The decision by the authorities at the Shani Shingnapur temple to end the 400-year-old ban on the entry of women to the sanctum sanctorum would never have happened but for pressure from women activists and the media (April 9). This should mark the beginning of ending discriminatory practices at places of worship on the basis of caste, gender and religion. Some places of worship continue to adopt and allow questionable practices. However it needs hard work by civil society to effect a change in the attitudes of the people concerned as it is linked to popular sentiments.
Dr. D.V.G. Sankararao,
Vizianagaram, Andhra Pradesh
For the real empowerment of women and ensuring gender equality, one has to look at issues and subjects that are still taboo. For instance, women are not allowed to perform the last rites of their parents. Further, matters like female foeticide, the practice of dowry, ostentatious marriages and even the denial of proper education to girls are the more burning problems that affect women and even dehumanise them to an extent.
K. Rajendran,
Chennai
What has happened makes the words of Mahatma Gandhi ring true: “Woman is the companion of man, gifted with equal mental capacities. She has the right to participate in very minutest detail in the activities of man and she has an equal right of freedom and liberty with him. She is entitled to a supreme place in her own sphere of activity as man is in his. This ought to be the natural condition of things and not as a result only of learning to read and write. By sheer force of a vicious custom, even the most ignorant and worthless men have been enjoying a superiority over wom[e]n which they do not deserve and ought not to have. Many of our movements stop half way because of the condition of our women.” One hopes that the development will set an example to other places of worship and ensure that women are accorded equality.
Jayanthi Sridharan,
Chennai
