Women In South Asia: Focused Topic

For my project, I have explored a variety of topics, such as safety, education, and marriage in South Asian communities.

My focused question will be: “How have the traditional and modern ideas transformed South Asian women’s lives?”

The quality of life has definitely improved as new ideologies such as independence and being more career oriented have arose. But the old traditions such as marriage continue to stop women in South Asia to succeed and live life to its fullest.

I look forward to seeing which factors truly influence the day to day life of women in these communities.

The End To Ladies Coupe

Welcome back to my blog! I have official finished my independent reading. The book had some very interesting parts that talked a lot about the social construct of South Asian societies.

As the book ends, Akhila finds her true self and happiness. She discovers the person she wants to spend the rest of her life with. The entire story exposed the harsh realities about society. From marriage, to children, to jobs you can do. Despite Akhila being passed the age that women in India typically marry at, she decided to go with whatever made her happy. This book talked a lot about how the community is entirely toxic and controls women for what they can and cannot do. The author, Anita Nair does a great job in talking about everyday struggles that women go through and the thoughts and desires that they have. I was able to relate to the stories that the different women had to tell. All the expectations of young girls in India are still the same. Though there is some change, career wise, other expectations such as marriage and children are still present.

Women’s Purpose

What is a woman’s purpose? Different cultures, people, and families would have a different answer to this question.

In India, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, it’s the same answer: to marry and give birth.

The past few years my elder girl cousins have been getting married since they have turned 24. A cousin this month is also getting married.

I asked my mom if she was going to keep her job as a history teacher at a local school, she said no. I was really surprised that she wasn’t going to work anymore.

A job that she found pleasure in and worked hard for? She all of a sudden didn’t want it?

This surprised me deeply.

Apparently her future mother-in-law doesn’t want to work. She wants her to stay at home and take care of the household. Besides her son has a good job and earns well. So why work?

Well the situation got resolved and my cousin will be working. But that’s not the case for all. Many have to just leave their passion, careers, and dreams just to please others. It’s not fair.

My other cousin who got married in 2016, recently had a daughter. Her sister-in-law also had a daughter around the same time. The girls are barely a year old and the community are already asking when they are planning on having a son so he could “carry the family name”. Women are just seen as some baby popping machines that people expect to give birth to some perfect baby boys.

No one cares what the woman wants or how she feels, it’s always about what other people care about.