FROM ‘BOLD’ TO ‘BASTARD,’ READERS DEBATE ROLE OF WORKING WOMEN IN INDIA

[A number of readers focused on how rare the story of these seven women is. Some said that India had made great progress on women’s rights over the years, and that many women were doing even better than their counterparts in the United States. To others, the article showed that the country could not make real progress without such models of courage.]

By Hanna Ingber

Women in Peepli Khera, India, took their battle to continue working to court.

Credit Andrea Bruce for The New York Times

India needs more “angry, bold, ‘real bastard’ women,” wrote a reader in California. Another argued that working women face more of a “glass ceiling” in the United States than in India.

A recent article by Ellen Barry, The New York Times’s South Asia bureau chief, about seven women in northern India who confronted their community to defend their right to work generated a lively debate among readers regarding the status of women in the country.

A number of readers focused on how rare the story of these seven women is. Some said that India had made great progress on women’s rights over the years, and that many women were doing even better than their counterparts in the United States. To others, the article showed that the country could not make real progress without such models of courage.

 “India needs more Geetas — angry, bold, ‘real bastard’ women who are willing to fight a long fight,” a reader in California wrote under the name VGD, referring to the main character in Ms. Barry’s article. “Their willingness to stand up to the old order is a solid step towards gaining equality and respect.”

Many readers shared their experiences living or working in India and reflected how they compared to the story of the women in Peepli Khera, the village profiled in the article.

Pep Singh, who lives in Jaisalmer District, in the western Indian state of Rajasthan, wrote that he belongs to a community similar to the one Ms. Barry wrote about. The education of girls is restricted there, he wrote, and one of his sisters was told to stop studying once she completed primary school.

“I was very sad, and I couldn’t do anything, but now, since I earn and am educated to some extent, [I] will let my youngest sister to study as much as she wants, and I even let her to marry whomever she wants, whatsoever religion or community,” he wrote in the comments of the article.

Education, he wrote, is crucial to societal change.

Maneesh Sharma, a geologist who grew up in northern India and did field work in the 1990s in the area Ms. Barry described, wrote that he had observed that real change takes place in India when a pressing issue like gender discrimination is tackled both in cities and in villages.

“One thing that I have always seen that is true in India is that if you start to see things happening at village level in poor lower-caste household, then this means that particular change is truly happening,” wrote Mr. Sharma, who lives in Morgantown, W.Va.

“I am tempted to revisit this place in 10 years’ time, and I am pretty sure things would be different then (hopefully for better),” he said.

A few readers said that many working women in India do not have their contributions to the economy acknowledged.

“In India, women work more than any men,” Neeraj Sinha wrote on Facebook. “The problem is we don’t recognize their contribution. A woman working in the field is called a farmer’s wife, not a farmer.”

Some argued that, contrary to the impression the article gives, India has made great strides in its advancement of women in positions of power and influence. A reader who described herself as an Indian physician wrote that the article presents a “myopic view” of India, which “offers a plethora of opportunities for women to join the work force.”

The reader, who used the name OncDoc and lives in New York, has worked in India and the United States. She wrote that in many ways, the situation for working women in the United States is worse than in India.

“The glass ceiling that exists in the U.S. is definitely much worse than what exists in India,” she wrote.

She also argued that it is not only elite women in India from well-educated families who participate in the work force.

“Through the course of my work in India, I have treated several women from poor societies who are the breadwinners for their family and have raised the standard of living for the entire household by putting all their children through college, etc.,” she wrote. “Now working as a physician in a poor underserved area in the U.S., I find that women are much worse off here, having to face additional problems of sexual abuse and drugs.”

Another woman, a scientist at an American university who identified herself as Priya and who has lived in India and the United States, also argued that female professionals face a thicker glass ceiling in the United States.

An Indian woman who lives in India and has worked in Uttar Pradesh, where the story is based, wrote in a response to OncDoc that women in areas like the one Ms. Barry described “were treated like animals with few rights.”

The reader, who used the name hypeatia, added that part of the problem comes from Indians who pretend that things are not so bad.

“Please get out of your own backyard and acknowledge that there are millions of Indian women who are not ‘heads of departments’ and who are struggling to assert themselves,” she wrote.

Many other readers left comments on the article in response to those who criticized it, arguing that India would progress only if the persistent problems in the country are discussed and addressed.

A reader in New Jersey who used the name ARR wrote that many Indians living in the United States view articles like this one negatively because “itshines a bad light on us and how we want to be seen by our co-workers, friends and neighbors.”

However, the reader wrote, people should recognize the significant problems that a large segment of India’s population still face and be proud of those who have the courage to confront adversity.

“Trying to paint India in a shining light will not help bring in the change,” ARR wrote.

Readers have the ability to “recommend” a published comment to others. One of the comments that seemed to have resonated most, receiving more than 350 recommendations, was a response to those who wrote that Ms. Barry’s article neglected to pay enough attention to the women in India who benefit from the country’s economic growth.

“A system that continues to ignore [the] abuse of women, a system indifferent to extreme poverty and total lack of education, a system where ignorant men run roughshod over half the people in the village — their mothers and daughters — needs to be exposed to the light of day,” wrote a reader in Albany who used the name Allen.

“The fact that other women in India are doing well does not change the fact that these women live in fear and deprivation,” he continued.

An Indian woman, LaBoheme in New York City, wrote that criticism of the article stems from an inclination to “silence the media” each time a story about Indian women emerges, rather than addressing the issues.

“This itself should give the world a taste of cultural attitudes towards Indian women,” she wrote. “Patriarchal gatekeepers are often women too.”

Another well-received comment was a note of solidarity with the women in the article who fought for the right to work.

“To my Desi sisters, Geeta, Premwati, Pinki and Rekha, I stand in solidarity with you,” wrote a reader using the name Zeya, a South Asian woman living in Fairfax, Va. “And I salute your tremendous courage and tenacity in challenging your village’s patriarchal culture. Please do not give up the fight, as your actions are truly inspirational to women worldwide.”

@ The New York Times