Indian Society is an extremely patriarchal society where even in 21st century women have negligible role to play be it taking decisions for the family or even deciding what their future would look like. This is especially true in rural India where women have no say in anything and are given no opportunities to grow and prosper on their own. Gender Inequality in urban cities is in wane and women are given equal opportunities but in rural India it is still widespread. Rural women are marginalized and discriminated by their family and society right from their birth. The nature of problems faced by women differ by age group but the theme of discrimination remains common.

Whenever a girl child comes to life, she is not celebrated but instead every relative console themselves that maybe next time god will grace them with a son. As the girl grows her parents make sure that she learns all the household chores so she can be an “ideal bride” whom a man would marry. Her education and all-round development are given no priority instead she is taught to accept discrimination and be silent no matter what. An average rural household does everything it can to kill a little girl dreams and aspirations. A very important reason that women in cities are fighting all the stereotypes is because almost all of them are educated. Education is a great empoweree and is a right of every Indian Citizen. Yet a majority of women are deprived of it and the small percentage that receives education are “not allowed” to work by the elders of the family. Rural Schools have poor sanitation facilities, shortage of female teachers and gender bias in the curriculum itself which further demotivates women to continue their education. Moreover, an average woman in India will never have a property to her name as all the property is distributed among the male heirs. This highlights the state of mind our society is in regarding women.

A very important factor for the palpable conditions of women is due to the fact that many women consider themselves to be second-class and not as able as a man and this is only because of lack of education and proper knowledge. This cycle of women sabotaging other women dreams can and must only be stopped by imparting knowledge. It is common knowledge that parents save money for their son’s education and daughter’s marriage, this is case in urban India too. Indian society sees marriage as the one and only way forward for women. Rural women have no choice but to marry and serve her husband and his family for the rest of her life. Marriage itself brings an entirely new set of problems from the young girl. She has to adjust to the new family as quickly as possible while remaining in a “ghungaat” the whole time. In Indian household it is often a norm to scold a young bride and mock her parents even if she makes a common mistake. Mother-in-Law often take pride in controlling her daughter-in-law and this is a prime example of women subjugating women. She is also expected to pop out a son as soon as possible and if she given birth to a baby-girl she is scolded and often physically and mentally abused by her in-laws. As she grows older, she takes the role of her mother-in-law and the cycle of discrimination against women continues.

The above two paragraphs highlight only a small portion of woes faced by rural women. Many other issues such as crimes related to dowry, crimes against lower caste women are rampant in rural India. What I want to point out that all be above issues exposes how our society perceives women. Women are seen only as a housewife but they are so much more than that. They can be anything they want and society should have no business poking their nose. The thinking that women should not be allowed to do this or that is deeply flawed. Children regardless of their gender should be provided opportunities so that they can make educated decisions about their life and not the decisions that have been taken already based on their gender even before they are born. India is a young country and the onus is upon the youth to change the way society perceives women to create a healthy society where everyone can prosper.