Amit Varma, in his recent post, articulates on how modernization and technology have bridged the gap between the sexes in recent times. Interestingly, he titles his post 'We Should Celebrate Rising Divorce Rates' and I would imagine he does that with a tongue in his cheek. Though his thesis seems convincing on first read, some clear counterexamples came to my mind in the very beginning. One is that of Kerala, where the empowerment of women has not really been fostered by the advent of modern technology. The matrilineal system is known to have existed in the state since ages. The second counterexample is that of an Islamic country like Saudi Arabia, where, in spite of technological sustenance, the condition of women in society remains decadent thanks to the preponderance of the Shariah laws.
Mr. Varma is perhaps correct in his main thesis- that increasing divorce rates in a country like India is definitely indicative of women empowerment. But I feel he is simplifying the causal connections associated with the empowerment of women in society. For a portrait of 19th and early 20th century British society, I'd recommend a reading of Virginia Woolf's AROO, an essay that I briefly talked about in an earlier post. That said, the quality of life that women in Kerala enjoy (literacy rate of 97% against the national average of 55%; sex ratio of 1.06 as opposed to the national avergae of 0.93; highest and lowest life expectancy and infant mortality rates in India) is something that I find immensely surprising and at the same time ennobling. One finds writers like Amartya Sen (in The Argumentative Indian and Development as Freedom) and Shashi Tharoor (in his India:From Midnight to the Millenium and the more recent The Elephant, the tiger and the cellphone, a collection of essays on India) raving about the Kerala miracle. Sen, tries to articulate some reasons for these successes but I still feel there remain lessons to be learned - for Mr. Varma and the rest of us too.
Mr. Varma is perhaps correct in his main thesis- that increasing divorce rates in a country like India is definitely indicative of women empowerment. But I feel he is simplifying the causal connections associated with the empowerment of women in society. For a portrait of 19th and early 20th century British society, I'd recommend a reading of Virginia Woolf's AROO, an essay that I briefly talked about in an earlier post. That said, the quality of life that women in Kerala enjoy (literacy rate of 97% against the national average of 55%; sex ratio of 1.06 as opposed to the national avergae of 0.93; highest and lowest life expectancy and infant mortality rates in India) is something that I find immensely surprising and at the same time ennobling. One finds writers like Amartya Sen (in The Argumentative Indian and Development as Freedom) and Shashi Tharoor (in his India:From Midnight to the Millenium and the more recent The Elephant, the tiger and the cellphone, a collection of essays on India) raving about the Kerala miracle. Sen, tries to articulate some reasons for these successes but I still feel there remain lessons to be learned - for Mr. Varma and the rest of us too.
5 comments:
i can see u have been busy. A lot of posts with a lot to say.
I wonder if the verncaular media publishes such stories or do they remain neutral or even support the thakres [:P] for getting more circualtion..
Bacchax do u have any knowledge in this regard.
Was watching this series of documentaries on how politicians and industry were using psychology to manipulate the masses into submission or at least docility.
Freud believed that humans were essentially an irrational species and thus emotive appeal will trump logical appeal to a mass audience anyday.
In that context what is the tone of the marathi newspapers when they talk about Raj Thakaerey and his uncle.
I believe Loksatta is pretty critical of Thackeray and his activities though I am not entirely sure. I have seen its editor, Kumar Ketkar appear in TV interviews and he is an amazingly balanced guy. But I don't read that or any other marathi newspapers. Plus I don't know how popular Saamna (the shiv sena mouthpiece) is with various segments of the marathi speaking population in Mumbai.
nikhil waagle, once editor of Mahanagar and now with IBN-Lokmat was beaten up a lot of times by the Shiv-Sainiks for his anti-shiv sena writings.
I do not know of any marathi newspaper that supports thakre directly for his chauvinism. However, when it comes to the issue of jobs and development, there might me an agreement to some extent.
about ketkar, karthik you are right. He is probably the most respected guy in marathi media today. i had seen him interview dr. shriram lagu(the actor) once, and it was the most intellectually stimulating debate on marathi television i have ever seen.
will comment later on the article itself.
about the rising divorce rates, i am completely uninitiated about feminism, but as a man related to statistics and with some reading of social issues i have some reservations with what varma has to say. First he says "In a complex world, any single piece of data always tells just part of the story", and then goes on to use a rather obscure measure to evaluate women empowerment. There are a lot of points i could think against divorce rate being a direct indicator of women empowerment.
Secondly he also fails to explain the distribution of these divorce rates across regions, class, caaste etc.
These are only the statistical limitations, but as you have correctly pointed out, there are also some evident counter-examples against his theory.
Well said.
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