2 years, 1 month ago-
Living in the 21st century and talking about equality rights has only become a talk show. Whether it was a century ago or today, there is less or no equality in marriages. There might be a few relationships where equality could be present, but the other person may name it as compromises.
There are two kinds of equality in marriages considered here. One is the roles and responsibilities of a husband and a wife, and the second is same-sex marriage. Well, either of them is a dream today.
Let’s begin with the former scenario. The roles and responsibilities of a husband and a wife are not equal. Even if a woman steps out from home and begins her life as a working woman, society still expects her to perform the household duties. Many women maintain the work-life balance, but society questions the in-laws and comments upon the limits of a woman. There could be more sexist remarks, but this is the most common one. Moreover, when a couple has a baby, it’s the mother who is obliged to do more than the father. The sentiment of equal rights vanishes here and is not a priority here.
In the latter scenario, same-sex marriage does not have equal rights as that of straight marriages. For example, the Indian judiciary may have decriminalized section 377, but the union of marriage between two same sexes is yet a dream. The sad part is when cinema tries to normalize the situation through movies and dramas, they are not accepted and are mocked upon.
Either of the cases does not have equality in marriages currently. However, we hope that the scenario changes because it would bring acceptance of one’s identity beyond stereotypes.
Equality does not exist in a marriage, specially in India. There is only quality that matters in India in marriage and the quality is only restricted to woman. They have been asked about the quality of the color of their skin, the height, dowry and how much household chores they can do without any complaints. Time and again women are being suppressed in marriages and nobody has ever stood against these things. Sacrifices and compromise in a marriage should only be from woman’s side and not from men. For any team work, both the individuals involved should be walking towards the goal equally be it time, compromise,sacrifice and efforts.
Marriage is bee practicing over the years successfully, most of the credit only goes to the women to make marriage work. Equality was never a concern earlier because women were being suppressed due to the societal norms.
As we are moving in an ultra modern society, which now promotes the live in relationship and the concept of marriage is fading away. Live in relationships promotes equality and it is been successful for most of the couples.
Equality is not something to ask for but it is the basic right of every woman but unfortunately women are being suppressed over the societal norms.Honestly my answer is a big NO. So far India has still not achieved equality in marriages. People still live in the misconceptions that girls should be married within specific ages. There are many families who marry girls as soon as they turn 18 or even before that by forging a fake age because for them girls are a burden.
But the case is different for boys. They are allowed to fulfill their education and don’t have any compulsion to get married early.
Even though things have changed a lot since past decades as in metropolitan and big cities, the concept of living relationship is normalized. But still when it comes to choosing, women have to make a choice between their career and marriage.
Very next thing is that women are always blamed and expected to work on marriage and often blamed if things don’t work out . It is said that in a relationship one should always bow their head but it actually should be that in a relationship women should always bow their head down.
Woman is always expected to give up on her career and dreams just so to take care of family. The rituals like kanyadan are actually propertizing women and practically promoting the concept that women are objects that can be given.
Another thing that needs to come to light is why should a woman wear those ornaments just to let people know she is married? Why should women go to the groom’s family? This is really pathetic to see how the bride’s family is expected to compromise and fulfill the demands of the groom’s family.Even if the dowry concept has stopped, there are other ways to demand or why is the bride’s family shouldering the expenses of a wedding and the groom’s family having to be fussy?
Why is a woman always expected to give up her job and change her entire lifestyle after marriage and expected to adjust every time? These things are worth thinking about and changing I feel and then only I would say that we have achieved equality in marriages.Marriage is about understanding and respecting each other’s decisions in all times of joy and sorrow. It is about two people who should accept each other and give that importance to accepting their differences. Marriage is a very important and valuable phase in a women’s life, everything changes after marriage, right from her personal freedom to her career choices. After getting marriage her personal life is least considered and all she is asked to do is for her husband, in-laws, and then children, so this cycle of her sacrifices continues.
Equality in marriages is not much seen, still, like ancient times many people treat women only as house worker, and has to do chores of the house, as a priority is given to housing only and not allowed to think beyond that. If we talk about equality in marriage, there should be equal opportunities, respect, work, understanding, etc.
Inequality in terms of work distribution, like a woman, has to all works of the husband also and of hers also, and if a woman is a working woman, then she also has office work and housework too. But these things are not faced by men’s because Afterall they are male gender and their work is to earn money according to society, women are disrespected if she neglects one work or if she gives much importance to her career.
But still, many marriages are successful, why? Just because of women sacrificing and having inequality and doing as per everyone’s needs. Not at only the individual level, but the family of female also has to face many things like dowry and accepting all conditions given by male’s family, each marriage has some other problems and each marriage works successfully when a woman faces discrimination and suffers every time. Very few people are there who understand that women and men both need to equal in marriages and also in everything.There is no equality in marriages because there are many things that women has to work more compare to men. Women’s compromise more in marriage then men. While if someone come for proposal for marriage they always keep conditions for girls like they should know all the household work, they can’t job after marriage. Why? Women should not sacrifice her career, know all the household work. Men should also know household work if men are doing job then. why? Should women can’t do job. They can divide the work equally they can share there household work equally and can manage there office and home work also together. Men should also learn all the household chores before marriage. why? Only women should learn both will learn then there will be equality in home to do household work and women can also do job if her husband support and motivate her. In villages we see that women get married at very early age they don’t get chance to study, dream for their career. And people in villages think that women should get married and do all the household work they should not do studies they should only listen there husband whatever they say do that from childhood women are taught this things in villages than where is equality in marriages. In today’s generation their are some people who support and motivate her their wife to follow her dreams and family also support her. But many of them don’t support specially some family don’t support at all for women to follow their career after marriage. They only think do household chores, take care of family, child. Why? Family and husband should stop her to give up her career and divide all the household work equally and should encourage and support her to follow her dreams. There should equality in marriages if men can do everything after marriage then women has the rights to not compromise or not to sacrifice on her career.
Is there equality in marriages? I think it depends. Equality should be present in every relationship whether it’s a nuptial relationship or a sibling relationship. A girl or a woman shouldn’t be considered less or more than her partner, brother or colleague. In a patriarchal society, the husband is always considered superior to the wife because he is the breadwinner of the family. The husband is expected to be the sole head of the family and he gets more respect than a wife. This is so wrong because when we do this, we are encouraging inequality. A relationship is built with mutual respect and equality. The couple should consider each other as equals where neither of the partners can impose their will on the other. How can it be said that the relationship between a couple is equal? Everyone has a different meaning to their idea of equality and even if one of them is met with mutual agreement then the relationship prospers. For example, couples shouldn’t discriminate against either partner on factors like gender or salary. For example, holding the wife responsible for all the household work or casting the husband in a breadwinner role is a patriarchal norm that doesn’t support equality. Each couple has to decide the right way to share equality. If there’s respect in the relationship for each other then, equality is likely to be present in the marriage. While some marriages show us equality in marriages, some show us that social, familial pressures or misplaced self-respect can interfere with it. In most marriages, men dominance is prevalent. Men make more decisions – decisions that have an impact on both the partner and their lives. Men, as per societal norms, are discouraged from helping in household chores or child-rearing activities, as it is considered more of a woman’s responsibility. Even though women are stepping out to take up jobs, men still show reluctance towards household work.
So equality in marriages depends on the couple and their perspectives towards the general concepts. When a person believes in the underlying societal norms then they are more likely to follow them in all their relationships. A couple needs to smash the societal norms, consider each other equals, share mutual respect and evolve to be better every day for the sake of their marriageThe answer is a big NO. All a marriage means to woman is sacrifice. The biggest sacrifice is that a women has to leave her house and her family, go to the boys house and accept his family. She is one who is supposed to stay at home and look after her ‘new family’. She is reminded multiple times that she needs to ‘behave’ as an inferior character since she is a ‘wife’. She is told to compromise her dreams in order to fit in the boxes of ‘stereotypes’ of our society. Many women fail to pursue their education and live the lives of their dreams due to the senseless typical mindset of out society. Some parents do their part by just graduating their girl and making her an educated, skilled, marriage material’ women.
Women are all- rounders! They are capable of working, earing, looking after their family, their children, managing their household but still they are taken for granted. Their efforts and hard work is often labelled as their ‘responsibility’ and are not given the respect and appreciation they deserve. Instead they are told to adhere to the societal norms, sit at home and performs their duties I.e kill their dreams and live for others. But why only them? Why not a man? Because this is how our society works. This is the dirt and filth filled inside the brains of our people. And till the time this dirt is not flushed out, their is no way our women will ever achieve as equal treatment as men.Marriage is a sacred institution that unites two or more people and creates a family tie and carries legal, social, and religious rights and responsibilities. By nature itself, marriage is between equals and it aims to treat them equally. But in real life, is there equality in marriages?
The answer is sadly no, there isn’t. There never has been, and if things keep going like the way they are going now, there never will be. Be it the responsibility of chores or the responsibility bringing in the money, they are all unfairly divided for now. And unfortunately, women are disproportionately affected by this inequality in marriage than men. Women are the ones who are expected to do almost everything in marriage, they are expected to carry the burden of keeping the two families united, keeping their husband satisfied, and the kids well taken care of. They are expected so much, that if they fail in doing anything, they are labelled as not a good wife, or a good mother or a good daughter-in-law. While men are raised high on a pedestal if they “help” her in doing any of these tasks. These things need to be changed soon! The institution of marriage is a sacred one, and we need to carry it in the way it’s supposed to be, that is, by treated both men and women equally. There needs to be a change in the mentality of people and they need to realise how important equality is in any relationship, especially a married one.
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