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English Pages [172] Year 1981
STATUS OF MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIA A Case Study of Kerala
M. INDU MENON
a
UPPAL PUBLISHING HOUSE NEW DELHI
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UPPAL 3,
PUBLISHING
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-
ALD ho way RY? 5a yas} ‘Indian Council of Social Science Research gave financial support
towards the publication of this work. However, the responsibility
for
‘etc,
the
contents
of
the
©
M. INDU
is entirely that of the
book-facts,
authors
and
opinions,
not
conclusion,
of the
MENON
First published 1981
PRINTED IN INDIA Published by B.S. UPPAL, UPPAL PUBLISHING HOUSE, New Delhi-110002 and Printed at Latika
Printers,
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UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
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PREFACE This book is a slightly modified version of my doctoral -dissertation entitled “Education and Social Status of Muslim Women in Kerala”
1976.
The
theme
submitted
to
of social status
comparativelya neglected
field
the
of
University
Muslim
of study
in
of
Women Indian
Kerala in
has been
Sociology.
Muslims constitute eleven per cent of India’s population and half
-of them are women.
In spite of the fact that the Government
of India and the state governments are particularly anxious to raise the status of Muslim Women, no systematic effort has been
made
so far to find out the factors behind their low status.
-a result,
As
very little is known about the social dynamics of status
improvement among an important segment of the Indian Society. This study purports to examine the socio-cultural aspects of
‘the status of Muslim Women
in
India
with special reference to
the Kerala situation. As education is a critical factor in the process of modernization, the problem has been studied from
the vantage point of education.
The
study
was
conducted
in
the four districts of Kerala viz. Calicut, Malappuram, Palghat and Cannanore which account for two-thirds of the Muslim population in the State.
In the successful completion of this work, I have received support and guidance from many people. I am grateful to Professor P.K.B. Nayar, my research supervisor, for the encouragement and inspiring guidance provided.
My
thanks
to Dr. R. Krishna
Pillai,
Dr. (Miss) Aleyamma
George and Shri Rajasekharan Nair of the Department of ‘Statistics, University of Kerala for the help rendered in the
analysis of data. Special thanks
are
due
to Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Moraes of the
Department of Education, University of Kerala for her valuable ‘suggestions on an earlier draft of the manuscript.
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(viii) Tam also thankful to my colleagues at the Department of Sociology, University of Kerala for their assistance at various stages of this study. T owe a special
University
debt of gratitude
to
Professor M.S.A.
Rao,
of Delhi for patiently going through the thesis and
giving valuable suggestions for its improvement. I am deeply indebted to the respondents for their whole hearted co-operation in many ways during the course of my
field work.
Tam also grateful
to
the
Indian
Council of Social
Science
Reasearch and the University Grants Commission for providing
me with fellowships during the period of my Thanks are due to the ICSSR for providing me
tion grant for this study.
doctoral study. with a publica-
M. INDU
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MENON
CONTENTS Page
‘CHAPTERS VIL
PREFACE INTRODUCTION
The
problem-women
of women
society—status
and
in Islamic societies—status
in India—education muslim women muslim women in Kerala.
of
of 27
METHODOLOGY
study—statement of the
Objectives of the
of problem—hypotheses—sample—tools data collection —data collection--analysis of data.
RESEARCH
35
SETTING
EDUCATIONAL
39
BACKGROUND
of education—age influencing Factors entry to school—objectives of education—
termination
of
education—education
children—education
as
a
status
factor—co-education—religious —conclusion.
MARRIAGE AND
of
raising
education
FAMILY
Age at marriage—arrangement of marriage—polygamy—dowry system—mehr or dower—divorce—widow remarriage— type of family—position of women in the family—decision making—treatment of children—family planning—conclusion.
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63
@)
ECONOMIC AND OCCUPATIONAL BACKGROUND
91
Economic position—property _rights— occupational position—conclusion.
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL BACKGROUND Women and —freedom of
103.
politics—voting behaviour movement—veiling—leisure
time activities—conclusion.
ATTITUDE AND BEHAVIOUR OF MEN RESPONDENTS On education—on
marriage—on
on occupation—on social activities—conclusion.
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS IMPLICATIONS
and
121
family—
cultural
AND 131
BIBLIOGRAPHY
143
INDEX
159
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LIST OF Table
1.
PIA
sy
2.
TABLES
Education and Age of the Respondents
Respondents’ Education and their Fathers’ Education
Respondents’ Education and Mothers’ Education Respondents’ Education and their Husbands’ Education Respondents’ Fathers’ and Mothers’ Education Level of Education and Objective of Education
Education and Gain from Education Education and Attitude towards Education as a Factor in Raising Social Status
Education and Attitude towards Co-Education 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17, 18. 19. 20. 21.
Education and Duration of Religious Education
Education and Age at First!Marriage Present Age and Age at First Marriage
Education and Attitude towards Early Marriage
Education and Arrangement of Marriage
Education and Attitude towards Dowry Education and Role in Decision-making Concerning Childrens’ Schooling, Career and Marriage Education and Role in Decision-making Concerning Family-Budget, Buying Property, Clothes and
Page:
42
43 44 45 46 48 50 55 56. 58. 65 66. 67 69 73 82.
Articles
83.
Size
86. 87
Education and Attitude Towards Limiting Family
Education and Practice of Birth-Control Methods Ownership of Personal Property and Consultation
By Husbands in Making Decisions Regarding
Children’s Schooling, Career and Marriage
Ownership of Personal Property and Consultation
94
by Husbands in Making Decision Regarding
Family Budget, Buying Property, Clothes and House-
hold Articles
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95
(xii) 22. 23. 24. 25. 26.
Education and Attitude Towards Considering
as The Sole Bread-winner Education and Attitude Towards Economic Independence as giving Women Higher Status Education and Attitude Towards Politics as a
100
29. 30.
Education and Newspaper Reading Habits
Home
104
105
and Casting of Vote in the Last
and Preference for the Candidate and Awareness of the Programmes of Contesting for Election and Freedom of Movement Outside
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Page 98
Legitimate Field of Activity for Women Education and Approval of Women Actively Participating in Politics
Education Election Education Education Candidates Education
27. 28.
Man
‘
108 lll 112 115 117
Introduction
A major index of modernization of any society is the position of its women vis-a-vis men. The more balanced the opportunity structure for men and women, the larger the role women have in society and consequently the higher their status.
ing society such as that of India,
it is essential
In a develop-
that both men
and women play equal and important role in the development effort. Improvement in the traditional status of women, there-
fore, is a necassary first step in this programme. Accordingly, the Government have adopted a series of measures to enable women to improve their position in society. A critical factor in the improvement of the status of women
is education
which
is indispensable
for
playing
many of the
modern roles. Education not only equips women with the knowledge and expertise necessary for playing many modern roles and thereby enables them to rise in status, it also widens. their cognitive map and enables them to compare their position
in society vis-a-vis men. Accordingly, education has formed a key element in Government of India’s programmes for the improvement of the status of
women.
The
Government have
also realized that education is basic to the availing of many of their social welfare programmes and the
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enjoyment of many of
2.
Status of Muslim
Women in India
thé measures of social legislation passed since Independence. Government have therefore initiated large scale educational programmes in the country, with special focus on the weaker
sections of the people. None-the-lesss Muslim women in India have lagged behind in educational attainment and consequently in the process of modernization compared to women in other communities. It is true
that the Indian Muslims themselves are backward
compared to
other communities but while their men have been able
to enjoy
a fair share of the benefits accruing from the nation’s development effort, their women have not been able todoso. It is therefore reasonable to assume
that there may be
some social-
structural and institutional factors which inhibit women from availing of education and through it the utilisation of existing facilities to their maximum advantage. It will be useful to identify these factors in order to have a full view of the magnitude of the problem of raising the status of Muslim
women.
The Problem The purpose of the study
is to
examine the
role of education
in raising the status of Muslim women in Kerala.
Since women
in the Muslim community are subordinated to men to a greater
extent than women in some other communities, it is pertinent to examine whether the process of modernization attempted
in India
since
Independence
has
made
any
impact
on
the
traditionally ascribed status of the Muslim women in India. As
education is a critical element in the modernization process, the
problem may be examined from the vantage point of education.
The study attemts to examine the share of education in raising the status of Muslim women in Kerala and to identify those socio-cultural and institutional factors in the Muslim community which impinge upon the many benefits which could come from education. Such a study may be quite useful in increa-
sing our
present knowlege
about
the
social
dynamics of the
Indian Muslims and in giving useful insights to planners and policy makers engaged in raising the status of women in India.
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Intoduction
3
Women and Society There is a widespread view among scholars that the best way to judge a nation’s progress is to find out the status of women
there.
Indeed many writers have
the types of treatment
meted
equated
cultural
out to women
levels with
and have
found
that there is a strong correlation between low status of women and low cultural levels of society. (Majumdar, 1961 : 251). This is tersely summed up by Pratima Asthana (1974 : 1) when
she says, the position of women in a society is the true index of its cultural and spiritual attainments. Since the origin of society
women have formed an integral part of the social structure. “Her role in the various walks of life has contributed to the
evolution of value which have counted for what may be described, all round progress. Her status is the measuring rod in assessing the standard of culture of any age.” (Sankar Sengupta,
1970:6).
If we want to study the status of women
in any
society,
we
must study the complexity of roles which women perform in society in the socio-economic, cultural, religious and political fields. It is also important to find out such factors as how
they face the problems and situations that are connected with their sex roles from birth to death and how they adjust them-
selves to these role situations.
The role of women has differed from society to society and from time to time. Within one society itself. it has changed
over-time.
Students of culture are familiar with several societies
where women had a higher status than men and several others where women enjoyed status equal to men. However, the model pattern has been for societies where women had inferior status. If we examine societies where women had higher status, we
will find that this higher
status was because of
the important
roles that women performed. In these societies women had complete, or at least major, control over the economic activity. Edward Westermack, in his article, ‘The Position of women in Early Civilization’ (1904 : 408) observes that “the position of women is exceptionally good in tribes that live upon fish and Toots, which the women procure with a degree of expertness equal to that of the men, whereas it was among tribes that live
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—
4
Status of Muslim
Women in India
by the chase or by other means in which women can be of little
service, that we find the sex most oppressed. Again, women among hunters and pastoral tribes had low status but among the agricultural peoples, the position of female is generally higher.” There was a period in Indian history when women were accorded equal status with men. In the Vedic age, women enjoyed a
high position in society. They had full freedom for spirituat pursuits and intellectual development (Pratima Asthana, 1974:1). Though sons were referred, once born, the daughter was given all the privileges enjoyed by the son. In the case of education, a daughter was not discriminated from theson. There were many women who became vedic scholars, debators, poets and
teachers. Thc nature and form of property during that period are still not quite clear, though stray reference to gifts given to wife are made and also the right of a brotherless daughter to property is established by Yaskacharya in Nirukta (Neera Desai, 1957:11). Women were married at a mature age and were given full freedom in the choice of their husbands. They were to attend public gatherings. According to S. R. Shastri, (1960:20)
a wife in the Vedic age was the husband’s companion in weal and woe, mistress of the household and partner in all his activities—temporal and spiritual. Women during this age actively participated in agriculture and co-operated with men in the manufacture of bows-arrows and other articles of public utility. In the religious field also women were given significant position.
A. S. Altekar (1956:235-35) is of the opinion that in the matter of religious life, which was all important and very absorbing aspect of thie daily life of the people during this period, we are
definitely informed that women actively participated in it. There were
many
important
special sacrifices
yagas
performed by
performed during
the
women.
vedic
and
In many
post-vedic
period, the lady of the house not only participated but she formed an important and indispensable part of the ceremony. Widow remarriage was allowed during this period. Thus, alto-
gather we find that women in the vadic age enjoyed equal if not. higher status. It is important to note that the
inferior
societies also coincided with the denial
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status
of property
of
women in
rights
and
Introduction
5
education, as well as denial of certain occupations to them. If one closely analyses the structure of societies where women are subordinated to men, one can find several factors which keep women in a subordinated position—right to inherit property, choice of husband, punishment for nonfidelity to spouse, law against polyandry, ban on widow remarriage, denial of education and occupation, practice of sati, seclusion, etc. The structure of the Puranic Hindu> society will make this clear. This was a period of increasing subjection of women. Women were considered as the slaves of their husbands. Child marriage was very common and the previous practice of widow remarriage was prohibted. Girl’s education tended to be nil. Neera Desai observes that “the religious life of women was restricted to the
observance
of
some
vratas
which
more
or
less demanded
Dlind faith from her” (1957:21). Polygamy and the practice of Sati were also prevalent which resulted in subjugation and deterioration in the position of women. The position of women in western countries in the ancient
period also was one of subordination to men.
In the Greek city
states, women were treated as an object of beauty to be confined to the home. According to Lowes Dickinson (1947:176-177), woman in fact was regarded as a means, not as an end and was
treated in a manner consonant with this view. the wife
drudge.
in ancient
Greece was
simply
that
The position of
of the
domestic
To stay at home and mind the house was her recogni-
zed role. Sparta was the only exception. There, women played equal role with men not only in the arts of peace but also in the sinews of war, though they were especially trained for maternity. However, sparten influence on Greek society was negli-
gible.
In the Roman empire also women’s status was
inferior.
We do not find reference to any event where women played a significant role. Marg R. Beard (1946:24) points out that “from
the time of the cave men until the
fall of Rome
the
Brand of
ignorance and inferiority had been stamped on women. Unintentionaly perhaps, or limited by the concept of formal education, she gave the net impression that for thousands of years women had neither received nor achieved an education, as if their intellectual life apart from the household affairs had been close to or actually at zero.’’
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6
Status of Muslim
Women in India
Throughout the Middle ages and a major part of early modern
period, Europe continued to be dominated by men. It was only after the coming of industrialization that this set up (women being given a status inferior to men) began to change. The increasing accent on division of labour called for skills of diffeTent types, some of which could be effectively handled only by
women. Urbanization encouraged
the rise of nuclear families
and the economic self-sufficiency of the nuclear family. In many
cases women were compelled to take up jobs to supplement the
family income.
Education became
many of the modern roles.
a prerequisite for
In turn education
playing
also awakened
women to a sense of their own self-importance and this encouraged them to assert many of the rights which were denied to them. At the same time the increasing importance of their roles raised their status in society. Status of Women in Islamic (4)
Societies
Women and Islam
As Islam had its roots and beginnings in the tribal society of the
Arabs, it is necessary to find out the position of women in Arabia, the birth place of Islam, just before the rise of Islam. As the Arab society was almost a tribal one, it did not recog-
nize the individual.
Woman
had no recognized
place
in
the
pre-Islamic Arabic society. As Venkatarayappa (1966:45) says, “the women of Arabia were in a state of subjection either to their nearest male kinsman or the father, brother, son or husband, whose rights over them were regarded as their rights over
any other property.”
The birth of a daughter was
usually
looked
down
the Arabs, asa calamity and disgrace to the family.
Tesult of this, the custom of
female
infanticide
was
upon by
As a
prevalent
there. Even when a girl was allowed to live, she was forced to be married at an early age of 7 or 8. At the back of this cus-
tom
was
the
fear
of parents
that
their
daughters
might
be
dishonoured if they were not given in marriage before attaining puberty. Marriage by capture,
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purchase
and
contract
existed among
Introduction
7
the Arabs at that time. Polygamy was both popular and common
among them. As to the number of wives that an Arab could keep, there appears to have been no laws or convention. A
wife was looked upon as a kind of chattel. A wife could be even
lent to a guest
as a amark of hospitality,
was well known. The next point of inequality
for which
is related
to
the
divorce.
Arab
In the
pre-Islamic Arab society, the husband was free to divorce his wife whenever he felt doing so. There was no reciprocal right
for the wife.
There are contradicting views about
the
property
rights of
women among the Arabs. While some hold that women enjoyed property rights before the advent of Islam,
others.
According to the latter,
this is disputed by
women at that
time
did not
have any property rights since they themselves were looked upon as property. This is strengthened by the fact that women
among the pre-Muslim
Arabs
were included
inherited and on father’s death, mother (Shushtery, 1938 : 673).
attitude to and
property.
treatment
It is thus generally believed
of
in the property
ason could marry his step All these reveal the Arab’s
women
that the
as
mere
women
in
chattel
or
pre-Islamic
society were given an inferior position and they were treated as mere property. But Islam improved their position in many areas. The reforms instituted by Mohammed effected a vast and marked improvement in the position of women. Islam improved the status of women by restricting polygamy to four wives, by prohibiting female infanticide, by assigning a share of inheritance to women, by declaring mehr asa gift to the bride, and by reorienting the Arab law of marriage and divorce in favour of women. More specifically, Islam contributed to the status improvement of women
in the following ways:
stressing the need
to respect
and to give
divorce on certain
grounds,
(4) by allowing
(1) By
good treatment to a
foster mother, (2) by making woman the mistress of her own property in which the husband had no right to interfere except with her permission, (3) by giving her the right of claiming
her to
hold any
public office, including that of the head of an empire or minister or judge, (5) by giving her freedom to remarry after
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8
Status of Muslim
Women in India
divorce, and (6) by encouraging her to study and acquire knowledge (Shushtery. 1938 : 674).
Islamic writers
point
to the principles
of The Quran
and
Sunnah and other religious books as evidence that woman is not badly treated by Islam. Muhammed Qutb (1964; 183) is
of the opinion that, ‘as a fundamental principle of its system, Islam holds that woman is a human being and she has a soul
similar to that of men. Thus, men and women were quite equal to each other in their origin, their abode as well as in their place of return and were as such entitled to similar and equal rights. Islam give her the right to life, to honour, and to property, like men’ (See also Muhammed, 1936 : 630-715).
With regard to marriage, no age limit has been fixed by Islam
for the marriage of girls, and it seems that quite young children may be legally married. This seems to be a relic of pre-Islamic Arab Society. Chastity is very scrupulously safeguarded. From the provisions of the Ouran, it follows that for women a plurality of husbands is impossible and that for them monogamy was always the rule. At the same time Islam permitted polygamy but restricted the number of contemporaneous views to four. The Quranic passage runs thus : “you may marry two, three or four wives, but not more”. However, it warns men that “if you cannot deal equitably and justly with all, you shall marry only one” (Ameer Ali, 1922 : 229). Thus, we find that the essential emphasis of the Quran is for justice to
women.
The Quran confers on the husband the pre-Islamic right to divorce his wife without assigning any cause and even without
any
misbehaviour
on
her
part.
moderation on the part of men.
But Mohammed counselled
He also
conceded to women
the right of obtaining a separation on reasonable grounds. The following procedure was prescribed for divorce. ‘‘When you -divorce
women,
divorce
them
for their
prescribed
time and
-calculate the number of days prescribed and be careful of (your duty to) God, your Lord. Do not drive them out of their houses, nor should
they themselves go
forth,
unless they
commit an open indecency”. (George Sale : “n.d” 560). According to the principles of Islam, when widowed or divorced, a woman is at liberty to marry again. The only
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Introduction
9
restraint is that they have to wait for a period of three menstu-
tal periods. There is no period of waiting ie. one who is not divorced or widowed.
for a free woman,
The prophet promoted specific legislations in woman’s favour in varius domestic situations. The law gave considerable rights to free women. As Muslims they had to fulfil the
same obligations to pay to
the
and this mehr recognized
as men.
bride
becomes
as its
It was
before
heir
obligatory
marriage
what
on the husband
was
called
mehr
the property of the woman and she is
at law.
The
obtain a divorce by agreeing to forego
wife could,
if she liked,
the mehr.
If a woman
was widowed she could remarry; the obligation on the family to find a husband for her was as great as the obligation to marry unmarried girls. ‘Muslim law makes divorce a financial burden for the husband for he has to provide in strictly prescribed measure, ai least for a limited time, for the support of his former wife.” (Ilse Lichtenstadter, ‘‘n.d” : 128). About inheritance, Islam says, “to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females’. According to Mohammed Qutb (1964 : 183) this is quite natural and justifiable for it is the man alone who is charged with shouldering all the financial obligations. She can hold property in her own name and can dispose it of at her own will. The Quran cautions : “And do not covet that by which God has made some of you excel others; men shall have the benefit of what they earn and women shall have the benefit of what they earn.” (George Sale “n.d” : 85) Regarding education, it is said by Quranic authorities that
Islam stood for making
education compulsory
and
universal.
“Tt is prescribed in Islam that every Muslim, man and woman, must receive education and must go to the farthest corner of the globe to acquire knowledge.” (Humayun Kabir. 1964 : 8).
Despite this,
it so happened
that
the
Muslim
community
is
perhaps the most educationally backward at present and so far as women are concerned it seems that the Quranic principles and orders have been completely neglected. In Islam, paradise, was promised to a believing woman as it
was to a believing man. According to an early tradition, Mohammed was not against allowing women to pray in public. As Muhammed
Ali points out
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(1936:390-91), a number
of hadith
10
Status of Muslim Women in India
afford overwhelming evidence of the fact that women, just im the same way as men, used to frequent the mosques and that
there was not the least restriction in this matter.
He continues,.
there are other hadith which show that the Holy Prophet had’ given orders not to prohibit women from going to Mosque. He makes it clear by quoting from a hadith : “Do not prohibit the handmaids of Allah from going to the Mosques of Allah.”
But there is another view that Mohammed visiting mosque.
was
against women
The author of a widely used work on religious.
instruction for women quotes
Mohammed as having
said that
“best mosque for women is their own house”, and adds. by way of comment, this shows that women are not to go out of their house even for prayers, much less for anything else(Bewan Jones, 1941:250).
With regard to segregation and veiling, Ilse Lichtenstandter (“‘n.d’’:123) is of the opinion that it developed out of Quranic pronouncement, though the
form which
was in no way demanded by the
Quran.
it gradually
In the
assumed
Quran segre--
gation was used to refer to a “partition” dividing the house, never to a “veil”. Women are enjoined by the prophet to behave modestly and not to flaunt their beauty. Among almost every people upon whom Islam has left its. imprint there exists a conspicuous concern for feminine modesty both of dress and demeanour. With but few exceptions, most
Muslim
women
of the world are
expected to
avoid wearing
scanty apparel and to limit their public activities. In someIslamic region, a woman of good characteris but seldom seen beyond the portals of her home and in many areas women appear in lanes and streets only as silent veiled figures (Jacobson : 1976:
170).
There are differences of opinion regarding Quaranic treatment
of women.
Writers like Muhammed Qutub
are of the opinion
that Islam gives equal status to men and women. Ameer Ali beli-
eves that “he (the prophet) placed them (women) on a footing of perfect equality with men in the exercise of legal powers and func— tions”. Maulana Mohammed Ali, quoting
extensively
Quran, the Sunnah and the Prophet’s dialogue with
from
the
colleagues
and friends, argues that women were accorded the best treatment by Islam compared to any other world religion. But Sir Syed.
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Introduction
11
has pointed out that while Islam has given equal Status in law and religion to men and women, the position of Muslim women is in fact miserable. According to Sir William Muir, the position fixed by Muhammed for women is that of an infererior creature destined only for the service of her lord, liable to be cast off
without the notice of a single hour (quoted
by
K.M. Kapadia,
1958:200). It can be said that though Islam has treated women nicely, it has not given her equal status with men. In viewing the male and female roles, Islam ascribes a superior status to the former. “It is foolish to claim equality for her in spheres.
for which she is not created.
Men stand superior to women in
that God hath preferred the one over the other....” (Reuben Levy, 1967:98). Islamic orders regarding seclusion of women,
men’s right to divorce, to practice polygamy and other provisions make many believe that the position of women under Tslam is inferior. At every stage Muslim Law is fettered with
inequalities, with
the woman
(Bhatty: 1976; 102-104)
in
every case
being
less
equal
However, we can say that though Islam has net given men and women equal status, it treats women with respect and honour. Unfortunately, in actual practice, the tenvlency seems
to be to overlook or misinterpret the principles and orders of the Quran and consequently to accord to her an inferior status. M. Mujeeb (1972:91) observes that actual practice was based on the custom of the family, which was the custom of the community or the professional group to which the family belonged rather than on religion. The Muslim family was a re-creation of the Arab family
with in the ethical confines of Islam. It seems that the ethical premises relating to women’s position in society, and especially
her rights and privileges, never appealed to the Muslim male who was determined to exercise his undisputed authority in the family and so his dominance over family members. The preoccupation of the disciples of Mohanmmed with conquest and conversion left them with little time to reflect on the family norms. and even if they had time, it was impossible for them to change
long established family mores of a predominantly
tribal people
except by compromising on expansionist programmes.
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12
Status of Muslim
Women in India
We may now examine the position of women in present day Muslim societies. {b)
Women
in Islamic Countries
‘We shall first deal with the Arab women, particularaly those in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Iraq. These five countries
constitute the most homogeneous group within the larger world
of the Arabs, Islam or the Near East (Morroe Berger, 1962:23). As a result of their education, the Arab women have advanced and more or less emancipated and are moving towards equality in every sphere of life. Manorama Dewan (1961:31) points out
that “there is quite a big number of Arab women who take up a profession before and after marriage in order to have an independent living and financial security.
In
U.A.R.,
Iraq
and
Lebanon the number of working women is steadily increasing. In U.A.R. and Lebanon there are a number of women holding important jobs as directors of big commercial concerns
and there are a number of women journalists.” On the political front also women are playing significant role,
though only very recently women got the right to vote. Iraq had the first woman minister and in Labanon one finds a large number of women participating in the political activities of the country.
Jn the Arab world also, as in through the males and father is
the West, descent is reckoned the head of the family who
enjoys great authority. In the opinion of Morroe Berger, (1962:131) the Arab family is still an extended one, though the urban younger educated section of the population prefers nuclear family.
The most profound changes in the Arab family are the result of the emancipation of women through education and their growing freedom to move outside the home. (Morroe Berger, 1962:145). A higher proportion of the younger women are now literate and their average number of year of schooling is greater. The educated young men and women are enjoying greater free‘dom in the choice of their marriage partners. In Arab countries a strong women’s movement is developing, asserting women’s
tights and
demanding
justice
Google
and
equality
in
all spheres of
Introduction governmental Dewan,
and
non-governmental
1961:31)
According to Berger
(1962:117-118)
activities
13
(Manorama
“although the
relations
between men and women in the Arab world are changing every day, they are still governed, especially in the less sophisticated social classes and places, by old strict codes of ‘meeting, mating and the creation of new families”. The Arab society places highest value on permarital chastity and moral fidelity of women. Young men and women are not free to mingle with one another
and to select their spouses. In this context Morroe Berger (1962:119) observes that the high value placed upon female
chastity before marriage and fidelity in it is enforced by largely confining women after puberty to their own company. It may be pointed out that in Egypt co-education is permitted only at the university level. In Turkey the advanced position of women is fully accepted as areality. Here education of girls showed marked growth from
1923 to 1933 under
the
new
Republic.
Ruth Francer Wood-
small (1960:12) points out that of the total enrolment of 31,000
students in Turkish universities in the later 1950’s, one-sixth or slightly over five thousand were women.
Turkish women actively participate in the economic life of the
country.
Woodsmall (1960:22) points out that
“today because
of their increasing numbers, the diversification of their activities, and the impressive achievment of the individuals, women in» Professions in Turkey are playing an increasingly important role
in the life of the nation.” Women in rural areas contribute significantly to the agricultural operations. In 1933 equal suffrage was granted to the Turkish women. They enjoyed full political right from 1935, when the Turkish Parliament recognized their full political equality. There is no legal obstacle of inequality standing in the way of their participation
in the political field. The Swiss Code was introduced in Turkey in 1926 and this established social equality with respect to polygamy,
divorce, guardianship, etc.
Yet polygamy
has not
completely,
disappeared from Turkey. In rural areas it is still practised. ‘Veiling’ is even now common in Turkey. According to Wood-
small (1960:32) ‘“Imams are now bringing pressure on women to Tesume it, appealing to superstition and ignorance by asserting
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14
Status of Muslim
Women in India
that the veil is necessary to ensure entrance to paradise.” Religious education is considred by these people as an urgent need in Turkey.
Tn Iran also there is marked advance of women as a result of the educational progress that has been taking place fora number of years. The compulsory unveiling of women decreed in 1935’ marked a change from the traditional seclusion of Tranian women. Women in Iran are free to move about in the streets, public gatherings and other places without wearing a veil. But though Iranian women are educated and free to move about, there are cartain traditional customs which prevent them from achieving equal status with men. According to Woodsmall (1960:51) while the new climate of freedom has had its effect on
the whole context of life in widening the activities and interests of women, certain traditional restrictive social customs and legal inequalities, always adverse to
women in
Iran, are
still a
basic challenge to their social freedom and equal social status with men. Polygamy and temporary marriages permitted by law are still practised among the middle and lower classes. “Unilateral divorce, i.e. the right of repudiation by the hus-
band, inequality in inheritance and of guardianship, give legal sanction to a lower social status for women.” The daughter
inherits only one-third of the property, i.e. half the son’s share; but women have full rights over the property owned by them. As far as the political status of Iranian
women is concerned,
she is still in a low position. Women in Iran are still disqulified as citiizens without the right to vote.
In Afghanistan, which is one of the least developed among Muslim countries, women still have the traditional role. The general illiteracy is estimated to be over 90 per cent, and female
illiteracy is over 95 per cent. The economic life of women here is limited to those in urban professions. Recently there is improvement in the professional life of women. A large number of the also the and
working women are married, but there are unmarried women working as teachers and in other allied professions. Though unveiling was brought about in 1959, the movements activities of women are limited. Marriages are arranged
by parents at an early age.
Google
The women
in the household are
Introduction
15
‘segregated and have little social contact with the outside world.
‘But the educated women have considerable influence in family affairs. Polygamy is widely practised. So also is unilateral
‘divorce. The Indonesian women have never known the restrictive social ‘customs of veiling
and
segregation
prevalent
in
Islam.
The
Dutch influence is predominantly marked here. Afther Indpendence there was remarkable improvement in education. The consitution provided women with equality of educational rights.
‘Co-education was established from the primary to the university level.
Girls are admitted to all levels of education
and the
status of male and female students is the same. Women in Indonesia are actively participating in economic life at all levels. In rural communities women are engaged in agri-
culture and cottage industries. According to Woodsmall (1960: 216), the remarkeble participation of women in the economic life of Indonesia today is the outcome of general economic and
political conditions rather then social change in the status of women. Education was the handmaid of this process. Indonesian women are granted suffrage
and equal rights with
men to vote and hold public office under the Provisional Consti-
tution of the Republic of Indonesia. There are many women’s organizations working along party lines. However, in Indonesia also polygamy and unilateral divorce
are prevalent. Child marriage is allowed. “Indonesian women ate working realistically within the framework of Islam. Most of them do not now demand legal abolition of polygamy but regulation and control of current practices, which, it is claimed, are contrary to the spirit of Quran.” (Woodsmall, 1960:227) In Pakistan, some restrictive customs have a determinative
effect on the life of Muslim women. Purdah
valent in Pakistan, though the younger women
upper class do not always use it.
system is still preof the
educated
Lady Abdul Quadir, an active
and prominent women’s liberation movement worker in Pakistan and who discarded purdah as early as 1940, remarks that
purdah is
undoubtedly losing
small, 1960:102).
Education
of girls had been
ground
but
too slowly (Wood-
a serious problem in Pakistan.
“The marked inequality between girls and boys in primary
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edu-
16
Status of Muslim
Women in India
cation was accentuated by the serious wastage of girl‘s education
within
two
or three
years because
of the social and economic
obstacles—purdah at ten years of age, the girl’s burden of work and early marriage (Woodsmall, 1960 : 106). Though the promotion of gitl’s education inevitably lags behind, in the field of higher education there has been a marked increase in the number of women’s colleges. Women attend the universities, all of which
are opened
to them
now.
Though
they
have the freedom to .
attend classes without the burqua, many still use it. to the Principal of Kinnaird College, the remarkable higher education of women is the most revolutionary Pakistan today (Woodsmall, 1960: 111). Women’s economic participation is significantly
According growth in change in improving
and now all professions are open to them except foreign service.
Women in rural areas are engaged in agriculture. A review of the position of women in urban and rural economic life in all levels has arrived at the conclusion that the great majority of
women
in
Pakistan
because of the
1960:129).
are
an
unrealized
retarding influence
economic
of the purdah
potential
(Woodsmall,
Pakistani women are granted full political rights. They are given adult suffrage and freedom to stand for election. The
Pakistan Muslim League and Punjab Muslim League had several prominent women members. The conferment of full political equality has helped women in Pakistan to raise their status. In the urban areas, modernization has affected not only the
size of the Pakistan family but also the role and attitudes of the
members of the family. According to Nazamul Karim (1963: 310) in urban communities the wife was not thought of as a chattel but an equal member of the family. There has been a considerable change in husband-wife relationship and they call and refer to each other by name. “Today the unquestioned authority of the husband never goes unchallenged by the wife. It thus appears that women are becoming emancipated from their former subjection, although this may be at the cost of family
happiness and stability. But we have to remember that 80 per cent of the Pakistanees live in rural areas where, as stated earlier,
tradition still holds sway. Speaking about the women in Bangla Desh, Duza M. Badrud
Google
Introduction
IT
{1964 : 48) points out that the women’s roles outside the home are limited, which is partly reflected by female participation in. the labour force which was only about 11 percent in 1961. According to him the proportion of literate women was only about one inten in 1961. Women in Bangla Desh are married at a very early age, immediately after puberty. A recent study by Jahan Rounaq (1973-b) indicates that the vast majority of women in the country still live in Purdah or
social seclusion, sometimes
by veil.
Bangla Desh women,
both
rural and urban, traditional and modern, ‘live in a social system that sanctifies an unequal and inferior status of women...
Status of Muslim Women in India We shall now examine the position of Muslim women in India. As stated earlier, Muslims constitute 11 per cent of India’s population. Indeed, India has the second largest Muslim
population in the world. from Hinduism and as
by Hindu
culture.
Indian
such
Available
Muslims are mostly converts
have been
very much
literature indicates
influenced
that
Indian
women who enjoyed a higher status during the vedic and Buddhistic periods suffered a reversal in their status during later times, which is exemplified in the famous couplet of Manu.*
The position got further deteriorated in later years. So, when the Muslim conquerors established their rule over India, they found that the
position of women in
jess conformed with
that in their own
they were even willing to borrow Hindu society.
Hindu
society
society and
more or
asa result
some of these elements from
During the period of Muslim rule the birth of a girl was looked upon as an unfortunate and unpleasant event in the Muslim family. Early marriage, i.c., marriage at the age of
8 or9 becamea common practice during this period. As tegards the settlement of marriage, it was entirely the concern of the parents on both sides, who agreed to the conditions of the contract and fixed the date of marriage. At that time girls *This couplet says : ‘‘The father protects her in childhood, adulthood, the sons take care of her in old age: at no time in
woman deserves to be free.
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husband in life does a
18
Status of Muslim Women in India
were
not
allowed
to express
their
opinion
regarding
their
marriage. Akbar, in order to abolish this practice, made the consent of the bridegroom and bride absolutely necessary for marriage but this injunction was soon ignored. Dowry system was prevalent among the Muslims at that time among the richer people, probably borrowed from the Hindus. Divorce was commonly practised during this period. The Muslim laws and customs allowed divorce conditionally.
Muslim husbands used it more freely and liberally. Polygamy was also prevalent among the Muslims, especially among the high class
people even
practice also by law.
though emperor
Akbar prohibited this
Conquest and conversion made polygamy
not only possible but socially desirable.
Women of the imperial and noble families were confined to ‘harem’ life. Referring to the monotonous and miserable life of the inmates of the harems, Manucci writes, ‘“‘...the women being shut up with this closeness and constantly watched and
having
neither
liberty nor occupation,
adorning themselves,
and
their
think
minds
dwell
of nothing but
on
nothing but
malice and lewdness” (quoted in Ila Mukerjee, 1972 : 40).
Another practice which was generally prevalent among the Muslim women during the medieval period, particularly among high and well to-do families, was the ‘purdah’ or seclusion. The practice was looked upon as a symbol of respectability. Women
belonging to the
poor classes
had to
work
their livelihood and so could not observe
outside
the purdah
home for like their
sisters in upper classes. Manucci observes that among the Mohammedans it was a great dishonour fora family when a wife is compelled to uncover herself. (quoted in P.N. Ojha, 1961 : 138). Purdah system isolated these women from the
-outer-world and confined them to the four walls of their house. As a whole we find that the position of women during the Moghal period was definitely inferior. ‘The women were not generally considered full persons whose advice was to be sought
and experience relied upon, and
conclusions
were drawn from
this belief by men according to their temperament and culture”.
(M. Mujeeb, 1967: 224). During the early
widely observed.
part of the
However,
Google
British rule purdah
a series of
was
still
legislations enacted by
Introduction the British and the
popularisation of western
19
education had a
salutary effect, especially on the upper class man,
and this sof-
tened the severity of many of the social injustice perpetrated on women.
‘
In the 20th century, a number of laws were passed, like the Child Marriage Restraint Act (common to all), the Dissolution of
Muslim Marriage Act of 1939, etc.,
of women practices.
to improve
the condition
and to safeguard them from the prevailing evil Mujeeb (1967 : 526) observes that in the 20th
century also reforms have had recourse to legalisation to abolish child marriage, to give women rights to inheritance and safeguard them against the custom of dowry. In modern time, economic conditions in many families make it necessary for women to go out of their home, work and
thus earn their livelihood to supplement the family income. As a result of these conditions they cannot observe seclusion or
purdah. Among the educated sections of the
feeling
that polygamy
is an
evil
population,
practice
and
there is the
many
of the
According to Syed Indian Muslims now prefer monogamy. Ameer Ali (1922 : 232), among the Indian Muslims, 95 men out of every hundred are at the present moment, by either conviction or necessity, monogamous. With the spread of education, segregation between the sexes is gradually disappear-
ing. The number of women leaving purdah or seclusion and taking active part in many national affairs is slowly but steadily increasing.
Education of Muslim Women
in India
.
fn this context, a word about the: education of Muslim women in India isin order. Quassim Emin, the author of the first book on the emancipation of women gave priority to demanding better education for her; he considered furthering
her intellectual development
a pre-requisite
to
improving her
position as a member of her family and the Muslim community (Quoted in Lichtenstadter, “n.d” 135). Education is also an indispensable means for helping the Muslim women out of
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20
Status of Muslim
Women in India
their economic misery because economic
dependency is another
factor contributing to the low status of women.
During the Turco-Afghan rule, in India, the women belong‘Ghiasuddin ing to the royalty were given private tuitions.
Khilji had
founded a Madrasa at Sarangpur
in which special
arrangements were made for teaching arts and crafts’. (Yusuf Hussain, 1959 : 92) During the Moghal period, as female education was considered
less important than male education, very inadequate provisions
Mass education of women was were made for its development. Education was confined to the royal and generally unknown. high class sections of the population and to some extent to the
middle class. There were ‘Maktabs’ for imparting religious education to girls in private houses where elderly ladies taught the Quran and
books
on
Muslim
morals.
widows
generally
regarded it to be their duty to teach young girls in their own houses. There are numerous instances of highly educated and
accomplished ladies in the royal
of nobles. However, several factors
cation on a mass among them was
families as well in the families.
hindered the growth of female edu-
Most important scale during this period. seclusion including purdah system waich
restricted the freedom of movement and confined women to their homes. It prevented the woman from attending educational institutions and thus acquiring higher education. Another
factor was early marriage. -Because girls were married at an early age, they were compelled to discontinue their studies. Under the fast changing conditions in the country in recent
times, increased attention is being paid to women’s
education.
Rawat (1970 : 430) points out that “if we take a historical survey of women’s education in India, we shall find that during the modern period the educationists and the authorities devoted their mind to the problem of women’s education ever since
the advent of English education.”
Before
the 20th century no
organized or constructive efforts were made in this direction. However, according to Pratima Asthana (1974 : 16) “the activi-
ties of the Christian
ultimately gave rise spite of the hostile
missions in the
field of female education
to an enlightened public opinion and in opposition from the orthodox section,
Google
Introduction.
21
realization of the necessity and importance of female education gtew apace in the country.” During 1905-21, girls’ education received much encourage-
ment and
Gandhi
made considerable
also
purdah system education.
supported
which
progress.
female
prevented
After 1926 Mahatma
education
girls from
and
he
acquiring
opposed
higher
After India attained Independence women’s education made considerable progress. The number of girls’ schools and colleges increased. Muslim girls going to schools and colleges also increased slowly but steadily. Muslim parents who are
anxious to educate their sons are
daughters with education. large numbers while in
also anxious
to provide their
Village girls are attending schools in towns more women seek college
education. “Yet it must be confessed that on the whole, Muslim women
react very slowly to these new influences. Because of long seclusion and life of submission, most of them dislike and even ‘dread the very thought of change.” (Beven Jones, 1941 : 36-37). Another factor which hinders the progress of education among Muslim women is that a majority of the Muslims still live in
joint families, where house called Zanana.
women reside in separate part of the But now the educated section of the
Muslim population has begun to develop a dislike for the joint family system which restricts the freedom of the individual and supresses individuality. Asa result, they are moving to-
wards nuclear families. Another noteworthy factor is that a large group of Muslim
women still use purdah or veil and they accept the seclusion with a kind of fatal recognition and rationalises it on the basis of custom and tradition (Bevan Jones, 1941 : 50). Yet another
factor is that many educated women unrestricted freedom for their sex.
are still
education and freedom of movement,
the advantages of female
Even though these factors hinder the
not in favour of
advancement of female
education are being increasingly appreciated. Educated Muslim women everywhere show
towards increasing economic the need to become
independence.
financially indenendent
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the
tendency
The awareness of
and to supplement
22
Status of Muslim
Women in India
family income, forces Muslim women to accept jobs outside home. But when compared to their Hindu counterparts the number of employed Muslim women is smaller. In the rural areas the women do most certainly work on farms and perform other economic activities of the villages. Consequently, they are treated with more respect and given more freedom, though
still subordinated to men.
However,a
woman
in a middle
class home still cannot live independently; “if she did not subordinate herself in some way to a man, to be financially supported by him, she would in all probability starve to death.”
(Smith, 1946 : 81).
Education of Muslim Women in Kerala Kerala State stands first in India in literacy. “The progress of literacy in Kerala has been both accelerated and highly encouraging at least from 1901 onwards” (Devassy, 1965: 364). The percentage of literacy in the State has gone up from 46.85 per cent in 1961 to 60.42 percent in 1971, whereas the National literacy rate has increased only from 24.03 percent in 1961 to
29.32 per cent during this period. In the case of male the literacy tate in the State is 66.54 percent as against the National rate, 39.51 per cent. The percentage of female literates in 1971 is 53.90 per cent whereas for the whole of India it is 18.44 per cent. Kerala has the highest percentage of female literates among the states of India. Among the districts of the State the highest percentage of literacy is recorded in Alleppey district (70.44%). However, the study area comprising the Northern districts of Cannanore, Kozhikode Malappuram and Palghat (former
Malabar district) have literacy rate less than the state average. They are also the districts which have the largest proportion of Muslims in the population. The education of Muslims who form a sizeable section of the population of
authorities
had
Kerala
was
a
difficult problem
to face in Malabar from the
which
beginning.
the
“The
education of Mohammedans engaged the attention of Government from early period but owing chiefly to the apathy of the Mohammedan community much progress was not effected.”
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Introduction
23
(Satthianadhan, 1894:77). In 1871 : 72 a plan was organized for improving the education imparted to Mappila (Muslim) in the schools attached to the Mosques. What they there was nothing else than learning to read and write from the Quran. “The greatest obstacle of all was the
children received passages supreme
indifference of the Mappilla to secular education.’’ (Innes, 1951:
In 1872-73 special measures were undertaken with the object of advancing education among the Muslim community. “In Malabar special encouragement in grants-in-aid
schools order
for Mappillas
to advance
and
other arrangements
education among
the Inspector of Schools,
was held out to
were
made in
that class. To Garthwaite,
belongs the honour of organizing the
system of Mappilla education in Malabar’’ (Satthianadhan, 1894: 119), There were certain special difficulties in the spread
of education among the Muslims in North Malabar.
The Mus-
lims who were satisfied with Arabic were against Malayalam as the medium of instruction. Besides. the religious teachers were
suspicious of secular education.
many
this
educational
period. Arabic
facilities
and
were
To overcome their opposition afforded
to
Muslims during.
Persian were recognized as
_classicak
languages for examinations; Muslim students were charged only half fees; scholarships were provided for the Mohammedan
students.
In
1881
the grant-in-aid
was
raised by 25%. There
were 41 government primary schools for Mohammedans, of which 27 were girls’ schools. Again, in 1914-15 pointed attention of the Government was.
directed to the education of Muslim boys and girls. Special fee concessions were granted to them. Full salary grants were: sanctioned to
the Mohammedan
primary schools.
Arabic was.
offered as a second language and Arabic teachers were appoin~ ted to teach them. In 1923-24 six vernacular schools for Mohammedans were opened and their number increased in the next years. The first Mohammedan
girl passed
the Vernacular
School Leaving Examination in 1925. In spite of the encouragement provided by the government, in the form of fee concesssions and grant-in-aid, the Muslim girls. attending the vernacular schools were very small in number. To quote Velu Pillai (1940: 732) “although
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the special concessions.
24
Status of Muslim
Women in India
granted lead to a steady increase in the number
of Mohamme-
dan boys in the schools, the proportion of girls attending schools was still disappointing. As a result of the effective propaganda work and the appointment of a Mohammedan graduate as an Assistant
Inspector
in school
there
was a marked increase in
the number of Muslim girls attending schools. In 1935-36 a scheme was sanctioned for securing the co-operation of Muslim associations in different parts of the state by means of grantsin-aid for doing propaganda work to increase the number of Mohammedan girls in the primary schools. The result was that the number of Mohammedan girls attending schools rose from 4,853 in 1933-34 to 6,052 in the next year 36°’ (Velu Pillai, 1940 : 732).
After
the
formation
of the
state
and
10,450 in 1935-
of Kerala
in 1956, the
Government took a keen interest and gave all encouragement in improving education among the Muslims who came under the category ‘Other Backward Communities’ (OBC). It is only very recently that Muslims have taken to English education in the State. The Kumara Pillai Commission (1965 : 51) which was
appointed by the Government of Kerala in July 1964 to look into the educational problems of backward communities in the State points out that, “although there are a few cases of wealthy persons among the members of this community, speaking gene-
rally,
Muslims,
asa
class
educationally
and
are
for Muslims.
appear
economically.”
to be very
According
backward both
to the Commis-
sion, 40 per cent of the seats are reserved for the Backward Community in educational institutions in Kerala of which 9 per cent reserved
Statistics collected by the Commis+
‘sion show that of the literacy rate in Kerala is 468 per thousand. But in the case of Muslims 829 out of every thousand are illiterate.
The
report
reveals
school going girl students only clear the low educational level general and of Muslim girls in out that in the matter of literacy, far behind
that
out
of:
thousand
high
2.83 are Muslims. This makes of the Muslims in Kerala in particular. It may be pointed Malabar (the study area) lags
the rest of Kerala, and it may be to a considerable
extent due to the presence in that region of a large proportion sof Muslims. Thus, we find that education is the key which contributed to.
Google
Introduction
25
and accelerated the emergence of women as an important factor in all
societies. As
a matter
of fact, available literature
indi-
cates that there is a close relationship between the spread of female education on the one hand and the development of women’s status on the other. But in Muslim Communities we find that though encouragement has been given to Muslim women in matters of education and other activities which edu-
cation envisages, Muslim women have not been able to take full advantage of them largely due to the dominance of social structural and institutional factors in Islam such as early marriage, polygamy, unilateral divorce, segregation, veiling
etc. which impede their utilisation in full.
and the areas through which they exert
The manner in which
influence
on the social
structure will be examined in detail in the following chapters.
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Digitized byGoogle
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Methodology
Objective of the Study The objective of the study is to find out whether education plays any significant role in raising the social status of Muslim
women. If it could contribute significantly to women’s status we want to know the specific areas of improvement in their status caused by education. If education does not succeed in improv-
ing the prevailing status of Muslim women, we want to identify the factors which are responsible for inhibiting status improvement in spite of education. Statement
of the Problem
The social status of Muslim women has been a neglected field of
study
in Indian
sociology.
In spite of the fact that Muslims
constitute 11 per cent of India’s population (and half of them are women) and in spite of the further fact that the Government of India and the State governments are particularly anxious to raise the status of Muslim women, who compared to their Hindu counterparts, are in the most unenviable position, no systematic effort has been made so far to find out the factors behind their low status. As a result we know precious little about th: social dynamics of status improvement among an
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28
Status of Muslim
Women in India
important segment of the society, This has greatly handicapped the formulation of policies and the administration of welfare programmes intended for their uplift. The present study there-
fore attempts to examine the socio-cultural aspects of the status
of Islamic women in India with special reference
to Kerala.
As
education is a major instrument through which the Government of India and the State governments attempt to improve the condition of the weaker sections of the country, we have attempted to examine the contributions of education to the improve-
ment of the status of Muslim women in Kerala. We assume that since educational opportunities are equally available to all sections of the population, if any section of the population has not been ableto avail them fully (or even after availing them
have not been able to gain advantages accruing
therefrom)
this
Accordingly, our
identification of
may be largely due to the presence of certain social structural and institutional variables which are peculiar to that section.
attempt
is directed
to
the
these variables which hinder the enjoyment of educational opportunities (and through it other opportunities) by this section.
After examining available
literature
on the
subject and in the
light of a pilot study which we conducted, we put forward a few hypotheses for testing and validation.
Hypotheses Our central hypothesis is that education has, indeed, contributed to the improvement of social status of Muslim women. However, so many structural and institutional factors in the
Muslim society have hindered the availing of educational opportunities provided by the state. They have also stood in the
way of using education as a channel of status mobility for women. Based on this central hypothesis we have formulated certain other hypotheses also. They are : (2) The practice of seclusion of women which is widely observed in the Muslim community hinders the Muslim women from availing of educational opportunities offered
to them by the larger society. (2) The practice of early marriage which
Google
is widely prevalent
Methodology
29
among the Muslim community prevents Muslim women from continuing their education after marriage. (3) Absence of socially defined occupational roles for Muslim. women
detracts
from
the importance
tool for achieving occupational skills.
of education as a
(4) Many of the modern feminine roles are out of conformity with the of feminine roles of traditional Islamic society. Hence education which is necessary for performing
modern roles is devalued. (5) Seclusion and lack of education create in Muslim women low level of aspiration and this,
from striving for status mobility.
in
turn,
dissuades them
(6) The traditional value system of the Muslim society assigns to women a position subordinate to men and this value system is still enforced by men in the Muslim society.
It will be seen that education is the most important variable used for the analysis of social status in the study. As religious education in the Quran is imperative for all true followers of the Prophet and as Arabic schools (called Madrasas) have been established by the Muslim community whereever they live in sizeable numbers, this kind of education has to be differentiated
from secular education provided under the auspices of the State. Accordingly, we have defined ‘education’ as ‘secular education’
which
is imparted
through
the
Department
of
Education of the State Government. It this context, education may be defined as the ability to read, write experience, discipline and also instructions and training which an individual gets by attending any formal institution like school or college.
such institution which is sponsered or run by the government will be considered as an
the present study.
Any
Kerala State
educational institution for
By ‘status’ Linton (1936) meant a position in a social system occupied by designated individuals; by role, the behavioural
enacting of the patterned expectations
attributed to
that posi-
tion. Status and role, in these terms, are concepts serving to connect the culturally defiined expectations with the patterned
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30
Status of Muslim Women in India
behaviour and relationships wich comprise social structure (quoted by Merton, 1957 : 368) Talcott Parksons (1951 ; 25) defines role as the organized sector of an actor’s orientation which constitutes and defines his participation in an interactive process. Status on the other hand tefers to the actor’s position within an institution, i.e., within a
system of roles. Role is thus the “processual aspect” and status the “positional aspect” of an actor’s participation in a social
system,
Brain Morris
(1971 : 397) defines status as the location of an
actor in a system of social relationships and role as the set of expectations applied to the incumbents of that particular status.
According to Robert K. Merton (1957 : 369-70) social status of an individul is his status-set, each of the statuses in turn having its distinctive role-set. Role-set according to him is the complement of role relationships which persons have by virtue of occupying a particular social status. In her study of ‘Social Status of North Indian Women’, Ila Mukerjee (1972 : iii) has defined social status as the place that a ‘woman occupies and the dignity as well as privileges she enjoys in society. For the purpose of our study, we may define social status as the position an individual has in society by virtue of
having to perform certain roles. His/her social position includes position in the family, occupational hierarchy, politics and teligion.
Traditional Muslim society has given its women a very limited tole. As a matter of fact the only role that a woman was expec-
ted to play was that of a faithfull and dutiful wife and an affectionate mother. In modern industrial societies, these domestic Toles are supplemented and in some cases superseded by her role
as a working woman. : The social status of Muslim women is measured in terms of the defferent roles she performs in society. In operational terms,
Her social status can be measured by the degree of freedom enjoys in the following : (1)
(2) (3)
to get education
to choose and hold a job to have say in spouse selection
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she
Methodology
(4)
31
to participate in family decision-making including family
(5)
budget, education and marriage of children, acquistion and disposal of consumer durables, real estates, etc. to use one’s income in her own way
(7)
cultural and political) to go out without male escort.
(6)
to participate
in extra
familial
activities
(religious,
Sample
Though the Muslims
are
spread
over
the
entire
length
and
breadth of the state, there are certain districts wihch have larger
concentration of Muslims
than
others.
Thus
the
districts
of
Malappurem, Calicut, Palghat and Cannanore account for 66 per
cent of the total Muslim population of Kerala. While the proportion of Muslim population in the state is 19.5 per cent, the proportion of Muslims in Malappuram is 64 per cent. Cali-
cut 30.6 per cent, Palghat 21.2 per cent and Cannanore 24 per cent (1971 Census). Accordingly these four districts were chosen for drawing up the sample. The population was stratified into tural and urban based on 1971 census data and representative
Panchayats (rural) and towns (urban) were
selected from each
of the four districts. From each of these Panchayats and Towns,
wards were identified for selection of sample subjects. Since education is a key variable in the study we wanted to select our
sample from a population consisting of the better educated Muslims. Hence selection of Panchayat and towu wards was
done on the basis of their comparatively better position in edu-
cation. From the voters list/register of households maintained by the Panchayat offices:and Municipal Corporations, Muslim householdes were identified (by the name of head of household). By
using simple random sampling method, 450 women and 150 men were chosen for interview. The two samples
were drawn independently.
as a complete range of status
married woman.
The
of women and men
Only married women were selected, indicator can be had only froma
justification
for
selecting
a sample of
Muslim men was that they are the decision makers in the house-
hold and community and control all the channels of status mobility.
It was therefore thought useful to know
Google
how they
ratio-
32.
Statns of Muslim
nalise their actions
Women in India
even
though
some
of these actions are at
variance with the injunctions of the Quran.
Tools of data
Collection
Data of the empirical sudy was
view
schedules.
Two
separate
collected mainly through inter-
schedules
were
prepared
for
women and men for collecting information on matter pertaining to the study. Besides personal data of respondests the
schedules contained questions relating to status attitudes and practices in this area.
indicators and
Before preparing the schedules, the researcher conducted a pilot study in Trivandrum district (rural and urban) and held discussions with prominent Muslims (men and women) to have
some insight into the problems. It was on the basis of this that the research design was developed and perfected. The schedules were pretested in the selected districts because of known differences in their spoken language in terms of diction,
dialect and
accent from the one spoken by the Muslims in Trivandurm.
With the leaders of Muslim community including politicians, Mullahs and social workers, depth interviews were held to find out their ideas and attitudes on the prevailing practices in Mus-
lim community and their religious and secular foundations. Data Collection
The field study, relating to this research was conducted in the middle of 1974. For this the researcher stayed in the districts for four months. Being a stranger to the place, establishing rapport with the respondents was found to be very difficult in the beginning. Many of the respondents being illiterate and having little contact with the outside
world,
it was
very diffi-
cult to make them understand the purpose of the visit. Some of them misunderstood the researcher as a family planning
propagandist, some others as a census enumerator and yet others, as a person sent by the Government to check the ration
cards. Another problem faced by the researcher
was with language.
Though ali the respondents spoke Malayalam, the State language,
Google
Methology
33
they used different pronounciations, words and accent. This was more so in Malappuram where literacy was the lowest. In
the Palghat district, many people spoke a crude mixture of Malayam and Tamil. However. these difficulties were over after the first few days of field work. Establishing rapport was a major problem with many female
respondents. Some of the women were quite suspicious and afraid of the interviewer and at first would not even let her in.
In some cases the woman would be prepared for the interview only after the approval of the husband and other elder male members of the family was obtained. Yet others insisted that their
husbands also should be present at the time researcher therefore thought it better to
of interview. The
approach men wherever
possible and get their consent before interviewing their women. It needs to be pointed out that some men who were approached for interview of their wives refused to grant this interview fearing that the researcher might poison the minds of their women with knowledge and ideas harmfnl to them. In such cases alternate
respondents had to be used. Once rapport was established, the respondents were very co-operative and even hospitable. In interviewing men, there were fewer problems. Many of
them were apparently happy that they speak about their family to a member of ever, in some cases their women showed lady talking freely with their husbands. Usually the interviews lasted for 40 to
got an opportunity to the opposite sex. Howdispleasure at a young
on the time required to establish rapport.
60
minutes
depending
Analysis of data With the help of the computer, tables were prepared by analysing the data on the basis of family structure, age, education, income, place of residence, and husband’s education. Chi square values and coefficient of contingency were calculated. In most cases
Chi square test was used to establish
Chi square test was found contingency was also used,
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insufficient,
relationships. the
Where the
test of coefficient of
Digitized byGoogle
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
The Research Setting |
The present study was conducted in the Malabar resgion of Kerala State. This region consists of the four northern districts of Kerala, viz., Malappuram, Calicut, Palghat, and Cannanore. They are contiguous and together account for 66 per cent of the Muslim population of the State. Muslims form
a little less though for more than There is
in Kerala.
than one-fiflh of the total population of Kerala the whole of India they account for only slightly one-tenth. no authoritative data on the first arrival of Muslims It is believed
that
the
religion
introduced in Kerala in the 8th century A.D.
of
Islam was first
though according
to Burnell (1909 : 456) the Mohammedan Arabs
first settled in
Malabar only about the beginning of the 9th century. The early Muslims came as traders and settled down mostly on the coastal regions. They built mosques in different parts of the State and gradually made converts to their religion. They were
able to win the favour of the Zamorin (ruler) of Calicut who gave them the right not only to build mosques but also to convert his subjects. As a matter of fact, Malabar was the
first place where Islam made peaceful conversion on a large scale in India. Muslim influence in this region continues to the
Google
36
India Status of Muslim Women in
present day.
called “Mappillas”. According The Muslims of Malabar are a used in Malabar to denote was m ter the re Moo is Lew to a native. ish settler who married Jew or ian ist Chr , lim Mus only to the The name is now confined (Thurston, 1907 : 459). ni Muslim The Mappillas are a Sun Muslims of Malabar. from the Arabs the 8th century group originating during las were
n. traders and also from convertio n highly industrious and their mai
The early Mappil occupation was trade
and
of eduas a result of the spread commerce, though today, as get into other occupations cation they have managed to now engaged
s of Malabar are well. By and large, the Muslim e and very little in other mainly in agriculture and trad occupations. the Mappillas of Malabar Because of their historical origins in certain parts of the area are mostly patrilinear, though mat riliny also is prevalent. polygamy still prevails anda Among the Kerala Muslims at a time. But in actual es wiv 4 to up e hav can la Mappil y one wife. Polyandry is foronl e hav m the of t mos tice prac dis not exist. Girls are tra doe and law lim Mus by bidden after puberty. immediately tionally married just before the parents. The ceremony is Marriage is usually arranged by and
priest (Kazi), the relatives conducted in the presence of the of espread among the Muslims others. Dowry system is wid The amount depends on the Kerala as in other communities. groom. upational status of the social, educational and occ But it is not actually paid Mehr or bride price also exists. mise of payment is given and the time of marriage ; only a pro question of payment does as long as the marriage lasts, the
specially among Divorce by the husband is not rare, er it a Respectable families, however, consid the lower classes. Divorce by wife, though perdisgrace to divorcea woman.
not arise.
ow remarriage while permitted by law, is very rare. Wid Personal Law, is also very mitted by the Quran and by Muslim Vidows tend to remain alone and look rare in the study area.
after their children rather than remarry. In the matter of inheritance of property,
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Muslim women in
The Research Setting Kerala, as in the rest of India, have
share of Muslim men. Kerala Muslims are very religious
mosque
for
prayers
regularly.
As
37
claim for only
half of the
minded.
go
Men
a rule,
to the
women
do
not
go to the Mosques but say their prayers at home. The Malabar Muslims scrupulously observe
prescribed by the
Quran.
The
Ramzan, Muharam, Bakrid and
observed by most Muslims
in
the
various
most
fasts
important
Milad-i-sherif,
Malabar.
and
festivals
of them are
and
these are
Religious
education
is considered as a prerequisite for every Muslim and Madrasas have been established by the community at convenient points
for children.
Rich
Muslims
do
not
send
Madrasas but employ private tutors at home. In dress, Muslims have adopted the major
their
children to
style
prevalent
among the people of the locality. Orthodox Muslim men have their head shaven off and use afezcap or turban to cover their head. Muslim women wear a dhoti (Mundu) generally made of some coloured cloth and a blouse (Kuppayam) with close neck and long
sleeves.
They
which covers their head and hangs
also wear a piece
loose
of cloth
over their body.
In
the towns, educated women wear sarees and fashionably made blouses but many make it a point to cover their head with the
loose end of the sari
when
they
go
out
or
meet
strangers.
Mappilla women do not generally seclude themselves completely
and are not held to be “ghoshas” like other Muslim women. In Malappuram and Calicut, a few of the upper class women use the Burkha,
a dress
which
covers
the
head to foot and with a netted portion over
whole
the
considered more a symbol of aristocracy than requirement. The burkha is usually black in generally made of silk or other costly cloth.
The main
home.
area
of activity of the
Muslim
There are few opportunities for
body
eyes.
from
This is
as a religious colour and is
women
is their
them, especially in the
tural areas, to go out. One such opportunity is the religious festival. During this time they go to the mosque mainly to attend religious discourses given by some learned mullah. According to some of our respondents, the main
theme in these
discourses is on women’s duties in society. Wedding cetemonies provide another occasion for gathering together. But an un-
Google
38
Status of Muslim
married
woman
invited to it.
Women in India
cannot
attend
a wedding.
Nor
will she be
The Muslim community in Malabar is backward both educationally and economically. Most of its members are illiterate and they pursue low status occupations like petty shop keeping, beedy making and commerce which do not
require much
skill.
Since
men
have low paying occupations, their
themselves women
are
are
illiterate
and
still worse and
are compelled to depend on their husbands for survival.
About the age of 5, boys and girls are sent to the Madrasa for religious instruction. The courses here would run for 2 to 3 years. Formerly (and even today in many places) the classes in these schools were held during day time and so if a girl
wanted to attend the state school, this was possibly only after completing her religious education. As a result, by the time girls reach the 4th or Sth standard in the state school, they would attain puberty and then they will not be allowed to continue their education and even to go out of home. This condition they endure even after marriage unless the husband lives in a town.
In the Malabar area, however, towns are few and far between and the urban Muslims are as much conservative as their rural
counterpart in letting their
in agricultural pursuits
are
women
an
go
out.
exception.
Women
By
engaged
necessity
they
have to work in the field. But to the extent possible, Muslim women would prefer to work under Muslim landlords who are plently in the study area. Seclusion is very much the order in the aristocratic families. We are told that a male stranger is not expected to speak to a lady except through a mediater—a
grown up male member of the house. Even a male cannot examine a woman patient except in the presence husband or father.
her.
We
ourselves
doctor of her
Still, he cannot touch her body to examine
had
occasion
to witness
a few
stances (both strangers and doctors) during our visits.
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such in-
Educational Background
Islam attaches great value to education
and
prescribes it as the
duty of a woman as well as that of a man to acquire knowledge.
According to Ilse Lichtenstadter (n.d.:141), “fundamentally it (Islam) has always considered learning at least a useful accessory to being a good Muslim ...”’ Islam thinks that education is a necessary condition which helps women to develop their faculties. In the words of Mohammed Quth (1964:188), “acquistion of knowlege was as great a duty of woman as of man, for, Islam
wanted the womenfolk to develop their
with physical ones and
rational faculties along
thus ascend to higher planes of spiritual
existence...” Mohammed preached to his followers : “‘knowledge
enables its possessor to distinguish what is forbidden from what is not, it lights the way to heaven; it is our friend in the desert,
our society in solitude, our companion with benefits of friends; it guides us to happiness’* (Gore, Desai and Chitnis, 1967:89).
The
four things which the Prophet commands the followers to do for their children are : (1) to circumcise them (2) to inform them of the principles of their religion (3) to educate them properly, and (4) to marry them off when they reach the proper age. Thus, we see that in Islam education is given an important position
in the life of the people.
Though
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Mohammed favoured women’s
40
Status of Muslim
Women in India
education, in actual practice the injunctions of the Quran in this respect were completely ignored. The Muslim community, as it had misinterpreted many other principles of Islam, also considered the education of girls as an unnecessary step. Asa result,
‘a situation developed where Muslim societies
perhaps
the
most
backward
in
the
are educationally
contemporary
world’
(Humayun Kabir, 1969:8). In the absence of education, women in the Arab countries were considered inferior to men and consequently their status became
exceedingly low.
Their status
began to improve as a result of the spread of education. Berger
(1962 : 152) points out that “emancipation of women in the Arab world has proceeded indirectly largely as a consequence of
their greater education and freedom to work outside home, rather than as a result of direct legislation aimed at revolutionizing their status.”
In spite of the fact that the Government of India have provided girls with equal opportunity for education with boys and have given special considerations
for
the
backward
classes
in
the form of free concessions, scholarships, seat reservations etc., the number of educated Muslim pared with women belonging to
women is still less when comother communities. The con-
servatism of parents towards the education of girls, together -with the practice of purdah or seclusion and early marriage are the main factors which ‘hinder the educational progress of Muslim women. To find out whether the reluctance on the part of the mothers to send their daughters to schools is due to the belief that there
is something. in their religion which is against women’s education, the following question was asked to our women respondents :
‘Is there anything in your religion which is against women’s education other than religious education’. Only 8.22 per cent of the respondents said ‘yes’, while the rest 91.78 per cent said there is nothing in Islam which is against girl’s education. When the answer to this question was analysed on the basis of education, family income and age of the respondents, it was found that these variables do not have any influence on their answer.
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Educational Background
41
Factors Influencing Education In spite of this, our sample
of
persons (14.67%) who were
450
educated,
women
contained
high
only 66
school and above.
What is more, 35 per cent were illiterate. Though rural-urban difference in education are generally well established, in the
case of our respondents it is seen
that
their place
of residence
does not have any influence on their level of education.
Age
always
remains
an important
foctor
influencing
the
education of individual. The younger generation having better opportunties and being more conscious of the value of education, are usually better educated than those belonging to the older
generation.
In the case
of our
respondents
also
this is true.
Age of the respondents and their educational level are significantly related to each other. The table shows that when only 15.47 per cent of the respon-
dents who belong to the age group 25 and below were illiterate, 35.72 per cent of them are high school or college educated.
So
also when 68 per cent of the women belonging to the age group
46 and above were illiterate, only 4 per cent of them had high school or college education. It is evident that age: of the ces-
pondents and their educational level are
related
to each other,
i.e., as age increases education decreases. Income of the respondents’ parents also has got some influence on their educational level. 52 per cent of the Muslim women belonging to the income group below Rs. 150 were illiterate. In this income group, only 1 per cent had high school education and above. On the other hand, those with income above Rs. 750 account for only 16 per cent of the illiterates but they account for 51 per cent of the high school and above
group.
Thus, we can infer from this that as income of parents
increases, education of respondents also increases. It is an accepted fact that the education of the
marked influence on the education of parents are aware of the importance of want their children to be better educated so use of the opportunities available in society.
also
this
was
found
Google
to
be
true.
50
parents has a
children. Educated education and they that they can make In the present study
percent
of the Muslim
Status of Muslim Women in India 42°
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Educational Background
43
women whose fathers were ill terate were also illiterate, while only 6 per cent of those whose fathers had’ high school or college education were illiterate.
By contrast, only 4 per cent of
the daughters of illiterate fathers have high school education while 58 per cent of the daughters of high college educated fathers have education equal to The strong cultural bar against higher education
and above school and their own. of women
Thus, we explains why it is only 58 per cent and not higher. see that as the education of father increases, education of the
daughters also increases. In other words, the higher the education of the fathers the higher the education of girls is likely to
be. The X? test shows significant relation well beyond. .02 level and coefficient of contingency (.372) shows there is corre-
lation between the two.
This is clear from the following table. TABLE
2
Respondents’ Education and their Fathers’ Education
Education
Total
Father’s Education
Respondent’s
27
117
Illiterate
High School & College
Middle
Primary
Illiterate
ll
(50.21%) (26°22%) (17°19%)
14 39 62 (26°61%) (37°86%) (21°88%) 22 26 45
Primary Middle
9
il
17
233
Total :
103
9 (18%) 9
124 102
29
66
(6%)
(587%)
(386%) (10°68%) (26°55%)
& College
158
(18%)
(19°32%) (25°24%) (34°38%)
High School
3
64
(100-00%) (100°00%) (100°00%)
50
(100-00%)
450
xX? = 72'786 Df = 9
Table value at ‘01 = 21°666 Cc
=
0372
As far as girl is concerned, her
Google
mother
has
much
influence
44
Status of Muslim
Women in India
on her. In the case of education this influence is very clear. In our study it was found that the educated mother had her daughter also educated. TABLE 3
Respondent's Education and Mother’s Education Respondent's
education
Illiterate
6
High School &
Total
Middle and High
1
158
2
124
(41.48%)
(10.91%)
(3.23%)
(29.40%) 77
(27,27%) 16
(6.45%) 9
107
Middle
Total
aaa an Illiterate Primary 151
Primary
College
Mother’s Education
15
(21.15%)
(29.09%)
29
18
(29.02%)
102
19
66
450
(7.97%)
(32.73%)
(61.30%)
364 (100.00%)
55 (100.00%)
31 (100.00%)
It is clear from the table that as education of the mother increases, the respondent’s education also increases. About 41 per cent
of the
respondents
with
illiterate mothers were illiterate.
Only 3 per cent of the middle school and above educated mothers
allowed their daughters to be illiterate. 19 out of 31 (61 per cent)
middle school and above educated mothers have high school and college educated daughters. The fact that educated men are likely to prefer educated wives was found to be true in the case of our resporidents. It was found from the present
study
that there is a significant relation
between respondents’ and their husbands’ educational following table makes it clear.
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Go gle
45 Educational Background
46
Status of Muslim Women in India
It is clear from the table that when 19 per cent of the illiterate respondents got illiterate husbands, 6.45 per cent of primary
school educated got illiterate husbands, about 3 per cent of the middle school and above educated women got illiterate husbands. Respondents who were middle school and above educated got husbands who had college education.
The above observation holds in the case of respondents’ fathers and mothers also. It was found that as education of the wife increases that of the husband also increases. TABLE 5 Respondents’
Father’s
education
Fathers’
and Mothers’
Education
Mother’s education
= ——————-——_————. Illiterate Primary
Total
High school
Illiterate Primary Middle High school
and college
Total
229 (98.28%) 82 (79.61%)
35 (54.69%)
2 ( 0.86%) 19
2 ( 0.86%) 2
223
22 (34.38%)
7 (10.94%)
64
20
50
31
450
(18.45%)
18
(36%) 364
(80.89%)
12
(24%) 55
( 1.94%)
\
(40%)
(12.22%)
( 6.89%)
The table shows that 93 per cent fathers who were had illiterate wives. 79.61 per cent of the fathers with
103
illiterate primary
education had illiterate wives. 54.69 per cent of the middle school educated fathers had illiterate wives and only 36 per cent of the
high school and college educated
Google
fathers had illiterate wives.
20
Educational Background 47 out of 31 (64,52 per cent) high school educated fathers had high
school educated wives. A conclusion which follows from Tables 4 and 5 is that educated women are mostly married to men who
are
at least as much educated as the
women.
Thus, education
taises a woman’s status by giving her an educated husband.
Age of entry to school It is a noteworthy fact that the age at which
the
Muslim
girls
first enter the school is 2 to 3 years older than the minimum age prescribed by Government for admission to school. The minimum
age prescribed for admission to school when the
our respondents were in school was 5.
But in the case
oldest
of
of our
respondents it was found that only 14.38 per cent of them entered the school at the age of 5 to 6, 31 per cent of the Muslim girls
joined the school at the age of 6 to 7, 38.36 per cent at the age
of 7 to’8 and 16.16 per cent at the age of 8 or above. So, we see that a larger portion of the respondents first joined the school at the age of 7to 8. The main reason for the late entrance to school was their emphasis on completing a course of religious
education.
It is interesting to examine who takes initiative in children’s education. Usually at the lower levels, it is the parents who
take initiative in their children’s education. higher education, even when the
But in the case
parents are not interested,
of
the
children may themselves take initiative
and this may be allowed
decide up to what level the girls should
study.
by parents. However, in the case of Muslim girls, the last one has very low probability. In most cases, their fathers usually
To
know
who
took initiative in the case of our respondents’ education after the middle school level, the question was asked of those who are
above middle school. The question was asked only to this group because upto high school level no student is in a position to take the initiative to continue her studies.
It was found
that, of the
66 Muslim women who had studied above the middle school, 83.33 per cent of them said that it was their fathers who took the initiative in their education,
14.88 per cent
brothers and only about 2 per cent said
Google
said it was their
it was they
themselves
48 Status of Muslim
Women in India
who took the initiative in their studies. From
these we can infer
that as far as the Muslim women are concerned, it is
fathers who decide their level of education minority
their
brothers.
Girls
cannot
they are not given freedom for it.
take
and
with
still their
a small
initiative because
Objectives of Education As regards the objective of education of Muslim women, it seems that.the modern objectives have only a low order of priority for
them. Asked about their parents’ dents, out of 158 women who had level (only those who were beyond the aim of education because at
aim in educating the responeducation above the primary the primary were asked about the primary level no parent
would have any specific aim in educating
children) 8.86 per cent
of them said that their parents did not have any definite aim, 13.29 per cent stated that they aimed at getting a job, 21.52 per cent wanted to improve their status and 56.33 per cent said the aim was to acquire knowledge.
When analysed on the
basis
of
education, educational level of the respondents and the perceived aim of education were found to be related to each other. TABLE 6
Level of Education and Objective of Education Educatian
of
respondents
Objective
Noaim
To acquire knowledge
To get ajob
4 12 Middle (85.71%) (19.05%) School 17 2 High School: and College (14.29%) (80.95%) 21 14 Total
58 (65.17%) 31 (34.83%) 89
(100.00%) (100.00%) (100.007%)
“Note :
Only those who were
beyond
Total
To improve Status
92 18 (52.94%) 66 16 (47.06%) 34.—~—«WS8
(100.007%)
the primary
about their parents’ aim in educating
Google
ee
were
asked
them because
at
Educational Backgro und
primary level no parent would have any definite
49
aim
in
educating the children. In our sample only 158 respondents were above primary.
Table shows that for the majority of the respondents (56%) education had only one purpose, viz. to acquire knowledge. The second major aim in education was to improve status (22%). Only a very small number (15%) considered education as a means of securing a job. It is interesting to note that 17 out of 21 respondents (81%), who expressed /this view belonged to the
high school and above educated group. Probably, they were deviating from contemporary social norms when they wanted to For the vast use education for getting a job. tion was not intended as qualification for
career.
majority, educaan occupational
Age of the respondents and their ot parents’ objective in educating them were not related to each other, though the’ common
observation was found to be true that “the younger generation of today views education as a direct means to, employment and economic betterment’’ (Ramachandran, 1971:356). When the data was analysed to find out what gain the Muslim
women made from their education, it was found that 53 per cent of them said that their education had’been of no definite use to them, while about 3 per cent said it helped them in acquiring knowledge, 7 per cent in getting a job and 34 per cent said it helped them in improving theic position. The educational level of the respondents and their gain from This is clear education were related to each other significantly.
from the following table.
The above total shows that education has greatly
contributed
to the achievement of the goal, i.e. the higher the education, the higher is the percentage of people who achieved their goal. Compared to 76 per cent of middle school educated women who 23 stated that education was of no definite use to them, only per cent of high school and above women expressed this view. in However, the major positive goal of education had been improving their position (37%).
above’ educated stand
in
sharp
In this
contrast
middle school education (59% against
‘the
21%).
to
of those who aimed at a job through education
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high
those
Nearly
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school
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one
and
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Educational Background
51
ned with their hope, for education was helpful in securing a job only to 11 persons. Termination of Education We have already seen that of the 450 Muslim women, about 28 per cent have only primary school education, 23 per cent only middle school education, 13 per cent had high school education and only 2 per cent had college education. Thus, we see that except the 2 per cent of college educated women, others had stopped their education at different stages. There may bea number of reasons for discontinuing their studies. These could be financial difficulties, distance to school from home, early marriage, and so on (See Gore 1967:184), 14 per cent of the respondents said they stopped their education because of finan-
cial
difficulties,
10 per cent said
because
the school
was away
from home, 10 per cent said they were forced to discontinue their studies due to early marriage, 7 per cent said they stopped their studies because their community was against girls’ education and
59 per cent said that parents did not think that education was important for Muslim girls. For the Muslim girls’ financial difficulties cannot be a major factor hindering education because
they are given fee concessions by the Government. Hence, the 14 per cent who gave financial difficulties as preventing their studies were economically very backward and they could not provide their children with dresses and food without which they could not go to school. Distance from home could be a good reason because. parents may not send mature girls to a school which is far away from home. It is significant that the majority,
59 percent
said they
stopped
their education
because
their
community
also
parents did not consider education as indispensable or even necessary for a Muslim girl, who was expected to remain at home and look after her husband and children. Early marriage
which isa
common
practice
in the
Muslim
hinders girls from continuing their studies.
Education of Children Children’s education, its type, nature and
Google
duration,
all
depend
52
Status of Muslim Women in India
on the attitude of their parents. As more and mort parents become aware ofthe usefulness of education in improving their
children’s lot and in providing them with a job, they would like to educate their children. The Muslim community as 4 whole was educationally backward but recently the number of Muslim boys and girls entering schools and colleges is on the increase.
But when compared to boys the number of Muslim girls in educational institutions is still small. When a question, “upto what level would you like to educate
your daughters” was asked to the respondents, about 22 per cent said they want to educate their daughters only upto 4th standard, 45 per cent want them upto S.S.L.C., 16 per cent want to graduate their daughters and 16 per cent said they were ready to educate their daughters as long they are bright in studies.
When the same question was asked about the sons, 4 per cent
said they want to educate their sons only upto primary level, 24 per cent said upto S.S.L.C., 19 per cent upto graduation, 53 per cent said they were ready to educate them as long as they are
bright in studies. The differential treatment to daughters and sons in the matter of education given by Muslim mothers is quite noticeable here. Respondents’ idea of the level of education which they want
to give their daughters and their own educational level are related to each other when 38 per cent of the illiterate respondents
wanted only
to educate
4 percent
of
their daughters
the
respondents
college education wanted to educate
only
who
their
upto
primary level,
had high
daughters
school or
upto
pri-
mary level. On tha other hand, while only about 5 per cent of illiterate respondents wanted to educate their daughters upto the dagree level, 58 per cent of the women who had high school or college education wanted to educate their daughters upto graduation. The coefficient of contingency (0.4713) shows there is correlation between respondents’ education and their idea of the In level of education they propose to give to their daughters.
general, we can say that as the educational level of the mothers increases, the level of education they like to give their daughters
also increases.
Age of the respondent and the level of education their daughters are related to each other.
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desired
for
Edueationat Background
53
It is clear from the study that when only 9 per cent of the women who belong to the age group 25 and below wanted to give their daughters education only upto primary level, 56 per cent of them in the age group 46 and above wanted to educate their daughters only upto primary level. It is evident that Muslim women who belong to the younger age group, i.e., upto
30 years, like to provide their daughters
with
higher education
while the respondents in the older age group wanted to limit their daughters’ education to the primary level. We have already seen the aim of the respondents’ parents in educating their daughters. Now we shall examine the respondents’ aim in educating their daughters. Of the 131 women respondents who answered the question, ‘what is your aim in educating your daughters,’ 27 per cent said it was to enable them to
acquire knowledge, 58 per cent said it was to help them to get a
job and 14 per cent said their aim in educating their daughters was to improve their (daughters’) position. It is noteworthy that at least a small percentage of the Muslim women is aware of th¢
relation between Education and Social Status.
In the present study many respondents said they stopped their
studies because of financial difficulties in spite of the financial a.sistance and fee concessions provided by the Government. They seemed to be unaware of these facilities. When asked whether they were aware of the financial help and fee concessions
ded by the Government they were
unaware
to their community,
of it.
This
unawaraness
25
of
provi-
per cent said educational
concessions and financial help is closely related to their education but not to their age, income or place of residence. It is found
that as the educational level of the respondents increases their awareness of these programmes of the Government also increases. To the 25 per cent who were unaware of the provisions, a question, “If you had known of these facilities, would you have availed of them,” was asked and then 98 per cent of them said
“yes”. One of the major roles of a mother is to supervise her children’s education at home and to give necessary encouragement to them. It will be interesting to find out whether the Muslim mother (who was against her daughter's education two or three decades ago) pay attention to her childrens’ education at
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54
Status of Muslim Women in India
home.
Out of 444 women who had children, 20 per
cent
said
they never pay attention to their childrens’ education, 37 per cent said they occasionally do so, 34 per cent said they often supervise and 7.88 per cent said they always do so.
The Muslim women’s level of education and paying attention to their children’s aducation are related to each othar significantly. It is found that 35 per cent of the respondents who were illiterate said they never pay any attention to their children’s education at home, while among the high school and college educated
group 38 per cent always and 27 per cent often pay attention
to
this matter. So it was found that the higher the education of the Muslim mothers, the greater the attention they give to their
children’s education at home.
Education as a status raising factor
We have already seen that when asked about their aim in educating themselves, a minority (21%) said that their aim was to improve their position. And their aim in educating their daughters also to a small extent was to improve their Position. To find out more clearly whether the respondents think of edu-
cation as a status raising factor,
was asked the specific question,
“Do you think that higher education will give women a better position in society ?”’ 87 per cent agreed and the rest disagreed. Their opinion in this matter and their educational level are rela-
ted to each other as is shown by Table 8.
It is clear from Table 8 that 87 percent of the Tespondents agreed that education was a status improving factor for women,
In this, 84 per cent
of the illiterates
also
However, it is also to be noted that of those
were in agreement, who disagreed
43
per cent (26 out of 60) belonged to the illiterate group. The respondents’ attitude in this respect largely correspond
with their actual behaviour.
The comparatively higher educated
women in the neighbourhood were
respected.
differential treatment in social gatherings
sought on several matters.
and
They were
their
advice
given was
The income, place of residence or age of the respondents has not
influenced them in their opinion that education raises the status.
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Educational Background TABLE
55
8
Education and Attitude Towards Education as a Factor in Raising Social Status Education
Attitude
Total
-——_ —-———_——— = —————-— Agree
Illiterate
Disagree
132
Primary
102
2 (3.03%)
66
(17.45%)
(22.55%)
450
60
(13.33%)
(86.677) =
2
(7.26%)
390
X?
124
(92.74%) 64 (96.97%)
Total :
9
(16.46%)
719
High School & College
158
(83.54%) 115
Middle
26
19.897
Df = 3 Table
C
value at .01=11.341
= 0.2007
Co-education
The Muslim community is one where the seclusion of women including purdah
system was once strictly
observed.
dered it as a sin to show themselves off to strangers.
They
This
consi-
dis-
couraged them from attending schools. The wealthy families arranged private tuitions in their own homes for teaching their
women Quran and other religious books. With the disappearance of purdah system this condition gradually number of Muslim girls going to schools
mixed schools is on the increase.
remains.
But
changed. and even
Now the attending
the old attitude still
In our study out of 156 respondents who attended the classes above the primary level, 75 per cent had attended mixed schools and 25 per cent had studied in girls schools. However, they showed a positive preference for separate girls‘ schools for their
daughters’ education.
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55
Status of Muslim
Women in India
As religious instruction is being given in mixed classes, the respondents did not mind boys and girls studying together at the
primary level.
At the upper primary level
23
per cent
of the
respondents said they prefer girls’ schools for their daughters, 38 per cent said they had no preference and 39 per cent said they
prefer mixed schools. At the high school level, 81 per cent said they prefer girls’ schools, 16 per cent had no preference and 3 per cent prefecred mixed schools. In the case of college educa-
tion, 95 per cent of the mothers preferred women’s college, 3 per cent said they had no preference and about 2 per cent said mixed colleges. As girls grow up, the mothers want them to be segregated from boys and this is most clearly pronounced at the college level. The preference of the large majority of respondents for girls’ schools and colleges at the high school and college level
makes it clear that thay even now like to maintain seclusion girls, if possible.
of
When a separate question was asked whether co-education was desirable or not, 53 per cent said it is undesirable. The respondents’ education and their attitude towards co-education were then examined to find out whether they were other. The following Table gives the results. TABLE
9
Education and Attitude Towards Education Illiterate Primary
Middle High Schools & College Total :
related
158
56
124
(44.31%)
(54.84%) 57 (55.88%) 25 (37.87%)
(45.16%) 45 (44.12%) 41 (92.13%)
238
212
(52.89%)
Google
Total
70
(55.69%) 68
each
Co-education
Attitude =—————————————————— . Undesirable Desirable 88
to
(47.11%)
102 66 450
Educational Background
57
The Table shows that out of 158 illiterate women 88 (55.69%) said co-education is undesirable while 25 out of 66 (37.87%) high school or college educatad women said it is undesirable. So also when only. 44 per cent of the illiterate said co-education is
desirable, 62 per cent of the high school and college educated group said so, So, it is quite evident that as educational level
increases,
the
respondents
are
more
favourable
towards
co-
education. Place of residence, age and family income of the respondents do not show any influence on this attitude when education is controlled, The foregoing sections clearly show that the vast
majority
of
the respondents still prefer to keep the girls segregated when they
become mature. This certainly influences the educational career of Muslim girls. In our sample there were only 15 per cent who had gone beyond the upper primary level and most of them
attended girls’ schools/colleges. It is possible that if separate girls’ schools were available a larger proportion of Muslim girls would have availed of the educational opportunities provided by the State. Itis thus seen that the practice of seclusion still stands in the way of educational progress of Muslim women. Religious education One of the main things Islam commands a Muslim to do is to teach children the principles of their religion. So, religious education is an imperative for a Muslim, man
religious precepts have strictly observed by all this religious command their children in Koran of India. “n.d”: 311).
or
woman.
‘‘These
never been overruled by custom and are classes of Mohammedans in India. It is that compels Mohammedans to instruct and other religious books” (Government Religious education is
an
essential
part
of the education to a Muslim and in many cases his education was limited to religious instruction only. “It was one of the standing orders of the institution (Madrasai Azam)
that “Musal-
order that
the
man students should be first instructed they
might
become
acquainted
Islamism before they are instructed would
give
them
the
means
Google
on
religious
in those
of livelihood”
with
subjects
in
laws
of
(Government
of
languages
which
58
Status of Muslim
Women in India
Madras, 1894: 4). As far as the Muslim main and sometimes the only education recently was religious instruction. In the found that out of 450 women 158 (35%)
girls are concerned the they were getting till present study, it was had only religious edu-
cation and no formal school education what-so-ever. Without exception, all the respondents had religious education. About 35 per cent of the respondents said they studied religion for 1 to 3 years, 60 per cent said they had religious education for 4 to 6 years and 5 per
cent
had
it for
7to9
mean number of years spent on religious education
pondents was 4.12.
years.
The
by the res-
Educational level of the respondents and the duration of their religious education are related, as is shown by the following Table. TABLE
10
Education and Duration of Religious Religious
Education
Education
education
=$£——_—————_—___—_—_—_—_————__
1—3 years
Illiterate
52
4—6 years 94
71-9 years
12
158
7
124
4
102
1
66
(33.33%)
(34.81%)
( 50% )
(12.82%)
(35.93%)
(29.16%)
(30.77%)
(18.52%)
(16.67%)
College
(23.08%)
(10.74%)
(4.17%)
Total :
156 (100.00%)
270 (100.00%)
24 (100.00%)
Primary
20
Middle
48
Hig School &
36
97
50
29
Total
450
X? = 80.639 Df =
6
Table value at .01=16.812
C=0.389
Tt is clear from the Table that 23 per cent of the respondents who had religious education for only 1 to 3 years were high school and above educated. Only 4 per cent who had religious instruction for 7 to 9 years had high school and above education.
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Educational Background So it is seen that as the duration of religious education the educational level of the respondents decreases.
59
increases
Conclusion Islam has never ordained against the education
of women.
On
the contrary, the Prophet has emphatically proclaimed that education should be one of the four important responsibilities of a father towards his children, both male and female. The vast majority of our respondents know this. Yet only 15 per cent of them had high school and above education; 35 per cent were
illiterate and another 27 per cent had only primary school education. Inaccessibility to schools has not been a valid reason for
this low educational level as this was stated only by 10 per cent of the respondents. Moreover, there is no significant rural-urban
difference in the pattern of educational achievement. Education of parents seems to be significantly related
educational ievel of the
respondents.
The
higher
the
to the
parents’
education the higher was the educational level of the respondent.
This holds true of the father and mother separately also. However this does not explain why both parents (especially mothers) and the respondents have only lower levels of education.
Income seems to be another factor with which the education of
the respondents is significantly related.
Again,
though
the
X?
test supports the relationship between these two variables, it does
not explain why their general level of education is low. Education at the primary level was always free and Muslims (especially their women) were provided with fee concessigns and scholar-
ships at higher levels at least since 50 years ago when the oldest of our respondents were in the school going age. The govern-
ment’s policy has been aimed at giving the benefits of education to the lower income groups and to equip all with minimum pri-
mary education. It is true that some of our respondents or their parents were unaware of these educational concessions given by the State. But in the sample, their size was only 25 per cent. As a matter of fact, the number of respondents who gave financial reasons for their lack of education was only 14 per cent. On the other hand, many stated that women’s education dered unnecessary by society and this kept low the
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was consinumber of
60
Status of Muslims Women in India
respondents going to school
and
proceeding
to
higher
classes.
The real reason for the low level of education among our respondents seems to be the lack of meaningful role for the educated women in Muslim society. This is clear from the response to our question on the objective of their education. The majority (56%) said it was for acquiring knowledge. Only 13 per cent These thought that it was a means of securing employment.
support our hypothesis that many of the modern feminine roles are out of conformity with the feminine roles of traditional Islamic society. Hence education which is necessary for perform-
ing these modern roles is devalued.
The This is further supported by the following findings. average age at which the respondent entered school was 7 whereas the age prescribed by the state was 5. Our respondents “had to undergo compulsory religious education for periods ranging Hence, if the from 3 to 5 years (in exceptional cases 9 years).
Madrasas
and
state schools
had
working
concurrent
children will have to postpone their school education until In that case the completion of the religious instruction.
hours,
after after
late entry they had to leave the school in 3 or 4 years, as after maturity no Muslim girl was expected to be in school. If on the
other hand the Madrasas were working outside the state school hours, a girl attending both of them will have to strain hard and
Consequently,
this would result in poor performance at school.
she will either fail in classes or will drop out from school, as education in these schools is considered less important than educaIt may also be pointed out that all our tion in the Madrasas. respondents had undergone religious instruction and all but2
per cent favoured it for Muslim girls. When we examine the gain from
education
employment function was very limited.
we
As stated
find
that
above,
its
only
11 out of 21 who pursued education from the point of view of securing a job achieved this objective. On the other hand, while
only 22 per cent of respondents thought of it as a status raising agency, actually 37 per cent found that it had raised their status. Both job and higher status went
to
the
higher
educated
ones
(High School and above). One other objective of education was to secure a good husband. Though this was stated by only 3 per cent of respondents, actually it was realized by many more.
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Educational Background
61
This is evident from the finding that there is a strong positive correlation between the education of the respondents and that of their husbands. The higher the education of the respondent,
the higher the education of her husband.
This
ported by data from the respondents’ parents.
is further
sup-
In both cases, a
better educated wife is able to secure a better educated husband. Another achievement of education was to give the respondent a better appreciation of its modern potentials so as to encourage
them to send their daughters to schools. It was found that the higher the respondents’ education, the greater is her ambition regarding her daughters’ education. Education further enabled
the respondents to supervise and assist in their children’s studies at home. The modern roles of education such as employment,
status, etc., have weighed much more in their minds in educating their daughters than in their own education. Thus, while
only 13 per cent wanted employment for themselves through education 58 per cent aimed at it in sending their daughters to school. So also while the percentage of those who considered mere acquisition of knowledge as the purpose of their education
was 56, the number stating the same objective for their daughters’ education fell to 27 per cent.
Further the vast majority of the respondents
that education was an agency which will
women.
improve
(75%) the
thought
status
of
In this attitude, only 60 out of 450 respondents had any
disagreement and 26 out of these (43%) were illiterate.
Education also enabled respondents to take a liberal attitude
towards
co-education.
While
the
majority
of the respondents
preferred separate girls’ school for their daughters
at the
school and college levels, the educated ones had no objection
send their daughters to mixed schools and colleges.
high to
The above findings indicate clearly that education has definitely contributed to improve the status of Muslim women.
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Digitized byGoogle
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
Marriage and Family
(a) Marriage
Marriage is a very important event in the life of a woman. Wifehood and motherhood make her life complete. For both she has to depend on man. Unlike among
the Hindus,
marriage among
the-Huslims is a contract and not a sacrament. Muslim marriage ‘Nikah’. According to the is known by the Arabic word Mohammedan
and legalisation
Law the main
of children.
objective
The
of Nikah is procreation
elements in Muslim marriage
are (1) a proposal made by or on behalf of the parties, (2) an acceptance of the proposal, in the presence and hearing of two male or one male and two female witnesses, and (3) settlement of Dower.
The Mohammedan Law provides certain restrictions and prohiA Muslim male can bitions as far as a marriage is concerned. have as many as four wives but a woman cannot have more than
one husband at a time.
A
Muslim
woman
cannot
marry
a
‘Kithabian’ or non-Muslim while a male can marry a ‘Kithabia’ (Kithabia is a woman/man who believes in a religion revealed through a book (other than the Quran) but not in idolatry or
fire worship).
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64
Status of Muslim Women in India
(i) Age at Marriage Tn Islam no age limit is fixed for marriage. It was often seen that quite young girls may be legally married but a girl is handed over to the husband only after attaining puberty. According to Bevan Jones (1941 : 91) it is usual for orthodox Muslims to
claim that child marriage, though not enjoined in the
the Traditions, is part of the very fabric of Islam and
Quran
they
or
con-
tend that the custom is sanctioned by the practice of Mohammed who himself married a child wife... Mohammed Ali (1936 : 618) in interpreting the rules of marriage in the Quran points out that the Holy Book does speak of an age of marriage which it identi-
fies with the of marriage with the full of marriage
age of majority. Thus, it will be seen and the age of maturity of intellect age or the age of majority...it is clear is the age of majority, when a person
exercising his choice in the matter of sexual
According to the Mohammedan
Law,
that the age are identified that the age is capable of
liking or disliking.
majority
is attained
on
puberty and even though she is under fifteen years of age a girl is free to marry after attaining ‘puberty. But in India, after the passing of Child Marriage Restraint Act of 1929, it is a punishable offence to promote or permit the solemnisation of a marriage of a bridegroom under 18 years of age and a bride under 15 years. In spite of this, early marriage has continued to be wide-spread among the Muslim community.
In this study
of 450
Muslim
women
36.22 per cent were
married below 15 years, 58.32 per cent were married between
to 19 years and 5.56 per cent between 20 to 24
years
and
15
none
above 24 years. When analysed on the basis of educational level of the respondents, it was found that age at marriage and the educational level of the respondents were significantly related.
This is shown in Table 11. The Table shows that out of 158 women who are illiterate 46 per cent were married below 15 years, 51 per cent between 15 and 19 years and only about 3 per
cent
were
married
between
17 per cent were
married
between
the age of 20'to 24. Out of 66 high school and above educated women only 14 per cent were married below 15 years, about 70
per cent between 15 and 19;
20 and 24.
The relationship between
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educational
level
of the
|
Marriage and Family
65
TABLE 11 Education and Age at First Marriage Age at
Education
Ae
10 ta 14
literate
15 10 19
20 to 24
(46.20%)
(51.27%)
(2.53%)
(35.48%)
(62.1%)
(2.41%)
B
Primary
81
44
Middle
7
37 (36.27%) 9 (13.64%)
High School & College
58 (56.86%) 46 (69.70%)
262 (58.22%)
163 (36.22%)
Total : X?
=
first marria
frst marrige
Total
4
158
3
124
7 ( 6.87%) 11 (16.67%) 25 ( 5.56%)
102 66 450
36.589
Df = 6 Table value at ‘01=16.812
Though the observed frequencies are less than 5
Note :
in
cells the expected frequencies were above 7 in each
So the conditions of X* are satisfied.
respondents and their age at marriage is significant well
.O1 level.
The present age of the
clear.
age
cell.
beyond
It is thus evident from the above Table that as educa-
tion increases, age at marriage also increases. their
two
at first
respondents
marriage
also
significantly.
found
Table
to influence
12
It is clear from Table 12 that child marriage continues
makes to
it
the
present day as is shown by 16 per cent of the respondents in the age group 15-19 and 18 per cent of the respondents in the age group 20-24 being married below 15. It is also significant to note that many respondents (7 per cent) still want to marry off their children below age 15. The practice of early marriage persists to the present day in spite of the law against it. This naturally affects educational opportunities as will be shown shortly. The correlation coefficient (—0.25) is found to be
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66
Status of Muslim Women in India
TABLE 12
Present Age and Age at First Marriage Present age
15-19 20 - 24 25 - 29 30 - 34
35 - 39 40 - 44 45-49 50 - 54 Total
Age at first marriage
———-——- —_-—__—_-—-—_—_—_ —
10-14
15-19
(16.16%)
(83.84%)
(18.18%)
(71.21%)
(10.61%)
(26.37%)
(63.74%)
( 9.89%)
(38.29%) 32 (44.44%)
(56.39%) 38 (52.78%)
( 5.32%) 2 ( 2.78%)
(49.15%)
(49.16%)
( 1.69%)
(52.94%)
(44.12%)
( 2.94%)
(56.25%)
(43.75%)
3
12
24
36
29 18
9
163
(36.22%)
20 - 24
15
47
58
53
29 15
7
7
66
9
91
5
94
72
1
59
1
34
( 5.56%)
16 450
=33
With standard deviation
=8.75
With standarad deviation Correlation coefficient
=2.90 =0.25
Mean age of age at marriage
highly significant.
18
25
(58.22%)
Mean age of Present age
_
_-
262
Totai
=15.50
Thus, it may be noted that as the present age
decreases the age at first marriage increases.
Though the influence of place of residence, i.e. rural-urban, on
age
at marriage
is significant
at .05 level, when education is
controlled, the significance disappears. Education thus emerges as the only factor explaining age at marriage. Asked about their attitude towards early marriage (i.e. marriage before attaining age 15) of Muslim girls, 70 per cent of
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Marriage the respondents said it is undesirable.
When
and Family analysed
67
on
the
basis of education, the relationship between educational level of the respondents and their attitude towards early marriage was found significant far beyond the ‘01 level.
TABLE 13
Education and Attitude Towards EducationIlliterate
Attitude Desirable
Undesirable
65
Primary
High School & College Total :
xe Df
83
124
(33.07%) 24 (23.53%) 4 ( 6.06%)
(66.93%) 78 (16.47%) 62 (93.94%)
(29.78%) = 29.83 = 3
Table value at .01
102 66
316
450
(70.22%) =
Total 158
(58.86%)
134
—
93
(41.14%) 4l
Middle
Early Marriage
11.341
Table 13 shows that when out of 158 Muslim women who are illiterate, 41 per cent said early marriage is desirable, only 6 per
cent out of 66 women who are high school and
above
educated
said so. It is evident from this that as the educational level of the respondent increases the number of those who are against early marriage also increases. In other words, the higher the educational level the higher the number of Muslim women who are against early marriage. When asked whether early marriage prevents women from getting themselves educated, only about 11 per cent of them said ‘no’ while 89 per cent said ‘yes’. 94 per cent of those who have high school or college education belong to this latter group.
Hence, it is clear
that
respondents who are highly
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educated
68
Status of Muslim Woman in India
strongly believe that early marriage
themselves educated.
prevents
girls from
getting
When the above question was analysed on the basis of age of the respondent, it was found that age does not have much in-
fluence on this attitude. rence.
(X?=10.359,
The X? test shows no
Df=5.
Table
value
significant diffe-
at
.01=15.086,
at
.05=11.07). ‘ Similarly, rural-urban difference also was found to
be insignificant (X? value 2.945. df. 1). To the question, ‘at what age would you like to get your daughters married’, the majority of the respondents preferred to get their daughters married between 16 and 20. There was no relation between age of the respondent and preferred age of marriage of their daughters. However, the educational level of the respondents has a very great influence on their Tesponse to
this question. There is a positive
relationship
between
education
of
respondent and preferred age of marriage of their daughters; ie., the higher the education the higher the preferred age and vice versa. This is most clearly pronounced in the case of respondents with high school and college education. Education, thus has a significant influence in postponing the age at
marriage.
(ii) Arrangement of Marriage Inthe
Muslim
community
the
arrangement
of marriage
always remained the responsibility of the parents
that of the father.
alone,
The bride and bridegroom used to
voice in selecting their
partner.
In this the bride
has
mainly
have
is ina
no
more
handicapped position. While of late, the male gained some freedom to choose his spouse, in the case of the female ‘it is to be doubted whether more than a very few had any degree of personal
independence to the extent of being able to choose husbands for themselves...’ (Levy Reuben, 1957 : 93). In Muslim countries, marriages are still arranged
by
the parents
but
there
is some
allowance for consultation with the bride. In India also there is some change in this practice as a result of education and increasing economic independence of women.
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Marriage and Family
69
From the present study, it was found that 74 per ‘cent of the
Muslim women’s marriage were arranged by their parents with25.11 per cent said that their opinion was out their consent.
per
ascertained when their marriages were arranged. Only 0.89 cent had love marriage with their parents’ consent.. Education aud
Education
-
TABLE 14 Arrangement of Marriage Arrangement of marriage
By parents without party’s
By parents with party’s
consent
Illiterate
consent
124
Primary
College Total
x? Df
158
29
124
19
102
35
66
(21.52%)
(75.61%)
(23.39%)
(81.37%)
(18.63%)
(46.96%) 333
(53.04%) 117
83
High School &
34
(78.48%) 95
Middle
Total
31
(4%)
(28%)
=27.643 =
450
Table value at .01=11.341 It is clear from the Table that 78 per cent of the illiterates have
their marriage arranged by parents without their consent, while among those with high school and college education only 47 per
cent had their marriages arranged
without
X? test reveals relation between education
their consent.
and
arrangement
The
of
marriage far beyond the .01 level. So we may say that as the educational level increases, the girls are being increasingly con-
sulted in the choice of their husbands. In other words, the higher the education the greater the freedom they were given in marriage. It was found from the data collected that only 0.89 per cent (4) of the sample had love marriage and that also with
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70
Status of Muslim
Women in India
their parents’ consent.
This group being
a negligible
number,
was combined with the group viz. ‘arranged by parrents with party’s consent’, to facilitate X? test.
The place of residence of the respondents has some infiuence
on the arrangement of their marriage.
78 per cent
of women
residing in urban areas were married without seeking
their con-
who are coming from rural areas were married without asking their opinion while only about 70 per cent of those who are sent. However, when education was controlled, the difference disappeared. Income of the respondents did not have any
influence here. When asked ‘what type of marriage do you prefer, 35 per cent of the respondents said they prefer marriage arranged by parents without their consent while 65 percent preferred marriage arranged by parents with their consent. Education and preference to the type of marriage are significantly related. While 54 per cent of illiterates preferred marriages arranged by parents with their consent, about 63 per cent with primary education, 66 per cent with middle school education and 92 per cent with high is clear that women prefer sent. The X? cated Muslim
school and college education preferred it. So it education is an important factor which makes marriages arranged by parents but with their contest also reveals the relationship. The more eduwomen consider it important that the girl should
be consulted when the marriage is fixed.
This
supports
Gore’s
(1968 ; 208) finding that “education turns out to be a major differentiating factor in the attitudes of resoondents to whether marriage should be arranged by elders alone or by them in
consultation with the individual concerned”. To a question, ‘if your
daughter
selects
her
own
husband,
will you approve of it’, 82 per cent said they will never approve of it, while 18 per cent said they will not have any objection provided other conditions are agreeable to them. Though the choosing their increases, their pronounced in
vast majority (82%) is opposed to their daughters own husbands, as education of the respondent attitude also changes and the change is more the case of the highly educated group. While about
87 per cent of the illiterate women said they will never approve only 60.38 per cent of the high school and college educated
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Marriage and Family
71
respondents said so. It seems that educated mothers would approve if their daughters select their husbands under conditions which are acceptable to them while uneducated mothers could
not even think of it. In other words, the higher the education of the mother the lesser wiil be her objection to her daughter’s selection of her husband. However, even the educated Muslim
woman is not prepared to give a freehand to her daughter in the matter of spouse selection. (iv) Polygamy Polygamy or plurality of wives
among Muslims.
has
been
a common
practice
Among the Indian Muslims it became popular
during the period of Muslim rule when the royal families used to have harems and enjoyed plurality of wives from both Muslim and Hindu communities. The Quran has sanctioned polygamy
but it restricted the maximum number of contemporaneous wives to four; it has also laid down certain conditions regarding the treatment of wives.
According
to
Ameer
Ali
(1922 : 229),
was worthy of note that the clause in the Quran which
it
contains
the permission to contract four contemporaneous marriages is immediately followed by a sentence which cuts down the significance of the preceeding passage to its normal and legitimate dimensions. The passage runs thus, “you may marry two, three or four wives, but not more, but if you cannot deal equitably and justly with all, you shall marry only one.” In many Muslim countries, especially in the rural community,
polygamy is still prevalent. In India, it is steadily decreasing among the Muslims especially in the urban and educated section of the population. Syed Ameer Ali (1922 : 232) points out that “the feeling against polygamy is becoming a strong social,
a moral,
conviction
and
many
extraneous
combination with this growing feeling
are
circumstances
tending
to
the custom from among the Indian,Mussalmans.” From the present study also the same fact emerges.
sample of Muslim women,
if not
root
in
out
In our
only 15 (3.337%) had husbands with a
plurality of wives and even here, nobody had more than two wives. Another noteworthy thing is that they belong to the upper age group and also lower income group. The majority
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72:
Status of Muslim Women in India
came from the rural population. None of them was educated above the primary level. This supports the earlier finding of Woodsmal] (1960 : 307) that “‘the decline of polygamy in the younger and middle generation is evident. In the urban lower
classes polygamy persists in spite of adverse economic conditions. In rural life, polygamy is prevelant, as it has always been.”
Respondents whose husbands had wives other than themselves
are of the opinion that this practice has
When asked whether
any
other
family had more than one wife,
lowered
members
11 per cent
their
of the
of the
position.
respondents’ respondents
answered in the affirmative. On further enquiry it was found that the majority of them (70%) belonged to the age group 50 and above and also to the illiterate group. When
asked
‘what was their attitude to polygamy’,
99.6 per
cent said they were against it (as a matter of fact only 2 respon-
dents were in favour of it). It may be pointed out that since the number of cases of polygamy is very small and belongs to
one age group and education group, no inference is possible except that polygamy stil! exists as a legacy of the past and contributes to lower the status of woman. (iv) Dowry System In India, the Muslim community is as much engulfed dowry system as the Hindus and Christians. However,
be pointed
system.
out
that
Islam
never
mentions
about
In our study we found that about 61 per cent
by the it may
the dowry
of the
respon-
dents had given dowry either in the form of cash or property. Here education does not seem to have much influence. This may be due to the fact that (1) dowry system has become a common practice among the Muslim so that in spite of the fact that the girl is educated enough, the parents have to give dowry for her marriage, (2) when a girl is educated, naturally her parents will look for an educated groom for her and in the Muslim community the number of educated men is small. In that case the
demand on the educated groom will be
high,
and
consequently
also the amount of dowry. This agrees with Hooja’s (1969 : 25) finding that ‘among these communities, the value of the boy in
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Marriage and Family the
marriage
education.”
market
enhances
with
the
advances
73
in his
The majority of the respondents (94.09%) think that they
will
have togive dowry for their daughters’ marriage. To a question ‘whether dowry system is desirable or not’, 42.89 per cent of the
respondents said it is desirable, 50 per cent said it is undesirable and 7.11 per cent said dowry system should be prohibited. The respondents’ education was found to be related to their attitude towards dowry system. TABLE
15
Education and Attitude Towards Dowry Education
i Desirable
Illiterate
80
(50.63%)
Primary
63 (50.81%) 36 (35.29%) 14 (21.21%)
Middle High School & College Total
193
(42.89%)
—
Attitude
Undesirable 72
(45.57%)
Total
a
Should be prohibited 6
(3.80%)
55 6 (44.35%) (4.84%) 63 3 (61.76%) = (2.95%) 35 17 (53.03%) — (25.76%) 225
(50%
)
When about 51 percent of the illiterate is desirable only 21 per cent of the high cated respondents said so. On the other of the illiterate respondents said dowry is
32
(7.11%)
158
124 102 66 450
women said dowry is school or college eduhand when 49 per cent undesirable and is to
be prohibited, about 79 per cent of the women who had high school or college education were of the same opinion, So, it is quite evident that as educational level of the respondents increases, the number of women who consider dowry as undesirable also increases.
In other words, the higher
the educntion
the more the women who are against dowry system. Education,
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74
Status of Muslim Women in India
thus, has a positive effect in making women system is an evil and as such undesirable.
feel
that dowry
Income and age of the respondents did not show any influence on their attitude towards dowry system. (vi) Mehr or Dower
Mehr is a sum of money or other property which the wife is entitled to receive from the husband in consideration of the marriage.
One
of
the
most
important
aspects
of
Muslim
marriage is the payment of mehr or dower which is an indispensable thing without which no marriage is legally or socially recognized.
As far as
the
Muslim
community
is concerned,
mehr is considered to be the fundamental right of a woman,
Beside being a mark of respect, the payment of dower imposes certain restrictions concerning divorce. According to V.B. Ram (1968 : 130) “‘it is generally supposed that the main object
of dower under Mohammedan Law is to wife against the arbitrary powers of
the right of divorce.”
the
offer protection to the
husband in excercising
The amount of dower is not a fixed one. It depends on the social and economic status of the parties concerned. The dower that we now-a-days find among this community, to a large extent, is called “deferred dower”. (When the amount of dower is
unspecified it is called
defferred
dower).
It is paid on
termi-
nation of marriage bonds by death or divorce. If the dower is not paid to the wife till death, then her heirs are entitled to it (Singh, 1972: 131). Generally, dower is fixed at the time of
marriage though the amount may not be paid at that time.
In our study 59.78 percent of the Muslim women had received mehr at the time of their marriage. Those who did not receive stated that the amount was already fixed at the time of marriage but Jater they—husband and wife—compromised on it. But if the marriage relationship ended by divorce or
death it.
of the
husband,
they
(respondents)
In all cases the amount involved
was more
were
entitled
to
symbolic rather
than substantial and was not sufficient to maintain a widow with children.
Certainly it had been several
“dowry which many of them had to pay.
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times
smaller than the
It may be pointed out
Marriage and Family
75
that both the ritualisation of mehr and the universalisation of dowry have the effect of reducing the status of Muslim women. Here the problem of getttng suitable husband
compels the family to compromise on them.
for the daughter
(viii) Divorce
In Muslim community, one major factor which affects the status of women is the practice of divorce. Under Muslim Personal Law, divorce is an easy matter for the husband as he enjoys an unlimited freedom to divorce his wife at his own will. In the
words of Kapadia (1958 : 189) “the dominion of the man over his wife is further asserted by the fact that he is permitted to
divorce his wife at his own pleasure and without justifying his action.” Mohammedan Law permits the husband to divorce his wife without any misbehaviour on her part and without assigning any cause. This results in conferring on women an inferior
status compared
to
their
counterparts
in
other
communities.
According to Kapadia (1958 : 192) ‘a system where the wife has continually hanging over her head the apprehension of divorce cannot but prove an abiding source of uneasiness to her.” On the other hand, the woman is not given such freedom.
She is not free to remarry talaq (divorce).
She
has
immediately
to
even after pronouncing
wait for three menstural
in order to confirm whether she is pregnant or not.
periods
The period
of waiting is called iddat. According to Babu Ram (1968:83) iddat is the waiting for a difinite period which is incumbent on
the woman after dissolution of a valid marriage or an irregular marriage which has been confirmed by consummation. During this period of waiting the husband can resume his marital rights with his divorced wife and then she becomes his wife again without any further ceremony to validate marriage. Though the Prophet had given unlimited freedom to the man, he was not in favour of free divorce, as his aim was the stability
of family. He pronounced talag to be the most detestabte of all permitted things before God; for it prevented conjugal
happiness and interfered with the proper bringing up of children (Ameer Ali, 1922:244),
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76
Status of Muslim Women in India The prophet also gave to
the
woman
the ‘right of obtaining
a separation on reasonable grounds’. But in practice this was not so easy. In India, after the passage of the ‘Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939’, woman also got the «-ght to divorce her husband on the following grounds : (1) husband
unheared of for four years, (2) failing to pay maintenance for four years, (3) sentenced to imprisonment
failing to perform
impotency,
material
(6) suffering
from
disease, (7) wife being minor and (8) husband’s cruelty,
1965:12).
leprosy
marriage
not
(9) other grounds, e.g.,
women
seven
years, (4)
for three years,
insanity,
In spite of all these restrictions,
freedom compared to
for
obligations
or
(5)
venereal
consummated,
talaq (Thribuvan,
Muslim men still enjoy much
as
far
as
divorce
is concerned.
According to Levy Reuben, (1957:121) “no such privilege is accorded to the wife, an inequality which has had the con-
sequence of gravely lowering the status of womenin
In the present
study,
about 22 per cent
had in their family women who
don’t have any. These
were
of the respondents
divorced while 78 per cent
had
who
respondents
in the family, are of the opinion that divorce women’s position. In modern times many women think that women also should be
seeking
divorce
without
valid
Islam.”
divorced women
has lowered those
in the Muslim community given freedom like men in
cause.
When
women should be given freedom in seeking
asked
divorce,
‘whether
50.89
per
cent of them agreed. The influence of education in their attitude towards this is significant. When 44 per cent of the
illiterate
the view that women should also be their husbands, 56 per cent of the cated were of the same opinion. On 56 per cent of the illiterate women
respondents
agreed
with
given freedom to divorce high school and above eduthe other hand when about were in disagreement, only
44 per cent of the high school and above educated women disagceed. So, it is quite clear that as education increases, the number of respondents, who said women should also be given
opseiym in seeking divorce, also increases.
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Marriage and Family
77
Age of the respondents and place of residence do not have any influance on their attitude towards woman’s freedom of
divorce. It seems that the spirit behind
this attitude is the urge
to have equality with men on a very personal matter which affects both parties to the marriage equally. Certainly educa,
tion has been a key factor in developing this attitude. Though the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act, 1939 has given Muslim women the right to divorce their husbands, a majority of them are unaware of this legislation. In our study it was found that 78.57 per cent of the Muslim women were unaware of the law. Educational level of the respondent and her awareness of the law are mutually related. As education of respondents increases their awareness of the presence of the Muslim Marriage Dissolution Act, also increases, This awareness is bound to give greater confidence to woman in her dealings with husband. (viii) Widow Remarriage The Quran and Tradition favour widow remarriage.
According
to Islam, it is the responsibility of a widow’s parents to remarry her just like the marriage of a virgin daughter. But in practice
it is not so. “The law permitting widows to remarry was too clear to be overlooked; yet until recent times, such marriages
were effectively prevented, specially among upper classes, by the
cultivation of the sentiment
that
widowhood
being
the will of
God, it was reprehensible for the widow and a disgrace for the family that she should marry again.” (The Gazetteer of India, 1965:477).
In our sample 18.67 per cent of the respondents had widows In their families who are remarried. This forms 12 per cent of the total widows in the sample families. 40.20 per cent of the respondents unconditionally approved of widow remarriage,
34 per eent approved it provided there are no children in the first marriage or when they are very poor to look after them-
selves. 25.78 per cent disapproved of widow marriage under any circumtances.
The influenee of education
tude towards widow
of the
respondents
on their atti-
marriage is not very significant.
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However,
78
Status of Muslim Women in India
at the high school and
in the opinion remarriage.
of
the
college
level there is a pronounced shift
respondents
in
favour
of
widow
Conclusion It will be seen from the foregoing pages that there are several traditional customs and practices centering round marriage which are in vogue today and which give Muslim women an inferior status in society. Thus, early marriage, absence of a voice in the selection of husband, ritualisation of the Mehr,
polygamy
and
arbitrary
divorce
by
men,
attitude
towards
widows including widow remarriage, all these exist even today, though ina diminished form. A new custom, viz., payment of dowry, which has no basis in the Quran or Tradition also
has formed an important place in the Islamic society. Early marriage is on the decline but there are several cases
of respondents even in the below 15 (in spite
of the
present
law
decade
who
were
married
against it). Also a good number
of respondents still believe that early marriage is desirable. However, the vast majority of the respondents agree that early marriage prevents girls from continuing their education as
considered
undesirable
ones) to go out of home.
for
mature
girls (especially
As Muslim
school education. This in turn
satisfied
results
that education
women either to come out of traditional to cast
doubt
on
the
validity
more educated than uneducated
of
entry
with
into school primary
has enabled
Muslim
to her
the
ways of life or at least
traditional practices.
women
at
just
in denying
advantages accruing from education.
However, it is found
married
girls go to school only
a late age, the combined effect of these (late
and early marriage) is to make her
it is
prefer
Thus,
late marriage,
a voice in decision relating to choice of husband, equal opportu-
nity with men for divorce and
remarriage
more educated women are against
cation has also enabled
respondents
of widows.
polygamy
and dowry.
So also Edu-
to be aware of an impor-
tant piece of legislation raising their status, viz., the Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act.
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Marriage and Family
79
These laid ample proof to support our hypotheses that education has contributed to the social status of Muslim women and that the practice of early marriage prevents Muslim women from continuing their education. (b) Family According to Elliot and Merril (1961:226), the role of women in society is however still defined largely in their functions as
wife and mother. This is most true of Muslim women. The number of working women in the Muslim community is much less compared to other communities. For the majority of Muslim women, family is their only world. She spends a major
portion of her time looking after her family
and children. Her
economic position, emotional security and social position, everything is accorded to her by her family, so much so that her role and functions in the family determine her position in society.
In this section, therefore, we shall examine the role ascribed to Muslim woman and actually performed by her in the present day. (i)
Type of Family
Two types of families are generally seen among the Muslims
in
Kerala, i.c., the joint family and the nuclear family. In the present study, it was found that about 94 per cent of the respondents came from joint families.
When
analysed on the basis of
place of residence, it is found that place of residence and type of original family are related, i.e., the
families were located in the rural
vast
areas.
majority
The
of the joint
Muslim
family,
both nuclear and joint, is partriarchal. As far as the present family of the respondents is concerned, a majority, i.c., about 58 per cent live in nuclear families, the rest live in joint families. Respondents’ age and education do not have any influence on the present type of their family. But
respondents’ husbands’ education and place of residence and the
present family type are related to each other.
More respondents
with higher educated husbands live in nuclear families.
more nuclear famities are located in urban
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areas,
The
So also
direct
80
Status of Mustim Women in India
relationsbip between nuclear families and urban residence comes through education as educated husbands move to towns to take up employments and establish families there. (ii)
Position of Women
in the Family
In Islam, the husband is given a superior position in the family.
“The husband is superior to his wife; men have a degree above them”, says the Quran (2.228); a woman is worth half a man in
matters concerning ransom for murder, inheritance and giving of
evidence. Muslim Law exposes the wife to the continual threat of repudiation with no need to justify it, or of the marriage of the husband to a new, additional wife, whose presence can
greatly modify the nature of the family life” (Gaudefory, 1950 :
132-33).
Islam has prescribed certain
duties
for a wife
They are: residence in the house of her husband,
him in his reasonable orders and performing her
to perform.
obedience
marital
to
func-
tions whenever required by the husband at reasonable-times and
places with due regard to health strict conjugal fidelity
and
and
refraining
decency and
from
undue
observing
familiarity
with strangers and all unnecessary appearance in public(Thomas,
1964 ; 245).
It has been already said that as far as the Muslim women
concerned, family remains
their
whether they agreed with
the
main
field of work
and
,
are
the
majority stay at home and do not go out for work. When asked statement
that
stay at home and perform the roles as wife than go outside and work’, the majority
‘women
should
and mother rather of the respondents
(64.67%) agreed while the rest disagreed. The educational level of the respondent and her attitude do not seem to be related to each other, except at the high school and college level where 71
per cent disagreed with the statement. It seems that only a heavy doze education has succeeded in making women to deviate
from a long established belief.
Family income of the respondent and her attitude towards the
above mentioned statement also other.
Google
seems
to be
related
to each
Marriage and Family
81
At the very low income group (Below 351) more than 2/3rd of
members agree with the statement. This means that even though this is the group which needs to work outside to supplement the family income, it is much more against employment than other groups. As a matter of fact it is the upper income group that wants to work. It is clear that the motive to work for this group does not come from an economic need but from the urge to increase status through work.
(iii)
Decision making
One of the indicators of status of women
she is given a share in the decision-making
to Edmund
in
family
is whether
process.
According
Dehistrom (1967 : 189) “one of the most
important
objectives of the feminist movement has been to remove various
external barriers to equally influence and participate in decision-
making by women in the family, in working tions and in public life.”
life,
We therefore wanted
to
in organizaknow
much decision-making power a Muslim woman enjoys.
how
To find
out their attitude on women’s right to be consulted on family decisions we asked “‘do you agree that the wife should have a
say in important matters regarding the family” ? The response was : 93.56 per cent agreed and only 6.44 per cent disagreed.
This shows that the vast majority of Muslim women do want a voice in the family decision-making process. Educational level
of the respondent and her attitude in this regard are significantly related to each other. To find out whether the wives are being consulted in actual household decision-making by their husbands, asked,
whether
they
do
participate
in
respondents were
important
decisions
regarding children’s schooling, career, and marriage, preparation of family budget, and buying property, clothes and household and
articles.
For the convenience of analysis these
divided into two schooling,
choice
categories, of
their
the career
first and
one
areas.
includes
their marriage
were
children’s and the
second one includes preparation of family budget, buying property and buying clothes and household articles. On each of these two sets, questions were asked and the answers were scored.
on a four point scale as follows :
Google
82
Status of Muslim Women in India wrNneo
Never consulted
Occasionally consulted.
Frequently consulted Always consulted
They were then grouped together into 2 sets, the first 3 forming one set and the remaining 3 forming another set. Our rationale in this grouping was that the first one related to the more
important area of moulding the next generation and the
to matters of finance.
For each respondent, the answers
the three questions were added up and averaged
and
second to
all
this was
taken to be the score of the interviewee on the particular group of questions. They were then analysed in terms of education of respondents, family income, and place of residence.
On analysis it was found that education of the respondent and her actual role in decision-making process are related to each
other.
This is clear from the following Table. TABLE
16
Education and Role in Decision-Making Concerning Childrens—Schooling, Career and Marriage. Consultation by Husband
Education
Never
(0-2) 43
Illiterate
(27.22%)
Primary
25
Middle High school
& College Total
x?
Df
Occasionally Frequently
(3-5)
(6-8)
58
37
(36.71%)
(23.42%)
46
44
Always
(9 & above) 20
158
9
124
(12.65%)
(35.48%) 50 (49.02%)
(7.26%) 11 (10.79%)
(13.64%) | (24.24%) (45.45%) 94 144 161 (20.89%) ( 32% ) (35.78%) =28.309
(16.67%)
(20.16%) 17 (16.67%) 9
(37.10%) 24 (23.52%) 16
=9
Table value at .01 =21.666
=0.2432
Cc
Google
30
Total
ll
51 (11.33%)
102 66
450
Marriage and Family
83
The Table shows that when 27 per cent of the illiterate respondents were never consulted in the above mentioned matters by their husbands, only about 13
above educated were
per cent of the high
school and
never consulted. Also when only about 13
per cent of the illiterate women were always consulted, about 17 per cent of the high school and college educated were consulted always. From this we can say that as educational level of the
respondents
increases,
their consultation
by their husbands in
decision-making process regarding children’s schooling, career and marriage also increases. In other words, the higher the education of the respondents, the more they will be consulted in
the decision-making process.
Consultation by husbands in decision-making process concerning preparation of family budget, and buying property, clothes and household articles also are significantly related to the respon-
dents’ level of education.
TABLE 17 Education and Role in Decision-Making Concerning Family Budget, Buying Property, Clothes and Articles Education
Consultation Never
(0-2)
IHiterate Primary Middle
32
Total :
(3-5)
Frequently
23
(6-8) 86
Always
(9 & above) 77
158
20
124
(20.35%)
(14.56%)
(54.44%)
(10.65%)
(13.71%)
(11.29%)
(58.87%)
(16.13%)
17 4
( 3.92%) High School 2 & College (3.03%)
-
Occasionally
55
(12.22%)
x?=90.444
14
15 (14.71%) 2 ( 3.03%)
54
(12%)
Df=9
Table value at .01=21.666 C=0.4042
Google
73
Total
48 35 102 (47.06%) (34.31%) 21 41 31.83%) (62.11%) 66
228
(50.67%)
113450
(25,11%)
84
Status of Muslim
Women in India
It is clear from the Table that when 20 per cent of the illiterate respondents were consulted by their husbands in these matters, only 3 pet cent were not consulted in the high school and above: educated group. So also when only about 11 per cent of the illiterate women were consulted always 62 per cent of the
high school and college educated women
itis
quite
evident
that
as the
education
were
consulted.
of the
So
respondents
increases their consultation by their husbands in making decisions
concerning the preparation of family budget, buying of property, clothes and house hold articles, also increases.
When the coefficient of contingency (c) of these two Tables. were computed and compared it was found that the value of ‘C’ in the case of the second category of decisions is higher than in the case of the first category. This means that husbands are not as much ready to share with their wives the decision-making
function in the more vital areas of areas.
However, there is
life as
adequate
in the less
proof
that
the
important
higher the
education of respondents, the more frequent is their consultation with them on family decision making.
husbands”
(iv) Treatment of Children From
the
community
present
study
does not attach
Respondents in our
sample
equal treatment in general
it
was
found
equal value
are
willing
family
daughters. But when it comes to the offspring, like education,
that
to sons
to grant
matters
to matters choice of
the
Muslim
and daughters.
more or
to both
sons
less
and
of vital importance career, choice ofa
partner in marriage, the daughters are discriminated and sons favoured. In our study we found that 70 per cent of the respondents do not intend to educate their daughters to the same extent as their sons. Education, of course, has a sobering effect
on this attitude, but only at the very highest level. For only among the high school and college educated respondents do we find a definite shift in favour of equal education. Age of the respondents and their place of residence do not have
any
influence
on
their
education to sons and daughters.
Google
attitude
towards
giving
equal.
Marriage and Family
Similarly, in choosing a career also,
ing to give equal freedom to
sonand
85
respondents are not will-
daughter.
“do you treat your sons and daughters equally
To a question,
in allowing tiem
to choose their own career’, 86 per cent said they do not while 14 per cent said they do. Here when education is controlled, age
and place of residence do not have any influence on this attitude. In the matter of choice of partner 99 per cent of the Muslim women said they will not give equal
freedom
to
their sons and
daughters. Only 0.79 per cent said they will. It is seen from the above three cases that respondents were willing to give more freedom of choice to sons than to daughters. This indicates that ‘they still conform to the traditional values of the community.
(v) Family Planning ‘The Quran and the Hadiths have not mentioned anything in favour of or against birth control. But Mohammed Ali (1936: 653-654) points out that birth control is considered by the Prophet as the nullification of the very object of marrige.
‘The Quran has referred to this subject in two places and ‘on both occasions it speaks of birth control as the actual fiquidation of children: “And do not slay your children for fear of poverty. We give them sustenance and yourselves too”.
Ali further states that, one form of birth control called ‘axl’ as spoken of in certain Hadith as not being forbidden by the
Prophet.
In fact it could not
be permitted
unless
the wife was
unfit or unable to bear children, so that conception would ‘endanger her life or impair her health. This is the only reason which can justify birth control. This has created doubts among
the followers of Islam and they keep away from adopting family
planning methods. But we cannot say that Islam in its basic principle is against birth control, because it has placed great emphasis on the proper care and welfare of children. The teligious leaders both in Arab and in non-Arab countries have
supported the family planning movement and issued ‘Fatwas’ (religious writs) testifying that family planning was in conformity with the tenets of Islam (Sirajuddin, 1970:27).
Google
86
Status of Muslim Women in India
The Muslims in India have a high fertility rate than the Hindus. “Driver points out that in central India a Muslim
woman gives birth to an average of 4.6
given by an average Hindu Hate 1966 : 122).
be due
age, compared
the
to the
have a high fecundity rate. that the Muslim
(quoted
as
against 4.5
by Chandrakala
This high fertility rate of Muslim women may
to the fact that
younger
woman”
children
population
Muslim
Hindus
From
the
increased
girlsare and
1971
married
at a
consequently they
Census
it is seen
by 33.9 per cent
during
1961-71 while the Hindu population increased by only 23.7 per cent. In the present study when the respondents were asked ‘do you think it right for a couple
to limit
the number
of children’
61 per cent said ‘no’ and the rest said it is ‘right’. The education
of the respondent has a very good influence on their attitude to-
wards limiting the family size.
TABLE
18
Education and Attitude Towards Family Size Education Mlliterate Primary
Attitude
ig) School High 00! &
College Total
Total
No
Yes
120
37
157
40
123
(76.43%)
(23.57%)
(67.48)
(32.52%) 47
83
Midat iddle
Limiting
en)
(23.08%) 273 (61.07%)
wo
50
(76.92%) 170 (38.93%)
102 65
447
Note : 3 respondents did not answer the question. The Table shows that when only 24 per cent of the women who are illiterate said family limitation is ‘right’ about 77 per cent of them who had high school or college education said ‘no’. It is
Google
Marriage and Family
thus
clear that
as education
following family
limitation
higher the education,
increases
also
the greater
the number
increases.
87
of women.
In other words, the
the willingness
to limit the
family size. When analysed on the basis of age, it was found that age has
some influence on attitude towards family
planning.
The higher
age group thinks that it is not right to limit the family size. This may be due to the fact that because of their education the younger women think that there is nothing wrong in limiting the
family size.
When asked ‘why you think it is right/not right to limit the number of children’, 98 per cent of the women who wanted to limit family size stated that it is to give children more oppor-
tunities in life and to give them better care. Without exception, all those who think it is not right to limit children said so be-
cause they believed that children are given by God and it is a sin
to limit them against God’s will. Education
TABLE
19
and Practice of Birth Control Methods Practice
Education Illiterate
Primary
No
Yes
35
2
(94.59%) 32
( 5.41%) 8
36 (76.59%) 35 ( 70% )
11 (23.41%) 15 ( 30% )
( 80% )
Middle High School & College Total
was
asked
40 47 50
33
(81.03%) question
37
( 20% )
141
Note : This
Total
174
(18.97%) only
to
those
who
thought
family planning is necessary (174) as the investigator thought it won’t be appropriate to ask about the practice of family
planning
unnecessary.
Google
methods
to those
who
think it is
88
Status of Muslim
Women in India
As far as the actual practice of birth control is concerned, of the 181 respondents who said it is right to limit the number of
children, 81 per cent are not practising any birth control methods
while about 19 per cent are using at least one of them. This answer was analysed on the basis of education, family income and age of the respondents. Of these, family income and age do not show any relation with the practice of birth control methods. But educational level of the respondent and the practice are
related to each other. It is clear from
number of women increasing.
the
Table
practising
When asked what
is the
that as
birth
ideal
should have, 60 per cent of the
education
control
number
increases,
methods
the
is also
of children a couple
respondents said that
they can-
not say that because children are given by God, 35 per cent the ideal numcer of children for a couple to have was 2 or 3 and 4 per cent said it was 4.
Education of the resondents and their conception of ideal number of children a couple should have are related to each other. As education of the respondent increases the number of women who said
2 or 3 also
the ideal
increases.
number of children for a couple
is
And as education increases, their belief
that children are given by God also decreases drastically. Conclusion
The
Muslim
women
are
still tradition
bound.
The
vast
majority of them are steeped in traditional mores and seem to be quite content with their domestic isolation. For, 65 per cent
of our respondents feel that
_ Perform outside.
the role of mother 70 per cent think
women
and
that sons
should stay at home and
wife only rather than work are more
valuable
than
daughters and that in the matter of education, choice of career and selection of spouse, daughters should not be given
as much freedom as sons.
61 per cent
think that
children
are
given by God and therefore couples should not limit family size. However, education has been able to effect a change in this attitude toa considerable extent. Thus, the majority of
Google
Marriage and Family
89
those who feel that women should
stay at home rather than go
respondents
in
out for work were either uneducated or less educated. Conversely, the majority of those who opposed this view came from the higher educated group. Though 94 per cent of the desired
equal
shares
family
when it came to actual pretice, this was few. Even here, in the vital areas of
children’s
education,
career
and
dicision
enjoyed decision
marriage,
the
making,
by only very making, like
amount
of
decision-making power enjoyed was very much less than in routine and day to day decision making. Education was found to have a significant relationship both in desire to have a share in decision making and actually getting a share in decision making.
The higher the
eduational
level,
the higher was
desire and actual share in decision making. In a similar way, it was the highly educated who gave the same imortance to
sons
and
the
respondents
daughters and
con-
sidered that no discrimination should be shown in the matter of educating sons and daughters. This group of respondents was also in favour of allowing equal freedom to sons and daughters in the matter of choosing a career
spouse.
In the
attitude
towards
family
size
and
and selecting the
family
limitation,
education was found to have very close relationship. Though the majority think that children are given by God, those who disagreed with this view showed the influence of education in
their attitude. The same was the case with those who favoured and actually used birth control methods.
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Digitized byGoogle
Original from
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA
6 Economic and Occupational Background
(i)
Economic Position
The Muslim community in India is educationally and economically backward compared to other communities. In Kerala,
they are officially considered as “Backward Community” for purposes of special consideration by the Government (e.g. edu-
cational concessions, job reservation, etc.). The main occupations. of the Muslims are trade and commerce and their economic and social condition is generally very poor. According to the
Kumara Pillai Commission (1965), of the total Muslim population of 30,27,639 in Kerala (1961 census), over 29,17,000 are:
included in the lower income group, i.e. belonging to communities which are in the list of socially and educationally backward classes. Although there area few cases of wealthy persons. among
the members
Muslim as a class
of this
appears
community,
speaking
to be very backward, both
generally,
educa-
tionally and economically (Kumara Pillai Commission, 1965:5). In the case of our Muslim women respondents, this truth was amply revealed in spite of the fact that our sample was taken
from
the
educationally
more
progressive
population.
majority of our respondents belong to the lower
Google
The
income group.
92
Status of Muslim
Out of the
Women in India
total
of 450
151
and 350,
women,
38.89
per cent had
a family
16.44 per cent had between
351-550,
income below Rs. 150 per month, 25.78 per cent had an income between Rs.
10.17 per cent
belong to the
group
who had
an
Rs.551-750 and 8.22 per cent had an income above
month.
income
of
Rs. 750 per
The same phenomenon was seen in the case of the 150
men respondents (see Chapter 8). In the case
of the respondents, their husbands were
the main
breadwinners in their family. Usually the education of a man and his income are always found to be related to each other. In the persent study also the husband’s education and the respondent’s family income are related to each other toa great extent.
Gi)
Property Rights
A woman’s
status to a large
extent
is determined
by her right
to hold property and to dispose it of according to her will. According to Venkatarayappa (1966:48), the perfect and com-
lete individuality of the person of the woman is manifested in the most striking manner in the matter of property. About inheritance Islam says, “to the male the equivalent of the portion of two females”, This is indicative of the inferior position
given to the Muslim woman regarding inheritance.
A
is given only half the share
to Lakshmi
of the son.
According
daughter
N. Menon (1972:43) ‘‘the Muslim inheritance law is equally unjust to women : a woman is entitled to only 1/3rd of the share
in the
property
left
by
her
husband if there
and only 1/8th if there are children.
are no children,
If the husband’s
alive she and ber children are not entitled ancestral property when her husband dies.”
father
is
to any share in the
Though Islam has not given woman equal share in the matter
of property inheritance, according to Islamic law the woman possesses absolute right over the property which she owns and she can dispose it of according to her will and pleasure, without referring toanybody. The Quran says, “And do not covet that by which God has
made
have the benefit of what
some of
they
earn and
benefit of what they earn” (George
Google
you
excel others;
women
men shall
shall have the
Sale, “n. d”: 32).
Economic and Occupational Background
93.
An important factor which gives women higher status in some societies is matriliny, i.e. succession through the female line, and matriarch, i.e., women’s authority in the famlly. Here the higher status which women enjoy is the result of the preferential rights they enjoyed there. According to B.M. Garg (1960:27)
these preferential
rights
refer to a succession of family titles or
names and inheritance of property. This becomes amply clear when we study the position of women ina matrilineal society as we find in Muslim in the Laccadive Islands, the Yao. of Southern Nyasaland and the Minangkabau of Central Sumatra. Leela Dube in her book Matriliny and Islam
(1969:27-40) observes the special status of women in Kalpeni in
the Laccadive Islands, She says, birth in the “tarawad”, the common matrilineal unit, gives a member the tight to a share in the tarawad property and this right passes through female members; a male member has only usufructuary rights over the
tarawad property. The oldest woman in the tarawad enjoys a special status. She is highly respected and even in a dispersed
tarawad no ceremony should take place in any of group without informing and inviting her. She
the domestic is consulted.
by the Karanavar (oldest male member) on all important matters. The oldest woman in a property group also enjoys a. special position. She has an effective voice in the economic sphere, particularly in the productive activities of women.
the oldest women in the Pira, which is a constituent
Even
part of the
property group, weilds special authority over its members and is respected and heard by the younger members. As with the Karanavar, so also with the oldest woman, where the tarawad,
the property group and
Pira coincide;
she has
it was
that
maximum hold
over the members of the matrilineal group. This higher or superior status enjoyed by the women in Kalpeni Island, which is predominantly a Muslim society, is the result of the matrilineal system prevalent there.
In the present
women who
own
study,
houses,
had
found
Property,
there were several
and
other
forms of
wealth etc. in their names. 6.22 per cent owned landed property
in their names, 44 per cent owned houses and 6,22 per cent owned other forms of property. This is indicative of the fact that the Muslims abide by the Quranic law regarding property
Google
94
Status of Muslim Women in India
and
husbands
let wives
own
their
property.
To
find
out
whether the possession of personal property raises the status of the respondents, their decision making power in family matters
was analysed. Possession of personal property was examined in terms of the two areas of decision making in the family already described in
the earlier chaper. It is clear from Table 20 that of those who possessed property, 16 per cent were never consulted by their husbands on making decisions
regarding
children’s
while in the case of those never consulted.
On
schooling,
without
career and marriage,
property
the other hand,
26
per cent were
12 per cent of those who
possessed property were always consulted by their husbands on the above matters, while 10 per cent of those who were without property were always consulted. The x’ test shows that at .01 level, the hypothesis Ownership
by
of
relationship
between
TABLE 20. of Persougl Property
property owner-
and
Consultation
Husbands in Making Decisions Regarding Children’s Schooling, Career and Marriage.
Consultation Never Occasionally
Frequently Always Total :
Ownership of Property
Yes
No
36
58
(15.93%)
(25.89%)
(33.63%) 86 (38.05%) 28 (12.39%)
(30.36%) 75 (33 48%) 23 (10.27%)
226 (50.22%)
224 (49.78%)
16
x2 Df Table value at .0 05
68
OO
Total a4 144
161 51 450
95
Economic and Occupational Background ship and
share
in
same trend is seen in
TABLE
household
and
clothes
property,
buying
family budget, articles.
on preparation of
decision
of
case
the
The
to be rejected.
has
making
decision
21
Consultation Ownership of Personal Property and by Husbands in Making Decisions Regarding Preparation of Family Budget, Buying Property, .Clothes and Household Articles Ownership of property
i Yes
Consultation
No
24
Never
112
228
(51.33%)
(50%)
(25.66%)
(24.55%)
116
113
55
58
450
224
226
(49.78%)
(50.22%) x? Df
=10.39 =3
.05
=7.815
Table 21 shows that of those who
11 per cent were-never consulted of
54
(11.61%)
:
Table value at 0.1=11.341
preparation
26
(12.39%)
Frequently
Total
55
(14.84%)
28
Always
31
(10.62%)
Occasionally
Total
family budget,
possessed property, about
on matters
relating to the clothes
buying property,
household articles while in the case of those not owning perty, 14 per cent were never consulted on these matters.
percentage
of
those who
were
occasionally,
when
the
always consulted, is almost the
and non-owners,
two cases, it was
However,
found
Google
same for both X?
that at the 0.1
and
proThe
frequently or
property owners
test applied
level the
to the
hypothesis
96.
Status of Muslim
Women. in India
of relationship between personal property per se and voice in actual decision making has to be rejected. It seems that possession of personal property per se does not
entitle the respondent to be consulted by her husband as Tables 20 and 21 show. We have earlier shown that it is rather
education that is women’s
the
major
determining
dependence on men on most areas
factor. of
Because
of
life, the contri-
bution of property to the alteration of this situation is only marginal. It seems that for enjoying any benefit out of their property including sale, Muslim women have to depend upon
their husbands.
Gii) Occupational
Position
The economic position of women has a bearing on their psychological and social conditions. Being economically independent not only improves her position both in the family and
outside, but gives her mental satisfaction that she is also contri-
buting to the family income. The main way to attain economic independence for a woman is to work and earn. By working out side home she not only earns her livelihood but also supplements. the family income. According to Smith (1946 : 80) “if women are taking part in productive activities of society, they would soon have that economic independence without which they
cannot be truly free and with which they will necessarily find freedom”. Employment and the economic independence which it brings provide women with a better position, social recogni-
i
i ‘
tion, and hence a feeling of women started to work and
achievement and earn, they have
better status in relation to men.
securitiy. begun to
After enjoy
Islam is not against women working in such areas which are suitable for them. ‘She can earn money and own property just as man can do and
therefore she may,
if she feels the need,
follow any profession’ (Ahemmad Ali, 1936 : 643). This means that under certain conditions when it is necessary for a
woman
to work and earn,
Islam allows her to do so. In spite of
this the number of working
women
is smaller when compared to working
nities.
Google
in the
Muslim
comunity
women in other commu-
Economic and Occupational Background
97
The fact that the number of Muslim working women is much less when compared to their counterparts in other communities becomes more clear when we examine the working population among the respondents in the present study. Of the
total sample only 32 (7.11%) were working, of which 26 (81.25%) were in the teaching profession, 4 (12.50%) in working and (6.25%) were factory workers. When we anlysed the background of these 32 working women it was found that 31 were high school or college educated and the remaining had middle school education. Educa-
tion
is
thus
found
to
be a
prerequisite
for
employment.
Incidentally. both teaching and nursing require good amount of education. It was also found that these working women belong to the age group 20-30. This means that women’s employment became popular only during the last ten years.
84.26 per cent of these working women had husbands who were high school or above educated and the rest 15.74 per cent had middle school educated husbands. None had illiterate husbands. Place of residence of the respondents and their working are not related to each other,
To find out
outside
the motive
for these
home, they were asked,
women
to accept
a job
‘why did you take up the job’
for which 31 of them said it is because
of economic
pressure
and only one said it was to supplement family income. When asked ‘whether they were free to use their income as they liked’, 96 per cent said that they hand over their salary to their
husbands. 89.87 per cent of these working population thought that their job—their additional role as working women—had helped them to raise their status both inside the home and outside.
To
find
out whether
these working women are consulted
by their husbands in the decision-making process in the family.
their responses were analysed separately on the basis of consultation in decision-making. Then it was found that 95.56 Per cent were being consulted by their husbands in the family
decision-making process. In rural areas it was found that a number of women were working as coollies, as maid servants and in fields. Another source of making money for these women in the rural areas was the preparation and sale of eatables. Age did not have any influence
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98
Status of Muslim Women in India
in this matter. All of these women belonged to the lowest income group, i.e., below
also.
Rs. 150
Since their work
per month
and they
was of a casual
nature
were
considered for analysis of data on occupation. In these jobs are not helpful in raising anybody’s status.
Since the number
of working
very small, we have not been able
nces based on occupation.
We
women
to
therefore
questions relating to their attitude to
a worker, Since Islamic tradition expects and men to go out and work,
draw
we
asked
find out whether this belief still prevails ‘is it the responsibility of the men alone
not
any
case
in our sample
was
meaningful
infere-
woman’s
role as
asked supplementary
Muslim
women
illiterate
this was
to remain at home
another
question
to
today. When asked, to work and support
the family’, 68 per cent answered “yes”. This again shows that the vast majority of the Muslim women do not want to TABLE
22
Education and Attitude towards Considering
as the
Sole Breadwinner Altitude
Education
Agree
Illiterate
122
Primary
High School
and College
Total
37
151
34
124
32.83%)
(25% )
(29.41%) 72 (23.53%)
(23.61%) 30 (20.83%)
90
Middle
Disagree
22
44
(7.19%)
(33.56%)
306
144
( 68% ) x?
=44,141
Cc
=0.2988
Df =3 Table value at .01=11.341
Google
Total
( 32% )
102 44 450
Economic and Occupational Background
99
take up occupations and are content with their roles as home ‘maker, child bearer and child rearer. Since these traditional ‘oles do
not
uneducated.
‘and attitude.
require
In turn,
any
education,
this
Muslim
reinforces
their
women
remain
traditional
beliefs
However, in their response to the above question the influence
‘of education is clearly pronounced as Table 22 shows. It is clear from the Table that while about 40 per cent of the Muslim women who think that man is the sole breadwinner in the family were illiterate, only 7 per cent were high
school
and
So it is evident that as education increases, the
per-
college educated. While only who disagreed were illiterate, educated.
25 per cent of the respondents about 31 percent were highly
‘centage of women who think it is the responsibility of man alone to earn and support the family, decreases. It may be pointed
out that as in several other instances already shown, the influence of education is visible only at the high school and above level. Family income of the respondents and their attitude on man’s
responsibility to earn and maintain the family were found to
be
related. 74 per cent of the respondents who had a monthly income of below Rs. 150 said that men are the sole breadwinner in the
famlly, while only 53 per cent
of the women
income of Rs. 550 and above said so.
who
had
family
On the other hand,
when
conly 26 per cent of the lowest income group disagreed with the above statement, 47 per cent of the highest income group disgreed -with the statement that men are to be the only breadwinner in the
family. So it is evident from this that as income of the respon-dent increases the percentage of women who agreed that men .are to be the sole breadwinner, decreases.
When the coefficient of contingency (c) of these two Tables, i.e.
influence of education and family income, on the attitude towards
‘considering
compared,
man
as the
sole
breadwinner,
was computed and
the ‘c’ value for the first one, i.e. respondent’s
educa-
tion, was found to be higher (c value for the first Table is 0°2988 and that for the second Table is 0°1626).
So it is clear
that
it is
education much more than family income that influenced women in this matter.
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100
Status of Muslim
Women in India
It has already been stated that economic independence impro~
ves the status of women. women
are
not
aware
As
a matter
of fact many
of this fact, which
seems
lack of education and lack of exposure to the world family.
due
Lack of education makes them believe in the
Muslin»
to
their
outside the
traditionak
Islamic ideal of women being economically dependent on men. Lack of opportunity to go out for work makes them confined to their own homes. In the present study we asked our respondents
whether economic independence gives women a higher status.
was
then
found
that
32 per cent
It
of the respondents disagreed
with the statement. It was seen that the majority of those who disagreed are from the lower educated groups. The fact that
education of the respondents and
their agreement/disagreement
to the statement are related to each other significantly
by the following Table.
TABLE 23 Education and Attitude towards
is shown.
Economic Indepen~
dence as giving Women higher Status
Education
Attitude
OT
Disagree
Illiterate
—_SOSTottall’ Agree
65 (41.14%)
93 (58.86%)
(25.00%) 41 (40.20%)
(75.00%) 61 (59.80%)
College
(12.12%)
(78,88%)
Total
145 (32.22%)
305 (67.78%)
Primary
32
Middle High school &
8
93
58
158
124 102. 66
453
x®=23°824 Df=2 Table value at ‘01 =11°341 The Table shows that while 41 per cent of the iHiterate respondents did not agree that economic independence gives women.
Google
Economic and Occupational Background
101
za higher status, only 12 per cent from the high school and college educated group disagreed. When only about 69 per cent of the ‘illiterate women agreed, 88 per cent high school and above educated agreed that economic
status.
So it is
quite
all
two of the
independence
clear
that
gives
as
education
women
endorsed
women
higher
increases,
the
number of women who thought that economic independence gives women a better status also increases. We have stated that but
working
the
view
that
employment has raised their status. All the working women were educated. Education thus gives women a wider spectrum of the attributes contributing to women’s status.
Conclusion Though Islam does not
contain
anything which discriminates
-women in the economic sphere, institutional and cultural factors result in the economic inequality of women in the Muslim ‘community. They exist even today. The Muslim Law of Inheritance gives a daughter
entitlement to
only half of the share
than a son inherits. The Muslim widow is treated in a residual manner in the matter of inheriting her husband’s property.
Even though the Quranic injunction that women should have complete freedom over the use and disposal of her personal property, the dependence of a woman on man in all other areas makes this right more nominal than real.
In our
study this was
not found to improve her position in the family (i.e. vis-a-vis her husband) in matters of dicision making. Traditionally Muslim women are not expected to go out of their home and 32 women
take
upa
(7%) who were
They came from
the lower
job.
In our
employed.
income
‘supplement their family income.
sample, there are only
They
group
were
all educated.
and took up jobs to
Women from the upper income
group, even though they are very well educated, have actually come forward to take up a job though more than other income group they expressed a desire to take up {obviously to raise their status) as seen earlier. Most of
respondents (68%) know that employment
not any jobs our
contributes to econo-
mic independence which in turn would raise their status in society. Yet 65 per cent do not want to work. 68 per cent still
Google
102
Status of Muslim Women in India
think that it maintain the mic necessity found to be
is the responsibility of men alone to work andi family. Only education coupled with the econoto take up a job to supplement family income was capable of breaking the tradition regarding work.
However, education holds the key to status as only education can qualify a person for a modern job and only a modern job.
would contribute to status. Education has been responsible
for
changing
many
of the
traditional beliefs but education itself is put at a discount as the
traditional women’s role of remaining at home and looking after home and children does not require any education. Actually, this acts as a vicious circle. Lack of education not only perpetuates traditional beliefs but keeps her isolated and insulated in the home, deprives her
of the
opportunity
to get
employment
and thereby to get out of home and out of tradition to taise her status. All these support our hypothesis that absence of socially defined occupational roles for Muslim women detracts them from the importance of education as a tool for achieving: occupational skills.
d oh
| i
i
Google
7 Political and Social Background
(a)
POLITICAL BACKGROUND
1.
Women
and Politics
Political freedom just as economic independence, is another important factor, which gives women a better status. The
political condition of a nation has its own impact on the status of women. There wasa time when women were considered
unsuitable for any type of political activity and when they were denied the right of participation in the political process.
Recently, however, people have begun to realise that a nation will not prosper without the active participation and contribution of women. According to Krishna Hutheesing (1944:21),
“Gf a nation is to be developed on the right lines to enable it to achieve something, its women must share the burden of
planning
and
shaping
its destiny
side
by side
sharing the rough side of life as well as
the
with the men,
smooth.
Again, if
we wish to achieve rapid and effective progress and to maintain a status of equality
definite
country.”
In this
role and
context,
with
cannot it may
other
be left out be
Muslim women entering politics
Google
nations,
stated
women
of the
that
the
must
affairs
in India is small.
have a
of their
proportion
of
This is true
104
Status of Muslim Women in India
of Kerala as
well.
In spite
of Kerala’s
high literacy rate, the
low proportion of Muslim women in political field shows that it is not only education that influences political awareness but also religion which has got much influence in the life ofa
person.
In
the words
of
New York (Bendix and
Saenger,
Lipset,
who conducted
1963:349),
a study in
“differences
in reli-
gion were far more important than educational differences in determining the extent of a person’s political awareness”. The
peculiar
customs
and
traditions
women to move about
free
of Islam
in public.
would
Many Muslim
not
allow
women,
as well as Muslim men, think that politics is not a field for women. The present study was therefore interested in finding out the extent to which Muslim women have been able to break traditional
norms
regarding
political
participation and the role of
education in accelerating this process. Needless ‘to say, participation in the political process of the nation is an indication of political equality. Since most of the Muslim women have TABLE
24.
Education and Attitude towards Politics as Legitimate Field of Activity for Women Response
Education
Disagree
Illiterate
101 (63.92%) 75 (60.48%) 52
Primary Middle High School &
College Total
(50.98%) 22
(33.33%) 250
(55.56%) x?
=27.782
Df
=3
Table value at .01 11.341
Google
Agree
37 (36.08%) 49 (39.52%) 50
(49.02%) 44
(66.67%) 200
(44.44%)
Total 158 124 102 66 450
Political and Social Background
the researcher
not yet crossed the threshold of political activism
had to be content
with
getting
attitudinal
105
response
on
most
political matters. In the present study it was found that the majority of our Tespondents were not interested in active politics. This is shown by their responses to several of our questions. When asked whether politics is a legitimate field for women, 55.56 per cent answered in the negative. The educational level of the respon-
dents and their attitude towards this matter are related other significantly, as shown by the following Table. TABLE
to each
No. 25
Education and Approval of Women Actively Participating in Politics Education
Approval
—_
Disapprove
Approve
100 (63.29%)
58 (36.71%)
(64.52%)
(35.48%)
(57.84%)
(42.16%)
College Total
Illiterate Primary
80
Middle
102
(40.61%)
39
(59.39%)
66
266 (59.11%)
184 (40.89%)
450
-
11.748 3
Table value at .02
From the Table illiterate women
it is clear
—
11.341
that when only 36 per cent of the
agree with the statement,
the high schoo] and
124
43
27
x? Df
158
44
39
High School &
Total
above
educated
about
respondents
67 per cent of
did
so.
So
higher
the
we find from this Table that as education increases, the number of women who said politics is suitable for women also increases. In
other
words,
the
higher
the
education,
the
number of women who think that politics is suitable for women.
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106
Status of Muslim
Women in India
The X* test shows the relation between these two very significant with 3 degrees of freedom for .01 level of significance. Age of the respondents and attitude towards the above statement are also related to each other. It was found that the than the older
younger generation is more politically motivated
one,
This may be also
politics in
educational
because
to
of their exposure
where they
only place
institutions—the
student
are allowed to go unescorted. The place
of residence
also was found to
of the respondents
influence them in their attitude towards the statement. value also shows the relation (10.894 with 3
The X?
degrees of freedom
beyond .01 level). But when education is controlled the relationship becomes insignificant even at ‘05 level. Education thus emerges as the major determining factor in creating a broader outlook on politics among women.
Previous studies have shown that conservative women are against women’s active participation in politics. In our study when asked, do you approve of women actively participating in politics
including
part
taking
in meetings,
standing
as candi-
dates and canvassing in election, 59.11 per cent of the respondents said they do not approve of it. However, it is noteworthy
that 41 per cent do not find anything wrong in women actively Here also education of the responparticipating in politics.
dents influences them significantly on their attitude. Table 25 makes this clear. Table 25 explains that when 63 per cent of the illiterate respondents disapproved of women participating in politics, about
41 per cent of the high school and above educated did so. On the other hand, while only 37 per cent of the illiterate respondents approved of women participating in politics 59 per cent of the higher educated group approved it. So it is evident that as education increases,
the
approval
of
respondents
towards
women’s participation in politics also increases, though the trend is not clear in the two intermedate groups, viz., primary and middle.
This may be due to the fact that
education is necessary to make
people politically
thus to approve of women’s participation
in it.
a
high doze of
conscious and
It may also be
due to the fact that at the high school and higher levels, students are more exposed to politics than at lower levels.
Google
Political and Social Background
107
Age of the respondents and place of residence were not found to influence them in this respect.
When asked, ‘are you interested in political matters’, 26.97 A per cent of the respondents said they are, to a certain extent. look into the background of these women revealed that they belonged to the younger age and highly educated group. The pattern of relationship is that the higher the educational level of the respondents, the more she is interested in politics. In a community, which believes in the seclusion of women and which prohibts their free movement, the fact that about 27 per
cent of the women show some interest in politics has sidered as a progressive trend.
This
isno
doubt
to be con-
the result of
education among women, which makes them politically conscious and thus evoke in them interest in political matters. (ii)
Voting Behaviour
Political right
means
the
right to vote
government. It is clear from portain of women voters is
election.
and
to hold office in
the election figures that the prosteadily increasing with each
The U. N. Commission, (19th session : 47) on the status of women remarks : “Among the factors mentioned as preventing
the full inplementation of women’s political rights were the lack of political consciousness among women and their apathy and teluctance to exercise their right.” When asked, ‘did you vote in the last election’, 78.89 per cent
of our respondents said ‘yes’ and the indication
of the
increased
political
rest said
‘no’.
participation
This is an
of Muslim
women. It was found that the educational level of the respondents and their voting in the last election are related to each other significantly as shown by Table 26. the
It is clear from illiterate
the
Table that
respondents
voted
while in
only
the
last
57 per cent election,
of
94
percent of the high school and above educated respondents exercised their franchise. In other words, it was found that as education increases, the member of women who voted in the last election also increases. This can be explained by the fact that higher education makes the people more politically
Google
108
Status of Muslim Women in India
conscious and thus make them aware of their right to vote. The age of the respondents and their casting vote in the
dast election are also ound that the
related to each other significantly.
higher the
age of the respondent,
It was
the lesser the
percentage of them who voted in the last election. This is the result of the fact that the younger generation is more politically sconscious than the older generation, mainly due to their education. TABLE Education
and
26
Casting of Vote in the Election
Last
Voting
Education Illiterate Primary
Yes
No
89 (57.06%)
67 (42.94%)
(85.54%) 96 (94.11%)
(14.46%) 6 (5.89%)
(93.93%)
(6.07%)
353 (78.79%)
95 (21.21%)
106
Middle High School &
18
62
College Total
4
Total 156 124
102 69
448
x? =71,138 Df = Table value at .91 =11.341 Cc = 0.3701 Note : Two respondents did not answer the question. The 95 respondents who did not vote in
the last election gave
a variety of reasons for not voting. 41.05 per cent of them stated that they did not vote because they were not at all interested in politics, 35.53 per cent said they did not like to go out in public,
15 per cent
said
they
were out of station and 8.43 per
cent said they had no vote, being under aged for voting.
Google
Political and Social Background
10%
To find out the apparent contradiction involved in a large number of respondents saying they were not interested in politics and still exercising their vote at elections, we asked a question ‘whether those who voted (353, i.e. 78.79%) did so volunta-
rily or to oblige some one’. It was then found that only 32.58 per cent said they voted voluntarily, while the majority stated that they voted under
persuasion.
teason
for
The
their
educational voting
related to each other.
in
level
the
last
of the respondents and the election
are found to be
While only 11 percent of the illiterate respondents voted voluntarily, 61 per cent of the high school and above educated did so. It was found that as education increases, the percentage of women who voted voluntarily also increases. It is clear that education makes the Muslim women to vote voluntarily and without any persuasion, i.e. to exercise their franchise much more than to oblige someone. The majority of those who voted
under persuasion said that
their husbands
persuaded
them
to
vote. It may also be presumed that where the woman was educated, the husband or others did not think it appropriate to: persuade her to vote. Age or place of residence of the respondents do not have any
influence on their behaviour.
It is possible that the husband may give suggestions to the wife as to whom they should vote. When asked, ‘did your husband suggest the name of the candidate whom you should vote for’, 62.88 per cent of our respondents said ‘yes’. Respondents’ education and the suggestion from their husbands are related to
each other.
While about 90 per cent of the illiterate respondents were advised by their husbands as to whom they should vote, only 34 per cent of the high school and college educated respondents were advised by their husbands. So it is clear that the higher the educational level of the respondents, the lower the percentage of those who were advised by their husbands about the choice: of the candidate.
This may be due to the fact that the husbands
of the educated women do not think it necessary or appropriate
to suggest a candidate to their wives, as they taking an independent decision in this regard.
Google
were
capable of
110
Status of Muslim
When
bands
the
about
further asked
222 the
Women in India
respondents
candidate
who
were advised by their hus-
for whom
‘whether they actually
87.39 per cent answered ‘yes’.
they
voted for
Here also
should
vote were
that candidate’,
education
of the res-
pondents was found to have a great influence. About 94 per cent of the illiterate Muslim women voted for
the candidate suggested by their husbands, while only 43 per cent of the high school and above educated group did so. In other words, the number of women who voted for the candidate of
their choice rather than that of their husband their education. Education helped these women
increases with to take an in-
dependent decision and to abide by it. It seems that though voting was by secret ballot, only the educated women felt assured
about the secrecy of their action.
This,
along
with their desire
to have freedom in the choice of candidates, seems to have per‘suaded an overwhelmingly large number (87%) of the higher educated group to behave like this.
In a tradition-oriented and religious-minded community as the
Muslims,
it is possible
that a person
would
vote
for one
who
belongs to the same religious group without looking into the merits of candidates. If this happens this could be considered as non-modern. In the present study, the respondents were asked, ‘suppose there are two candidates for election, one belonging to the Muslim League (a political party in Kerala) and the ‘other belonging to another political party, whom will you vote for’, 53.41 per cent of the respondents said they will vote for the
Muslim League candidate only,
and the rest
(46.59%) said they
will vote for the candidate after taking into consideration his merit. Educational level of the respondents and their preference for the candidate are related to each other significantly as shown by Table 27. The Table shows that the majority of
preferred to vote for the
Muslim League
the
respondents (53%)
candidate
only.
But
while 69 per cent of the illiterate respondents said they will vote for Muslim League only, only 31 per cent of the high school and
above educated group said so.
Onthe
other
hand when only
about 31 per cent of the illiterate respondents said they will vote
for the person
considering
Google
his merit
only,
69 percent
of the
Political and Social Background TABLE
Education and Preference
Education
27
for the Candidate
Preference
—§ ————______——___—_—_Muslim Leage only
Mliterate
Depending on merit
108
Primary Middle High School & College Total
111
48
(69.23%) At (58.29%) 36 (36.73%) 20 (31.25%)
(30.77%) 51 (41.81%) 62 63.27%) 44 (68.75%)
235 (53.41%)
205 (46.59%)
Total
156 122 98 63 440
X?=40.387 Df=3 Table value ot.01=11.341 C=0.29 Note : 10 respondents did not answer this question. highly educated
were
of that
opinion.
So it is clear that edu-
cation helps the women to prefer a candidate on the basis of merit and not only on religious background. Since we were interested in finding out the factors which the
respondents
took
into account
in deciding
the
merits
of the
candidate we asked them how they assessed the merit of candidates. We found that the majority identified a candidate’s merit with that of the political party sponsoring him.
To the 205 respondents (46.59%) who said they will vote for acandidate depending on his merit only, a further question, ‘are you aware of the programmes of the different candidates
contesting for election’, was asked. Then it was found that 53.66% per cent of the respondents said they here aware of the manifesto of the candidates while the rest said they were not.
Google
112
Status of Muslim Women in India
The educational level of the respondents and their awareness of the manifestoes of candidates contesting for election are related
to each other as the following Table 28 illustrates. TABLE
28
Education and Awareness of the Programme Candidates Contesting for Election
Education.
Awareness
=