The reasons for women giving up a good career in science or for that matter in any field, can be many. In the previous generation, it was usually social. Society had still not made up its mind about women taking up careers. On the one hand, daughters were educated to a great degree, on the other hand, these girls must grow up to be good wives and mothers. In many cases, in the tussle between the two roles, the career woman was lost.
The same society did not realise the loss it had incurred. How many scientists, lawyers, even doctors are lost to society because they had to spend most of their productive years in housework and child rearing.
Couple of generations before, litle girls were not educated. They were trained to keep house and rear children. They grew up to keep house and rear children. So there was no problem. The problem comes when girls are trained for a profession, but end up cooking and cleaning. Society loses trained human resource, the women lose out. That is the tragedy many women faced.
Nowadays, I see most girls train for a career, and manage to have a good career. Of course, even now, there are problems, but they are slowly being addressed.
5 comments:
There are many families even in modern India were girls are taught and encouraged to take up challenging careers but at the end the parents only compel them to give up everything and don the role of a perfect housewife....its a shame...everything seems to be a ploy to get a good groom and achieve a high degree of social acceptability....anyways good post...keep walking!!!
Anorak: Yes there are still many families where this kind of confused thinking persists, but it is not just aploy to catch a groom. I am a parent and I can understand their dilemma.
well, i am not yet married so I surely dont know the feeling of being a parent ... but honestly, I would like to know the reasons because i feel attimes its the stature of the family and the wishes of the family members and name which tends to be more important then the daughter of the family.......
Anorak: Yes in certain families, it is true that family honour is above all. But in a more rational setup, (yes I would protest if my daughter/son makes an obviously bad choice) the worrying about your children getting married is not just for family honour etc, it is a genuine wish to see that your children have the best possible life--including a spouse suited to them. The problem comes in the definition of what suits them.
while taking such a decision (which affects the person marrying more), parents should come down from their pedestal and try to look at life from the perspective of the daughter/son and shrugg off all notions and baggages, before taking a leap....but i guess, it is not the case most of the time....thanks for ur words....keep walking!!!
Post a Comment