Dr Pallavi Sharma Goyal

“The most transient visitor to this planet, I thought, who picked up this paper could not fail to be aware, even from this scattered testimony, that England is under the rule of a patriarchy.” This clarion call about the patriarchy is the roaring voice of Virginia Woolf, one of the most influential 20^th century modernist English authors.

For those who have been incessantly and erroneously blaming the Indian system as a patriarchal system and invoking young Indian women to smash patriarchy must peruse the cry of Virginia Woolf, who in 20th-century England pioneered a spectacle for British women and invoked them to make a respectful place in society.

While considering the visualisation of Patriarchy in recent times, the truth must be brought to the fore that the remnants of a patriarchal mindset are imminent because of the tyrannical destruction of the Indian ethos by intruders. After a devastating struggle against invaders, it was the need of the time to protect and shelter our Indian women. To attain their goal, the Indian Hindu community had to adopt Parda Pratha and had to do Johar to save themselves from molestation and slavery. In that beleaguered panorama, the need turned into a custom which was further corrected and evaluated after Independence and during the time of Independence too.

Those who have shouted slogans to smash the patriarchy and misguided the Indian must acknowledge that in the so-called modern country in whose reign the sun never set, women were not allowed inside their world-famous libraries alone. In A Room of One’s Own, Virginia writes: “... he waved me back that ladies are only admitted to the library if accompanied by a Fellow of the College or furnished with a letter of introduction.”

India, which was under that same imperialistic rule at that time, was struggling to get Independence. Men and Women were equally contributing to the freedom of the country and were already ahead in figuring out the complexities and bewilderments of women, and since then, the prominent writers, social reformers, and other people related to sundry streams had already been working and calculating the women-related concerns and their impacts.

While sharing the same timeline with Virginia Woolf, India had Sarojini Naidu, a literary writer and powerful political and feminist voice; Lalithambika Antharjanam, a powerful literary Malayalam writer who was also addressing the harsh patriarchal and cast oppressions fearlessly; Cornelia Sorabji, the first female graduate of Bombay University; Atiya Fyzee, who advocated for Women’s cultural and educational reforms; and many others. Their literary works showcase their individual insightfulness and raise several questions about the immediate complexities of the social hierarchy and its norms. 

The truth is, not only today, but way back too, Indian women were masters of their own will. For those who misquote the Manusmriti, the truth is shocking to digest. In our own country, Savitri married Satyawaan without the consent of her parents. For the marriage of their daughters, the kings were organising Swayamwars. There have been multiple references in history where women participated and judged the debate based on logic and reasoning, as in the case of Jagadguru Shankaracharya and Mandan Mishra; their discussions and debates were judged by Mandan Mishra’s wife, Bharati.

Women like Maharani Jijabai who played a significant role in the life of his son Shivaji, the queen of Jhansi, Lakshmi Bai, Queen Padmini; Razia Bagam; Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay who revitalised Indian handicrafts and theatre, and linked culture with nationalism, Captain Lakshmi Sahgal who advocated for women’s participation in armed struggle, Usha Mehta who organized radio broadcasts during quite India Movement, the women in Literary and cultural Fields like Sarojni Naidu, Kamaladevi Chattopadhyay, Toru Dutt, Amrita Pritam and many others who silently and diligently contributed in the empowerment of women are the names who excelled in their fields while sustaining and believing their cultural identities. They did not need to rebel or abuse their roots.

It is also true that even in this 21^st century, women have to fight for their existence and identity in some places. Still, the bigger interrogation and question of patriarchal mindset lurks there, where females are subjugated to cover themselves from tip to toe, where women have to undergo a heinous pattern of male abuse and patriarchal mindset and in whose culture, since the birth of a female child, they have to suffer derogatory behaviour. The truth should be portrayed without bias, but the political obligation somehow deliberately forces people to disseminate a false narrative and provoke them in the wrong way. No one in this country could dare to utter a single word against this real-time patriarchal system.

While the noise has been willfully proclaimed, the action should be commenced at home. Instead of LOP, the much better and suitable face for the future Prime Minister in Congress party SMT Priyanka Vadra should be elected as the Leader of the Opposition in the 18^th Lok Sabha and, apart from her official designation as a general secretary, should provide her with the role in which she must smash patriarchy and “be loud, be proud and fight for her space in the Congress”.