English Essay

Women Place in Society

Women play a very crucial role in human progress and have a substantial place in society. They are not at all poorer to men. They are capable of sharing all the obligations of life.

Man and woman have been rightly associated with the wheels of the same carriage.

 Islam has given an equal position to women in society. Islam realized the importance of women and granted them a very dignified status equal to men. The main responsibility of a woman is to maintain the human race. As a mother, her position is unique. She brings up children with extreme care. The first school of a child is the lap up of his mother. It is quite true that a great man had great mothers. Napoleon said:

 “Give me good mothers and I will give you a good nation.” 

The progress of the nation depends upon the way the mothers bring up their children. If the mothers are educated, the whole society will progress. Women have always played an important role in the progress of a nation. In the early days of Islam, women worked side by side with men. On the battlefield, they nursed the injured, kept up the necessities and in certain cases even fought bravely. Florence Nightingale was the woman, who led a very successful campaign for the development of hospitals and the nursing profession. Women had been great saints, scholars, poets, writers, activists, and governors. Women should be given proper education and training. They should be known what life is and how it should be lived. Educated women can do much to reform society. Many disturbances in the society are created by those anti-social persons, who were brought up by wrong hands. In the modern age, women are going very well in all the fields of progress. They are demonstrating their talents best. They are serving as teachers, doctors, Engineers, Administrators and even heads of the states. The literacy rate among the women so in Pakistan is very low. The need is to increase this ratio. More education among women means more progress in society.

WOMEN'S POSITION IN SOCIETY - PAST AND PRESENT

The fight for equality is going out as a long and hard one. Important issues are confronting the women's movement today. The fight for the self-governing right to have abortions; the fight for decent childcare; the fight against the blatant sexism of the mass media; the fight for the right of women to work and to be suitable for joblessness benefit if this right is denied them; the list goes on and on. In too many areas we in the movement have seen past gains stolen from us, or distorted beyond recognition. The Royal Directive gives us a report which sounds like a condensed version of a SPUC platform; the Domestic Purposes Benefit is cut back with the intention of forcing women into Bert Walker's private moral code; the right to vote which women were confined for has been a poor weapon against the financial and political power of big commercial as it takes our rights with one hand and forces down our living standards with the other.

To fight against these moves, we must express a strategy based on our position in society now, However, to fully understand our present situation, it is essential to look at women's position throughout the different phases of society.

The position and status of women in society have been changing from time to moment in time.  In India, the woman was believed to be a divinity.   No spiritual or social function was deemed to be propitious where a woman was not present.  She was called the “Ardhangini’ (the better short) of man. She had a fairly high status in society.  That is why in the classification of couples, the name of the woman was always put before the name of the gentleman, for example, Sita-Ram, Radhey-Sham, etc.  When Sita was in banishment, Lord Rama had to get a golden statue of Sita built for the Yajan he performed.  All this shows the high esteem in which women were held in old-fashioned India.

With the introduction of Muslims in India, the status of women received a set- back.  They had to go at the back of the veil.  The British rulers, too, did not take any concrete steps to improve the status of women.  It was only with the dawn of freedom that the position and status of women took a turn for the better.  Our national leaders started working for the emancipation of women.  They were given their rightful place in all spheres of life.  Discrimination based on sex became a matter of the past.

                As a result of all this, the woman smashed out of the four walls of her house and started marching ahead of in life.  She joined the worldwide sensation of women.  Today, the eve is definitely on the march.  In fact, she has left man far behind in many fields.  We have women legislators, women ministers, diplomats, doctors, lawyers, teachers, and police officers.  With the support of co-education, modern girls have thrown off old complexes and they are marching carry towards carrying with boys in every field of life.

                A modern girl is mindful of her position and importance in society.  She is no longer a dumb bully of society. She participates with boys and ever sphere of influence of life.  She is full of self-confidence.  She is magnificent as the boys and wants to become a problem for the underprivileged parents.  A girl born to poor parents does not cut down her needs.  She too wants to enjoy life like her rich friends.

                A woman in the olden days had to hinge on upon her parents, her husband or her sons for the whole of her life.  But the modern even is as free as a bird.  She no longer hangs on others.  Education has raised her repute.  She is keen on becoming self-supporting. She likes to enter some professions.  It does not mean that she wants to stay alone or unattached.  She longs to have a respectable status.  She does not like to be a dumb driven cattle.

                Liberty is good but too much freedom is bad.  The modern girl should not work westernize  “ herself.  She should copy only the best of the West devoid of losing the best of the East.  She should not be unable to remember the magnificent traditions of women.  Nobody would like to keep her limited autonomy wrongly.