Men have exploited women for their own needs since time immemorial. Prostitution is a classical example. Rarely does the question of choice enter into the equation over whether to become a prostitute or not. Western Europe is currently awash with kidnapped Romanian women who are forced to work for a pittance in the sex trade, in captivity to provide money for their European ‘Mafia’ slave masters. The authorities mainly men, say they ‘struggle’ to deal with 1% of this slave trafficking. Perhaps even more interestingly, as more and more women climb the slippery political pole they appear even less interested in the plight of their fellow women than many men. So hell bent are women on getting to the top, so busy are they milking the politically correct system that got them there in the first place (or in some cases wasting moose) they have little time for the women that emancipation has passed by.
Anyway I digress, nowhere is the exploitation of women so cleverly institutionalized and woven into both the economic and religious fabric of a country than the Devadasi system in India.
Devadasi literally means God’s (Dev) female servant (Dasi), where according to the ancient Indian tradition, young pre-pubertal girls are ‘married off’, ‘given away’ by their parents (often for long term financial gain) in matrimony to God or a local religious deity of the temple. These girls are not allowed to marry, as they are married to the temple. Devadasi ‘serve’ the priests and inmates of the temple, and the Zamindars (local land lords) and other men of money and power, in the town and village. Their ‘service’ is considered akin to service of God. The Devadasi is dedicated to the service of the temple Deity for life and there is no escape for her. If she wants to escape, the society will not accept her.
Devadasi involves the exploitation of Dalits, the lower class of untouchables; not only is it is the glorification of humiliation of women, inherent in this system is the fascistic belief that a certain section of human population, the lower caste, is meant to serve the ‘higher caste’s superior men’.
Not only is the Devadasi cleverly trapped by religion, but she is economically shackled too. The money she earns and sends home to her mother is far more than her brothers could ever earn. She is often the main family bread winner and the mother’s pension plan.
Despite being made illegal under the British Raj and the ban subsequently reinforced in the 1980s there are still more than 450,000 Devadasies trapped in this form of prostitution, deified and glorified by heinous religious sanctions. The Devadasi system is mainly found in South India, especially in the states of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Ironically, these are the techno-savvy states now synonymous with Indian progress in the global market.
Thanfully for The Devadasi there is hope. Education and the growth of prosperity will eventually allow India to overcome this terrible practice. Sadly, it is likely the exploitation of women will continue long after in the ’Western’ Democracies because criminal greed is less easy to deal with.
7 comments:
You highlight a fascinating concern, Saffron. The 'oldest profession' is, to my mind, perfectly honourable if both parties are free to make the choice but as you rightly say, so few really are. And least free are those captured by criminals, deprived of their passports and sold into a life of sexuial slavery until they die or are no longer attractive enough to earn their keep. Corruption among officials and incompetence and indifference among police internationally certainly contribute to this. My greatest loathing ids for the politicians who cannot be bothered to deal with this matter because the victims have no voice to reach their ears. Thanks - a real subject to debate.
These are the real 'women's' issues that should be highlighted and discussed well done
I saw the film too on BBC Saffy and I couldn't agree more these are the kind of issues women should be tackling instead of tilting at windmills.
I think the best place to discuss such issues would be a blog such as this. It's not often there is a copious amount of readership and participation.
Too often than not, people seem to be "ok" with only knowing about the good things in life. Well, we all know, life isn't all sunshine, rainbows, and lollipops.
For quite sometime now, women have been disappearing over the Mexican boarder for years. Largely, it's due to the overpowering drug cartels. Women being used as drug mules, prostituted, and sold as sex slaves to insure their families safety. What makes this so shocking is that no one is willing to really do anything about it. The US Government is refusing to really see this matter as "urgent". Well, it's now happening in the US. Just the other day, a man was convicted for kidnapping and child exploitation. He drugged, rapped, sodomized, and sold a young 13 year old for sex. Now you think to yourself, if this can happen right in our own backyard, will this US government do anything about it now. Not likely:(
Thank you for your support. I agree these are the real 'women's issues'
Under the name of God , men have exploited women for ages now.
In India , there are N number of Baba's ( religious pretentious men) who pretend to help find solutions to the problems and molest women.
They take an oath to be bachelors all their life and follow the path of God, but have Devdasi's for themselves !
Thank you for this contribution Saffron, and for everyones responding input as well.
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