able to raise education and career aspirations for adolescent girls and their
parents.

Even though the traditional and cultural beliefs, roles and responsibilities of women effect these kinds of policies. In the
short run this negative stereotype eventually will disappear. When the families habituate to civilize themselves as they
reduce gender bias. Some other policies like land inheritance have interpolated to equalize the rights of women with men.
Nevertheless, surprising this policy gave mixed responses like enhancement in the girls' education and career development
on the other hand it created spousal conflict that led to more domestic violence.

Government policies, training and recruiting of young girls and women into the global labour market is nurturing the
families from ruler areas. This kind of policies are comforting women and girls by providing factory-based jobs which are
making them financially independent. The policies also helped in increased enrolment of girls in the schools as well as
increased age for marriage and child baring

Finally, Smriti Sharma felt that the Indian society not only need government policies but also it needs an attitudinal shift
for women to be considered as equal within their homes and in wider society on a par with men which is possible with
the help of local and national level and private sector to maintain the position of India as a global growth leader

2.1: DALIT CHILD BRIDE TO $112 MILLION CEO - THE WONDER STORY OF KALPANA SAROJ -Rakhi Chakraborty

The Wonder story of Kalpana Saroj is authored by Rakhi Chakraborty. She is an independent journalist and sustainability
activist. She worked as an Asst. Editor with the Times of India in Kolkata She passed away at the age of 45.

Kalpana Saroj is a female Indian entrepreneur and is described as the original Slumdog millionaire. She is the chairperson
of Kamani Tubes in Mumbai, India. Born in poverty and subjected to inhuman abuse, today she is at the helm of a $112
million empire. Through her story she illuminates that to make an entrepreneur one should insist on Grit, Perseverance,
Superhuman ability along with faith in oneself but not the mere fancy degrees.
She was born in Vidarbha. Her father was a Constable and they lived in the police quarters which was allotted to them.
She had three sisters and two brothers. The was a bright student and loved school. She used to play in abandon with the
other children. The adults expressed their displeasure and forbade their children visiting her home or accepting the food
she offered. At School she was made to sit apart from the other students and was not allowed to participate in extra-
curricular activities. It was really hurting her. She was pulled out from school in class seven and was married off as it was
the notion of the Dalit Community. Her father wanted her to complete her education but was powerless as he was not a
very educated man and could not go against the united front of family. But her Post-marriage life was not at all a bed of
roses. She was responsible for all the household work including cooking for ten people. She would become a scapegoat
for the slightest excuse and was starved, heaped with emotional and physical abuse. After six months of her marriage her
father visited her. She looked like a walking corpse. On seeing her in that condition, her father dared himself to bring her
back home even though the community and society casted them off. She was determined not to be a burden on her
father. As such she applied at a local women's Constable recruitment Camp, Nursing school and even the Military. She
was rejected because of her age or lack of education.

She was miserable and picked up tailoring and started sewing blouses at Rs. 10 apiece. Her father gently suggested her to
go back to school but the humiliation that came on her way every time made her try to leave home. But she took a second
chance, she felt that living is hard but dying is easy. Last thoughts made her to down a bottle of Poison. Her aunt caught
her in act and she was rushed to the local hospital. Her Condition was so critical that doctors had given twenty-four hours
to regain consciousness. She opened her eyes in the hospital room. She felt that she was not the naive girl but was strong,
recharged and empowered.

She convinced her parents and went to Mumbai. She stayed with an uncle and started her tailoring gig. Later her father
lost his job due to bureaucratic shuffles. As she was the eldest daughter and the only earning member of the family, she
took the responsibility of her siblings and parents. She put down her savings and rented a small room for Rs 40 a month.
Now all were together under a roof even though the space was confined with scarce income. With all the crisis, her
younger sister fell ill. They could not afford for her treatment. Her sister kept crying to save have her from death. Her
sister’s words seared her memory. Then she realised that life without money useless and she started working for sixteen
hours a day. She went through various govt. schemes and applied for a loan (Mahatma Jyoti bhai Phule Scheme) and
started a small furniture business but she did not give up her tailoring gig. Their circumstances gradually started improving.
She learnt everything about being an entrepreneur, holding on her own among a sea of crooks who were trying to take
advantage of her. She started a small NGO where people like her was given knowledge about various govt. loans and
schemes. It took two years to pay off her initial loan.
When she was looking out for other business opportunities an interesting offer came on her way. The proprietor who was
in need of cash urgently offered to sell his property for pittance as it was worthless to him. She threw herself by putting
all her efforts to buy it- (begged, borrowed and stole). The next two year, she struggled to get the property up. She took
a partner who agreed to invest if she was ready to share 65% of the profit. Soon a building came up on that land. Along
with the furniture business and real estate business she felt that life had come to a full circle.

Ramji bhai kamani was a disciple of both Nehru and Gandhi. He had started three companies in post-independence. He
wanted to be after a pioneering entrepreneur. In 1987 after his death, dispute broke out among his sons. The union at
that time demanded that the ownership should be transferred to the workers as the owners were acting against the
interests of the company. Such changes were seen across the country. Kamani's was the first company where the Supreme
Court passed the ownership from the legal heirs to the workers union. Soon Clashes broke out. People assumed that
kamani industries was at the forefront of a revolution. Banks Poured in with loans, extensions and credits. The govt.
provided them with various funds and benefits. They had huge Capital but had no expertise with to utilize it. The electricity
and water supply were cut. This continued from 1987 to 1997. IDBI surveyed the situation and realised that the workers
had become defaulters. The Court instructed that a new promoter was required. The company had reached into
liquidation. It was then the workers approached Kalpana Saroj, who had good reputation as an entrepreneur requested
her to save their company and their livelihood. She thought about it and formed a core-team of ten, each an expert in
their respective fields. Then she hired some consultant and created a proposal on how to go about, fixing the damage.
She took the proposal to the board, the board accepted it. She was appointed as the President in 2000. From 2000-2006
she struggled in and out of court. An amount of 116 crore debts is incurred in which more than half of it is penalty and
interest. She approached the then finance minister and pleaded him to forgive the penalty and interest. She said that it
was the only way to save the company from liquidation, The minister held extensive talks with the banks and forgave the
penalty and interest, and even deducted 25% from the principal amount. Now her life was much easier. In 2006, she was
appointed as the Chairman of Company. The Court transferred ownership of kamani tubes to her. A period of seven years
was given to her to pay off the loans. She successfully cleared the loans within the prescribed time. She started in getting
the firm back on its feet. She started by replacing all the machinery which was stolen or fallen to disrepair. She came on
board in 2009, she Shifted the factory to Wada, as she had purchased a plot of 7 acres.

She wishes to take the company forward as Ramji bai kamani had visualised India in the growth of the nation on principles
of justice, fair play and equality. Her life is a symbolic representation of women empowerment.

3.1: WHAT IS MY NAME? - P. Satyavathi

The lesson "What is my name is originally written in Telugu by P. Satyavathi and translated into English by Vadrewu Vijaya
Laxmi and Ranga Rao. P. Satyavathi is a Telugu short story writer. Her stories often have a feminist angle and portrays the
lives of every day middle class folk and their attitude in a difficult situation. She has published four short story anthologies,
five novels and a collection of essays. A common theme in her stories is about the personal identity of women. In this
story P. Satyavathi describes how a woman forgets her own name since no one addresses her by name.

An educated and cultured, intelligent, capable, quick witted young woman was married to a young man named Murthy.
He married her for her beauty, intelligence and also the dowry which her father offered to him. The housewife was
dexterous at swabbing the floor and drawing the muggulu. The young man promptly praised her work. Overjoyed by her
husband's praise and a pat on her shoulder, she continued to swab as if it was the chief mission in her life.

But one day, while scrubbing the floor, the housewife suddenly tries to recollect her name but fails. The eagerness to
know her name grew stronger in her. She leaves mopping the floor and tries to recollect her name standing near the
window, scratching her head but lost in thoughts. She could see the name of the principal on a name board on the
neighbour’s house. She was disturbed and her mind became totally restless. When her maid-servant came, pinning a lot
of hopes on her, the housewife asked her if she could remember the housewife's name. She promptly replied that she
had nothing to do with the names of mistresses. The housewife waited for her children to come from school for lunch in
the afternoon. When she asked the children, they plainly said that ever since they were born, she is called “Amma”. Then
a neighbour came to invite her to a Kumkum ceremony. The housewife asked the neighbour about her name. She hoped
that at least she would remember her name. The neighbour said that she had not asked her name nor the housewife had
told her.

During the night meal, she asked her husband to tell her name. She was confident that he would remember her name.
But the respected husband burst out laughing and said that ever since they had been married, he was used to calling her
'yemoi’. He advises that her name must be on the certificates as she was educated.

The housewife went and searched for her certificates in the almirah but, at last she realizing that she had not brought
them to her husband's house after her marriage. She takes permission from her husband for a couple of days and leaves
to her parents in search of her certificates. The housewife asked her mother to tell her name. The answer given by her
mother annoyed her and she asked her mother to at least tell the housewife where her certificates were. Dawn broke but
the search for the certificates had not ended.
The housewife asked everyone she met, the trees, the ant hills, the ponds, the school and the college where she had
studied. After all the shouting and waiting, she met a friend who shouted her name as Sarada. Her friend recollected the
names of their friends too. The housewife felt as if she was back to her life.
Sarada returned home, fished out her certificates, the pictures she had drawn, old albums etc. from the attic. Overjoyed
she returned to her husband's house. Sarada who always cared for the discipline demanded her husband to call her Sarada,
hereafter which shows a woman's desire for her individuality and thirst for the recognition.

1.2: THEY SHUT ME UP IN PROSE -By Emily Dickinson

"They shut me up in Prose" is a short poem written by an American poet Emily Dickinson. The poem reflects the restrictions
imposed on a young girls' upbringing in a patriarchal society and the silent suffering of a female child shut away from her
own conceptions and notions.

The poets' parents were not artistic and she didn't have the inspiring childhood experience, The open line of the poem
"They Shut me up in Prose" conveys ambiguity in its meaning. It may be considered that the poet feels she was not only
imprisoned in a world of commonplace, dullness but also made to feel silent with the prosaic lectures and sermons as she
underwent a strict religious upbringing It also reflects the poets' view on Prose and Poetry. She compares Prose to a "closet
and feels as if she was in a captivity state but to her poetic verse is an emancipation-freedom from the male dominated
society that she desires for.

In the second stanza, she sneers with the confidence that her brain constantly wanders. glimpses with the creativity and
imagination within. If her parents or someone had peeped inside and noticed it, they would have realized that keeping
her shut up was futile, as shutting up a bird in a pound, because it is of no use as it can easily escape it by flying off. It
brings out the poets' confidence in making it clear to the parents/society that she has become very intelligent despite her
captivity.
Final stanza "Himself has but to will line suggests that even though the God/male dominated society does not come to
rescue but still she could find freedom to abolish I captivity as it is compared to rising herself like a star which easily flies
free in the night sky. She looks down and laughs mockingly at the foolishness of the people to put her in the closet and
made her to be still.
In the last line-"No more have I the poet clearly states that she can evade captivity unlink a bird as her brain moves at a
faster pace. Though she does not feel guilty of her remaining in the closet as a child but makes the world realize that she
has the potential that she can rise herself like a star in the sky and look down upon the captivity imposed by the male
narrow-minded society.

"Bird may be a metaphorical usage which implies that the poet does not feel guilty of her gender and individuality as a
bird does not feel guilty of Treason-closet state, instead, it shows her ability and courage to withstand herself at the
difficult situation.

2.2: THE KITCHEN -Vimala

The poem "The Kitchen" is written by Vimala and translated into English by B.V.L. Narayana Rao, it gives vivid descriptions
of kitchen in her childhood days and the kitchen which she runs as a modern mother. This poem talks about the women
sufferings in the kitchen and their household responsibilities. They have been imprisoned in the kitchen for ages.

The poem begins with the experiences of the poet in her childhood days. She remembers the pleasant smell of joss ticks
from prayer room, the spicy smell of seasonings from kitchen. The different flavours from kitchen increase appetite. The
four walls of the kitchen wake up with the noise of churning butter and sounds of cleaning pots. The cooking was done on
an old-fashioned stove made of mud and neatly decorated with designs. The seasoning boxes were also the place for
saving money and sweets. The poet was playing the games of mother and father and cooking with utensils and jaggery in
the kitchen when she was young.

She compares the kitchen with a mortuary and all the utensils are dead bodies. Her mother looks like a ghost. Her mother's
eyes melted in tears by the smoke of emanated from the mud stove. Her hands, arms resemble the spoons, long frying
pans and other kitchen tools. She is busy in kitchen and feels like a caged tiger that has lost its freedom forever. No one
helps mother in cooking except in eating. Though mother cooks and takes care of kitchen, but the name of the father is
engraved on the utensils.

As a grown-up lady, the poet has been trained to become a woman like her mother and grandmother. Now, the kitchen
is no more a playground to her. She runs a modern kitchen. Unlike the old kitchen, the old things of the kitchen have been
replaced by modern things such as a gas stove, electric grinder, pressure cooker, sink and tiles. Even the dishes cooked
have also been replaced by cakes and puddings. Her modern kitchen wakes up with the noise of electric grinder and
pressure cooker. She moves like a mechanical doll. She feels her kitchen a workshop, it is very busy like a butcher's shop.
Cooking, cleaning, and serving is a routine work in kitchen, despite possessing a modern kitchen, it appears like a ghost in
her dreams. No one visits her kitchen except to eat. She knows the experience of her mother and knows how boring and
painful it is to be alone in kitchen. But still the name on utensils is of her husband.

The poet expresses her anguish and dissatisfaction on the kitchen as she lost her freedom besides her services have not
been recognized as a mother. Her life has been confined to kitchen. So, she even goes to the extent of cursing the kitchen
may it burn to cinders. She is against women turned into serving spoons. She advises that to remove the names engraved
on utensils and destroy the lonely kitchens.
She appeals to establish a new kitchen which shared equally by all the members of the family and warns all the mothers
to see that at least their daughters should not enter the kitchens alone.

3.2: VOICE OF THE UNWANTED GIRL - Sujatha Bhatt

The poem " voice of the unwanted girl is written by Sujatha Bhatt. She is an Indian poet, short story writer and translator.
She obtained an MFA degree in US in 1968. She received many awards including common wealth poetry prize (Asia). Her
famous poetry collections include monkey shadows, a colour for solitude and pure lizard. The present poem is a
Monologue of a girl foetus in mother's womb. The foetus was killed by her mother in the womb because of being a girl
child. In this poem, she has voiced her concern about Gender - bias.

The speaker in this poem is an unwanted girl. She is speaking to her mother and tells how her mother wanted a forcible
expulsion of the girl child (speaker) in the womb in the form of committing a female infanticide when the doctors told her
mother that the baby would be a girl. The mother dressed neatly and went to the hospital to remove the baby because
she already had one daughter. Doctors gave an injection to kill the girl foetus. The mother didn't care to look at the girl.
The speaker hears the sounds of the rain, the wind and the traffic of the city of Mumbai. She is sad that she could not live
to experience those sounds.

The speaker further describes that she is taken out from the mother's womb and lies dead in autopsy room. She doesn't
belong to anyone and becomes an object of investigation in the laboratory. She loses her identity and sense of being
human. She describes her undeveloped state and compares herself to a sliced pomegranate. She says that she is a fruit
that has not been touched and tasted.
She blames her mother for her forcible expulsion in the womb which leads to her death and asks her mother to look for
in vain because she was lost forever. She describes that she can't become a flower, turns into butterfly. She would be no
longer being a part of anyone's dreams, song, life and memories. She insists her mother to look for her even though she
stinks of formaldehyde. She won't be born and grow up like others because she has been deprived of life by her own
mother. Her mother has acted against the will of God. God wants her to live and grow up naturally. She wants her mother
to face the consequences of her brutality. (Her abortion)

This poem deals with the social problem of female infanticide. The practice of sex determination and sex-selective abortion
is illegal and unethical. The poet presents the pain of the female foetus when she learns that she is not wanted by her
parents.