Many forms of discrimination against women continue to this day. When a husband dies, a woman is told not to wear the bindi (forehead dot). Flowers and ornaments are forbidden for her. In the name of tradition, along with her husband’s body on the funeral pyre, 140,000 women were burned alive. The British government, upon appeals from social reformers, banned the practice of sati (widow immolation).

When religion prohibited education for women, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Savitribai Phule established schools for girls and taught them. They also gave shelter to widows. Raja Rammohan Roy and Kandukuri Veeresalingam Pantulu worked for widow remarriage reforms. Change has come step by step like this. Yet discrimination and oppression continue in various forms. Women are paid lower wages, subjected to sexual harassment. Parents send sons to private English-medium schools and daughters to government schools. Girls are not sent beyond the district for sports competitions. They are not allowed to befriend boys. In matters of dress and the time they return home, they are subjected to strict discipline 24 hours a day, as if living in an open prison. Men face no such restrictions—or if they exist, they do not follow them. Numerous restrictions on girls’ and women’s clothing continue. There are no effective social reforms or government mechanisms to stop these.

In South Africa, Mahatma Gandhi faced humiliation from white people, which led him to launch the freedom struggle in India. Mahatma Jyotirao Phule was humiliated during a wedding procession, which inspired him to take up social reform. Thus, they went to the root of the problems.

Today, instead of that awareness that reaches the root of issues, we limit ourselves to shouting at one another—this is tragic.

We know that restrictions on women’s clothing have existed for a very long time. It is natural that religions created by men are favourable to men. Therefore, we must go to the root of the problem and work toward a solution.

At the root of the problem… it was said that women have no caste. Scriptures declared: “In obedience a servant, in counsel a minister, in bed like Ramba (celestial nymph), in meals like a mother!” A woman must remain in childhood with her parents, in youth with her husband, and in old age with her son. Therefore, it was declared: “A woman does not deserve independence.” Thus, women were denied freedom and autonomy. Yet our Constitution rejects this and grants women equal rights and freedoms as men.

In another religion, women must wear the burqa. Even young girls must cover themselves so completely that not even their ears are visible. Our Indian Constitution rejects that too and proclaims equal rights for women. Still, women live in fear, unable to enjoy these rights, confined within the limits imposed by men’s religion.

The Indian Constitution declares all citizens equal and has eradicated untouchability, caste discrimination, caste superiority, and male superiority.

Discrimination and oppression against women are of the same nature as caste discrimination and caste supremacy! Both caste supremacy and male supremacy arise from patriarchal male dominance. Eradicating that requires awareness—especially among men, women, and people from oppressed castes. We must work toward it and create that awareness.

The Matter of the Mind

Here we must note another important point—the nature of the mind. The feelings that arise when you see a sweet shop are within you, not in the sweets. Even if beef is sold for one rupee per kilo, some people will not eat it. The moment you hear that someone is a woman of a certain caste, the feelings that arise are within you! Similarly, the feelings that arise when you see a woman are within you, not in the woman.

The feelings that arise when you see a flower are within you, not in the flower. The values, beliefs, and reactions fixed within you are the cause of the feelings that arise in you. The desire to eat a sweet is within you, not in the sweet. Likewise, the feelings that arise based on clothes, behaviour, or ornaments are within you!!

In a play, based on the characters’ dress, walk, and manner, we feel they are a labourer, soldier, collector, or landlord. Those feelings are not in the costume or the objects. You are making the other person responsible for your own feelings. You are blaming the other person. We all know the mother who scolds the sweet when her child cries for it and tells it to go away!!

Similarly, movements were launched demanding prohibition of alcohol. Who told anyone to drink? It was your mind that desired it. The desire to eat a sweet when you see it, to watch a movie when you see its poster, to consume alcohol or a woman when they are available—these desires are not in the alcohol or in women. They are feelings that arise within you!! Yet we demand prohibition of alcohol. We prohibit children from watching certain TV or YouTube content. When we cannot control the mind, we impose prohibition on alcohol. When men cannot control the feelings that arise toward women, they say women themselves must be careful.

In films, TV, and YouTube, provocative displays of body parts portray women as playthings, objects of enjoyment, or weak beings—all part of patriarchal male dominance. These continue as part of religions and religious culture.

Which is more important—the religion that imposes numerous rules and prohibitions, or the Indian Constitution that sees everyone as equal? We must decide this clearly!

Women writers must help others understand the nature, values, culture, and roots of the patriarchal system that is the source of these problems.

We must remember the Buddha, who said desires are the cause of suffering and that we should put a bridle on the mind.