Notion Seats and Forms of Power: are all the citizens on an equal footing in modern-day India?

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discrimination exists among citizens, then discrimination among men and women exists too. Indian women are disadvantaged and they don’t play an important role in society.

The dowry tradition is a tradition, where the family of the wife-to-be gives a ‘dowry’ or gift to the future husband’s family on marriage. This gift is supposedly given as compensation to the groom’s parents for the cost of educating their son. The woman can be subject to torture if the family doesn’t pay the dowry. This tradition which still remains in this country could explain, in part, why many parents prefer to have sons than daughters. Despite initiatives by the government, this practice continues. So there, men have the powers, they can torture or kill their wife if she doesn’t pay, and women can’t choose their husband.

Because of this tradition, many families don’t want to have girls because boys, compared to girls, don’t have to pay the bride price, can take care of the family business when they are older and they perpetuate the family name. Have a boy is a good thing, it’s financially more attractive.

In consequence, the india’s population is mostly composed of men. The document ‘India’s girls go missing’ say that there are 600,000 girls missing every year, they missed 50 millions girls in India today; and in three generations, more than 50 million women have been selectively eliminated through infanticide, or dowry-related murders. Indeed, India’s 2011 census show a gender imbalance as there are only 940 girls for every 1,000 boys.

India is becoming an increasingly male-dominated society. Indian family’s are ready for anything, even to kill their own baby to keep their power.

For example, the author Shilpi Somaya Gowda, in her book Secret Daughter (2010), tells the story of a woman in India, who give birth to a girl. Her husband doesn’t want to keep the baby because they need a boy to help them in the fiels. The woman, Kavita, despite the limitations of the society, want to give a chance to her little girl.

Then, we can also see that India’s society is in evolution.

Indeed, the economy is progressively changing. The concept of microcredit seems to be one way. This system consists to grant small loans to poor people, those who can’t get loans from traditional banks. Microcredit contributes to India economic expansion because even the poor population can built their own enterprise, and extricate themselves from poverty.

More people work in the sector of services, the sector of agriculture is decline (17% in 2009 part of the GDP whereas almost 63% for services), it implies less work in loads and better working conditions.

In the extract of ‘Farewell to an India I hardly knew’, the author Anand Giridharadas explains that India was changing improbably: « farms giving way to factories, ultra-cheap cars being built ». Himself, immigrant in America, came back to India and was very surprise, for him, it’s only the beginning.

Moreover, some Indian women had succeed in their life, it shows that women can success even if the society is against them.

Despite the fact that Indian women can’t access easily to studies and be independent, some of them had succeeded in their life. In 2007, Pratibha Devisingh Patil became the first female President in India. Women right’s has been progressing in this country, they have access to political status.

To conclude, we can say that India has some way to go before all these Indians are on an equal footing, because there is for example the caste system or the dowry tradition which remain. Social gaps, between wealthy people and poor people also still exist. But by the help of the government, inequalities are reduced and it will be continue on that way.