Book Description

This powerful and timely book explores the inner world of Indian women. it is based on workshops and dialogues which the authors conducted with a very large number of women from all over India and from diverse backgrounds - the poor and the well-to-do, villagers and urbanites, women who work in offices and those who run homes, daughters, wives, mothers and grandmothers. Containing as it does the distilled essence of the innermost feelings of Indian women, this book has an immediacy and a relevance not just for all Indians but for men and women all over the world. The authors trace the journey of women to maturity and the many thresholds they cross on the way. They deal with women's processes of being and becoming and the heritage of folklore, myths and role models which influence and affect these processes. The authors outline five major role models for women which are dominant in Indian society. Tracing the historical loci of these models, the authors argue that even though these models have become out dated given the changing mores and life-styles, Indian women are still expected to conform to them. This clash between role expectations and current realities has created considerable tension for today's woman and is the major source of her pathos. However, while women are at the receiving end of many negative attitudes and constricting stereotypes in Indian society, the authors believe that, in the final analysis, they are often victims of their own restricted vision. They believe that Indian women (as also men) still have to discover a third identity which is neither male nor female but human. This identity encompasses the other two identities and, is a liberating and life-giving force which can revitalise not just women but society at large. This exciting and absorbing book will be of interest to scholars from a wide range of disciplines while being essential reading for all men and women.