“I feel so helpless and dependent. I can’t imagine living an independent life, I want to travel and see the world around, I want to do so many things but unfortunately I can’t. I have to let go off my happiness, my desires,” said a 22-year-old Rubina, clad in a burkha that shows only her eyes.
Every woman covered from head-to-toe can relate to Rubina’s misery. Playing multiple roles as mothers, wives, daughters, sisters, women hold such an important place in our society. Then why are there so many differences and discriminations against them on the basis of their caste and religion? Why can’t women in every nook and corner of the world enjoy equal rights and freedom?
Purdah system is definitely one such discrimination against women, especially Muslim women. It is the practice that secludes women from public observation by wearing concealing clothing from head-to-toe and by the use of high walls, and screens within the home. A flashback into history tells us how this system came into being. It originated from the suspicion of strong sexual appetites in both sexes. And in order to keep it under check, the two sexes were segregated from each other.
In India, the Purdah system was enforced with the advent of the Mughal invaders in the medieval period. It was used to protect the women folk from the eyes of these invaders. It is still practised in some remote areas of India. But the question is has it really helped? Instead of achieving its aim, it has adversely affected the morals of Muslim women. It limits a woman’s mobility outside her home which in turn makes her contact with the outside world very limited.
Women in burkha cannot go out or travel even if they are in great necessity. They are quite helpless and dependent. They do not know the streets and roads properly. Until and unless their men or someone close accompanies them, they are not allowed to leave their homes. They remain completely clueless of what’s happening outside and cannot even enjoy the beauty of nature. They become narrow and restricted in their outlook. They live a monotonous life.
Apart from curtailing the freedom of women, the veil or Purdah system has some serious repercussions on the health of women. These burkha-clad women are usually victims of anaemia, tuberculosis, diphtheria, hypoplasia of the teeth, pyorrhea and heart palpation. Their bodies get deformed with their backs bent; they suffer from ribs, bones ache. The severe cases of osteomalacia are extremely common among them. Not only do they have to bear intense suffering, but their pelvic deformities have also resulted in untimely death at the time of delivery.
The very system of achieving the social distance between men and women deprives women of mental and moral nourishment. They are denied from living a healthy social life; their legal right to freedom gets restricted. It makes them timid and unfit to fight life. They live their life like a caged bird. Women today need to voice their opinions against such customs. They should not let their movement and expression be restricted due to the very use of a veil. We only live once and why not live it to the fullest?
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