Changing roles of men and women in Hinduism

Overview

Traditional division of religious roles between Hindu men and women and sabarimala dispute.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1. 1

   Describe the traditional division of religious roles between Hindu men and women.

   Model answer

   Men were the ones initiated with the sacred thread and trained in vedic recitation and public ritual, while a woman's dharma was centred on the household, its shrine, its purity and the raising of children.

2. 2

   How do Manu 9:3 and Manu 3:56 pull in different directions on the position of women?

   Model answer

   Manu 9:3 says a woman is guarded by her father in childhood, her husband in youth and her sons in age and is never fit for independence, while Manu 3:56 says that where women are honoured the gods rejoice, so the same text supplies both subordination and reverence.

3. 3

   What religious responsibilities have Hindu women traditionally carried in the home?

   Model answer

   They maintain the domestic shrine and its daily worship, prepare the food that is offered, keep the purity rules of the kitchen, teach the children the stories and prayers, and undertake vrata, fasts kept for the welfare of husband and family.

4. 4

   From what religious roles have Hindu women traditionally been excluded?

   Model answer

   In most communities girls do not receive the sacred thread, women have not been trained as temple priests, and restrictions during menstruation have kept them from the shrine and from certain temples.

5. 5

   Why does the worship of goddesses not by itself prove a high status for Hindu women?

   Model answer

   Devotion to Durga or Kali is directed at divine power rather than at women as such, and regions with the strongest goddess traditions have not consistently shown better outcomes for women, so theology and social position have to be assessed separately.

6. 6

   What was sati, and what is its legal position?

   Model answer

   It was the burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre; it was outlawed in 1829 after campaigning by Ram Mohan Roy among others, and further legislation in 1987 made glorifying it an offence following a widely reported case.

Other ways to work this

The same content, four other ways.

What is inside Levo

Six ways to work the same material.