“Her Identity and Emancipation” - Gelaxy International Inter disciplinary Research Journal (ISSN 2347-6915) - GIIRJ, Vol.2(1), January, 2014, PP-142-143. http://internationaljournals.co.in/pdf/GIIRJ/2014/January/11.pdf

1. GALAXY International Interdisciplinary Research Journal_______________________ ISSN 2347-6915
GIIRJ, Vol.2 (1), JANUARY (2014)
142
HER IDENTITY AND EMANCIPATION
DR A.C.V.RAMA KUMAR
ASST. PROFESSOR,
ACHARYA NAGARJUNA UNIVERSITY,
GUNTUR
ABSTRACT
Woman down the ages has had a secondary status in all cultures. From the beginning, woman
was not given a primary status in the running of affairs of the county, province and empire.
The change will come only when men realize that to give freedom and equal respect to
women is good for them and it will lead to fulfillment for both. The mind has to become free
and then it is a glory and ecstasy for BOTH men and women to live in complete mutual
respect and togetherness.
KEY WORDS: Woman, status, identity, emancipation.
Introduction
Woman down the ages has had a secondary status in all cultures. From the beginning, woman
was not given a primary status in the running of affairs of the county, province and empire. It
was the king and not the queen who was supreme in political affairs with a few minor
exceptions. These exceptions too came up due to a vacuum created due to the unavailability
of a king at that crucial juncture.
As society progressed and with greater enlightenment, women did gain a certain equality of
status and in the modern world, the process is practically completed in many countries BUT
only on paper and as laws decreed by the government.
Socially, women are still oppressed especially in the east and notably in the middle-east
where religion is still deeply linked to political affairs. The fight there is still on to secure
rights for women with respect to the laws that govern them.
But the crucial point is what happens socially and psychologically in the mind, heart and soul
of women in the process of direct and indirect subjugation and treating her as not equal to
men.
It is a common notion that women are emotional, weak and cannot govern and take care of
themselves. Women are fundamentally inferior and many thinkers in the past have voiced
that. This has given rise to the feminist movement and infused the literature and academics
with a variety of theories about what really constitutes femininity and masculinity.
If women are inferior to men in mental ability and strength and productive capacity, what
explains the brilliant achievements of scores of women in the modern world who have
exploited the liberalism in the modern world.
It seems more likely that man is not able to change his attitude with respect to women and to
a large extent succeeds in placing rules dictated by the social environment where the women
has to be lower than men and her primary task relegated to the home and bearing children and
bringing them up.
It is a pity that Society, especially in the east and middle-east, still treats women as inferior
and clings to the outmoded beliefs of the ages old past just like they cling to the religious
separation and caste system.

2. GALAXY International Interdisciplinary Research Journal_______________________ ISSN 2347-6915
GIIRJ, Vol.2 (1), JANUARY (2014)
143
What is the deepest root for this? Actually looking at women as inferior is a process of
thinking that is similar to the process of thinking that believes in religious differences and
caste differences.
In all cases of irrational thinking, reason is absent. Men do not apply their reason as a rule.
They conform to whatever society decrees as the rules of living and behavior. This
supersedes laws of the country also. Man is first a social and then political being.
In such a situation, a common woman (and man also) would not have the strength to rebel
against the social mores of the world around them, they would be afraid of isolation and
ostracism. They would simply give up even knowing the rules are senseless.
Another effect of subjugation would be that women as a rule would become weak, if she is
constantly pressured and not given the freedom. The soul and mind blossom in an
environment of freedom and encouragement. In a society where women are given secondary
status only few exceptional women find success and that too with many psychological
problems.
This is sad because this affects the full flowering of love and sexual fulfillment between men
and women. Man is distanced from woman. What should have been natural union and a state
of bliss becomes an unnatural adjustment in accordance with societal stereo types.
This fact has been brought out brilliantly by many great authors in a variety of themes and
from various angles. TESS OF THE DUBERVILLES BY THOMAS HARDY, DARK
ROOM BY R K NARAYAN, HOME AND THE WORLD BY TAGORE, come to mind.
What is really the solution to the deep suffering that women and even men go through due to
women’s subjugation?
It requires that a voice is raised by women and men from the grass root level. It requires
educational change that promotes reason and empowers and equips men and women to
transcend their culture and question their cultures and take only that which conforms to
reason.
It requires us to fight for a world through educational campaign and through writings
explaining and expressing the beauty of man-woman relationships when they are treated as
equal.
The change will come only when men realize that to give freedom and equal respect to
women is good for them and it will lead to fulfillment for both.
It is possible but a narrow law enforcement will not do. The mind has to become free and
then it is a glory and ecstasy for BOTH men and women to live in complete mutual respect
and togetherness.