The book, “Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage,” has made the New York Times Best-seller List.  Has she actually transcended the beauty business thanks to age and yoga?

“The thing about aging is that its got all these wonderful answers attached to it,” Welch said, adding that age alone should never define a person.

I’m holding together just fine, I’m not doing it with no effort, I’m doing my yoga everyday — an hour-and-a-half of that — but really guys, what is the point of starting to lie about your age?”

She expounds upon the difficultly of being known only as a sex symbol. “I felt that people really didn’t give a damn about me, they only cared about her…”  It’s ironic how she describes her persona with “an impossibly skinny little waist” as “formidable”–what’s empowering about emaciation?

Now that she’s aged, has she surmounted her insecurities?

Welch said the point of the book was to remind women that their fears and anxieties “were not special to them.” If her own travails, worries and insecurities, which were magnified by being in the public eye, were surmountable, so are theirs.

Some new research featured in the NYT on the gender gap contends counterintuitively that more traditional societies have smaller gender differences than modern ones.

For evolutionary psychologists, the bad news is that the size of the gender gap in personality varies among cultures. For social-role psychologists, the bad news is that the variation is going in the wrong direction. It looks as if personality differences between men and women are smaller in traditional cultures like India’s or Zimbabwe’s than in the Netherlands or the United States. A husband and a stay-at-home wife in a patriarchal Botswanan clan seem to be more alike than a working couple in Denmark or France. The more Venus and Mars have equal rights and similar jobs, the more their personalities seem to diverge.

These findings are so counterintuitive that some researchers have argued they must be because of cross-cultural problems with the personality tests. But after crunching new data from 40,000 men and women on six continents, David P. Schmitt and his colleagues conclude that the trends are real. Dr. Schmitt, a psychologist at Bradley University in Illinois and the director of the International Sexuality Description Project, suggests that as wealthy modern societies level external barriers between women and men, some ancient internal differences are being revived.

The biggest changes recorded by the researchers involve the personalities of men, not women. Men in traditional agricultural societies and poorer countries seem more cautious and anxious, less assertive and less competitive than men in the most progressive and rich countries of Europe and North America.

Utterly fascinating. While I’m loathe to just take the latest study at face value, it certainly is thought-provoking–especially the bit about how the men differ. I can’t help but think of the white man’s burden: how the imperialists portrayed the colonised men as alternatively ‘effeminate’ (in India) or ‘lazy, savage beasts’ in Africa. Yet this research could be interpreted as saying that the imperialists were the brutes (as indeed I think they were)!

Personality is more complicated than height, of course, and Dr. Schmitt suggests it’s affected by not just the physical but also the social stresses in traditional agricultural societies. These villagers have had to adapt their personalities to rules, hierarchies and gender roles more constraining than those in modern Western countries — or in clans of hunter-gatherers.

“Humanity’s jaunt into monotheism, agriculturally based economies and the monopolization of power and resources by a few men was ‘unnatural’ in many ways,” Dr. Schmitt says, alluding to evidence that hunter-gatherers were relatively egalitarian. “In some ways modern progressive cultures are returning us psychologically to our hunter-gatherer roots,” he argues. “That means high sociopolitical gender equality over all, but with men and women expressing predisposed interests in different domains. Removing the stresses of traditional agricultural societies could allow men’s, and to a lesser extent women’s, more ‘natural’ personality traits to emerge.”

I can definitely agree that our current state of civilization is unnatural, but I guess I have a hard time seeing how ‘modern progressive cultures are returning us psychologically to our hunter-gatherer roots’. Well, certainly the jury’s out on any hard and fast conclusions, but I like the way the article finishes:

Things could get confusing if the personality gap widens further as the sexes become equal. But then, maybe it was that allure of the mysterious other that kept Mars and Venus together so long on the savanna.

Allure indeed…

For more, see Broadsheet’s take.

“A patriarchal ethos dominates both the societies, American and Indian, but they operate in different ways. In India, despite the patriarchal ethos, powerful women leaders have emerged,” says political scientist Imtiaz Ahmed.

The most famous examples are BSP chief Mayawati and AIADMK head Jayalalitha. Both emerged from the shadow of iconic godfathers, to establish themselves as leaders with grassroots support.

It is not enough to be someone’s wife, sister or mistress in Indian politics. Neerja Gopal Jayal, professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University’s centre of law and governance points out that “Even at the panchayat level, we have had women from the member families being nominated. But the first time, patronage may work but not the second time. And this is true at the national level too.”

I myself have often wondered how, especially in the super-conservative state of Rajasthan, female leaders have established themselves. (See today’s article about Sonia Gandhi criticizing “the corrupt and inefficient [Vasundhara Raje] government.”)

Ranjana Kumari, director of the Centre for Social Research says, “What is unique to India, is the fact that women have the space to grow as leaders. Maybe, it has to do with our cultural ethos, where women are worshipped as goddesses.’’

I’m not so sure about the goddess worship argument, considering the low status of the majority of women; I think it could be more likely the ethos of ‘Mother India’ and the self-sacrificing stereotype of mothers/women.

The Washington Post had an in-depth piece on Indian women’s status. It starts off discussing ‘eve-teasing’, i.e. harrassment, but then delves into the whole range of issues from dowry to sex-selective abortion:

For India’s middle-class urban women, the past decade has brought unprecedented opportunities to advance in a social order long dominated by men. But a powerful male backlash has accompanied the women’s revolution, an upwelling of resentment that has expressed itself in sexual violence and harassment.

At the same time, however, the number of reported instances of domestic violence, rape and dowry killings is spiking in South Asian cities, according to women’s groups, demographers and sociologists.

Violence against women is the fastest-growing crime in India, a recent study concluded. Every 26 minutes a woman is molested, every 34 minutes a rape takes place, and every 43 minutes a woman is kidnapped, according to the Home Ministry’s National Crime Records Bureau.

Novellist and commentator Shobhaa De is quoted as saying:

“The latest statistics are terrifying. And it clearly points to male rage. Underneath our incredible social change, the Indian male is experiencing nothing short of a psychological frenzy.”

The article highlights the Smile Foundation for its attempts to address the issues through “self-respect and self-esteem sessions” and street theater.

It’s worth noting that while India ranks fifth highest in reported rapes, the United States ranks highest in the world. Yet I don’t think an article discussing gender dynamics in the US is likely to be covered by the WashPo in a similar manner.

If all those things which make a sari more comfortable and natural are considered “immodest” what’s the use of the sari anyway? No wonder the younger generation is giving up on the sari, except when it makes a fashion statement.

It’s time we understood that showing the midriff or even the ankles is not immodest. And certainly nothing was ever wrong or immoral in showing the navel. According to Indian tradition, the belly-button or navel is a sacred part of the body. It says here (references of scholarly works are given):

The sari, being an unstitched drape, enhances the shape of the wearer while only partially covering the midriff. In Indian philosophy, the navel of the Supreme Being is considered as the source of life and creativity.

But who cares about Indian tradition! Certainly not the moral police who have become so obsessed with covering up their own immorality that they have want to impose alien values upon us. They will continue to shout about Indian tradition from the roof-tops when actually they know (and care) less about Indian culture than either you or me.

In the post, she really pulls apart the different layers of the policing of women’s bodies through dress. She brings to light how notions of modesty and propriety are all culturally dictated. I, too, have struggled with the idea that the sari is supposed to be considered the ultimate in women’s attire, even though it does show the midriff and back which other cultures deem to be a ‘sexual’ area.

I have always found it odd that in such a hot country as India, why social codes would call for the complete covering of women from head-to-toe. It seems pretty inhumane, aside from the practicality of shielding one’s head from the sun beating down.

But the prestige is not distributed equally among the genders. Blogging’s Glass Ceiling covers critiques at the annual Blogher conference that women bloggers do not get as much media or corporate attention as their male counterparts. Despite the equalising power of Google, who pays money from ads placed on sites according to traffic and content, female bloggers claim to get less recognition from other sources.

A study conducted by BlogHer and Compass Partners last year found that 36 million women participate in the blogosphere each week, and 15 million of them have their own blogs. (BlogHer, which was founded by Lisa Stone, Elisa Camahort Page and Jory Des Jardins, has itself grown into a mini empire that includes a Web site that helps publicize women’s blogs, and an advertising network to help women generate revenue for the site.)

Yet, when Techcult, a technology Web site, recently listed its top 100 Web celebrities, only 11 of them were women. Last year, Forbes.com ran a similar list, naming 3 women on its list of 25.

Other prominent female bloggers who did not attend the BlogHer conference agreed that there are unique challenges that women in the blogosphere face. “Women get dismissed in ways that men don’t,” said Megan McArdle, an associate editor at The Atlantic Monthly who writes a blog about economic issues. She added that women are taught not to be aggressive and analytical in the way that the political blogosphere demands, and are more likely to receive blog comments on how they look, rather than what they say.

Beyond the tricky, technical dimensions of statistical reportage, the study finds that women make career choices bearing the consistent load of household work. Within the group of respondents who withdrew from employment, excessive household workload was cited as the dominant reason. The amount and nature of household work is related to marital status. Thus, 43 per cent of the single women in the city are working compared to 19 per cent of married women who are reported as workers.

Hm, no wonder so many women fight to stay single!! The independence associated with earning one’s own living is not easy to trade in for housework.

Working women rely on support from their spouses and other family members. Those from middle class and richer households hire nannies, full time maids or part time domestic help. Thus, the decision to work is primarily related to the informal arrangements available to assist female domestic workload associated with marriage and family. Fears regarding safety and mobility were the second most prominent problem associated with joining the workforce. Family structures, public space and the job market penalize women for prioritizing caring for their families while making public and market spaces more easily available to men.

I think it’s safe to say that middle class and wealthy households would simply cease to function without hired help. These informal workers form the crux of the Indian economy.

In a policy climate where much discussion has been focused on affirmative action and demand oriented policies such as reservations, the study ascribes significance to supply-side solutions. Unless women feel safe and confident about managing household tasks and care for their children and the elderly, increased female work participation would create greater stress for working women.

They recommend investment in infrastructure like safe public transport, the institutionalisation of childcare and elderly care, and workplace reform to allow for more flexible arrangements.

‘Care work’ needs to be recognised as an active ingredient in national economic growth. It is not necessary for all women to find paid jobs. Urban women may seek work or choose not to join the workforce. However, the Delhi survey affirms that women are making such choices within a predetermined patriarchal context, where women are cast as the sole providers of household care and their responsibilities as daughters, housewives, mothers and sisters remain invisible and unvalued. While women’s choice not to work is rendered acceptable, can women choose not to care?

]]> http://beckyblab.com/can-women-choose-not-to-care/231/feed/ 0 http://beckyblab.com/hijras-targeted-for-govt-de-addiction-schemes/206/ http://beckyblab.com/hijras-targeted-for-govt-de-addiction-schemes/206/#comments Mon, 24 Mar 2008 14:38:21 +0000 bexband http://beckyblab.com/hijras-targeted-for-govt-de-addiction-schemes/206/

For the first time, eunuchs are being factored into Centre’s policy-making, with Union social justice and empowerment ministry (MSJ) naming them as a target group in its schemes for de-addiction from alcoholism and substance abuse.

It is saddening that eunuchs/hijras are only just now being included national policy, especially one such as de-addiction–indicating the difficult social position that they occupy which leads them to addiction in the first place. While it is good to see a policy now on the tables to give these people the help they deserve, much much more needs to be done to improve the hijras social status.

Check out this related post on Human Rights today on transgender rights in India. See also this great piece by my co-blogger on Ultra Violet, Anindita Sengupta:

The ‘eunuch’ or transgender community is at such an extreme end of the rights spectrum in India, that they’re practically off it. In a society that recognizes only two genders, they are often rendered invisible, ridiculous, horrific or disgusting. They are laughed at, shunned, rejected by their families, denied jobs, ration cards and passports, and exploited by others in the professions they are allowed into (beggary and sex work) and by the police.

Dear Ms. Bodymind,

This letter of appreciation is long overdue. We have been put through the wringer, and emerged triumphant. Mazel tov!

We sure have been confused with our new surroundings in India. We can’t blame ourselves, because we grew up in a very different place than this one where we are now. We can’t blame the invisible germs either, because actually they’re not fully at fault for all our illnesses. We blame blame itself, and stress.

But we have seen time and again your wonderful abilities to adapt. We are evolving as we write. And fighting the good fight against all potential threats.

We are pretty amused by this advertisement we’ve just seen: “She who possesses an enlightened digestive system will be blessed with stronger immunity and happiness.” It pretty much speaks directly to us, since we’ve been plagued with digestive problems time and again, but blessed to be discovering the art of maintaining health. This includes trying out alternative methods of treatment. We’ve really come to see that the easiest answer to sickness is not always popping a pill made by the mighty Big Pharma. Actually, cultivating wellness is the proper response, and we’ve done that by taking really good care of ourselves, treating ourselves like the enlightened goddess we are. We’ve learned to slow down, to listen to our gut. We trust our intuition.

We’ve also had to be adventurous with foods which we had practically sworn off–like butter–or never even heard of before. In India and ayurveda, ghee (clarified butter) is basically food from the gods and you’ve had to shed our cultural baggage and imagine the thought that perhaps it can help us. It’s taken us a while to stop resisting all the different foods here, because of our fear of the new, and to embrace new ways of cooking, eating, thinking and being. Now we eat amla (Indian gooseberry) instead of relying on Vitamin C pills, and eat more yogurt instead of avoiding dairy. Good bacteria are our friends now!

Here, everyone thinks we’re “weak” because we’re so skinny, especially compared to all those rotund housewives. We were thin to begin with, but we have maybe lost some weight from all the illnesses. Yet, we know that inside we’re very strong. And we know that, in the west at least, skinny can be good

Being particularly attuned to gender dynamics, we have really struggled being independent here in this country where women are usually not given such a chance. It has been especially difficult for us to feel comfortable being in public on our own, what with all the stares. Even when we cover up, and wear more traditional clothing which bares little. In the west, us women are always urged by the latest fashions to accentuate our best features, though here we are supposed to hide them. Sometimes we are afraid of all the cultural expectations of being a (married) woman here, but we have certainly become less judgmental and more respectful and humble.

After all, we do not have all the answers, yet. But we’re on our way, and thanks again for for the journey. For now, let’s just continue doing our best at being healthy and happy, learning and loving.
Best wishes,

Us

The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) reports that in 2006 (forget the time lag!), on an average at least 18 women in the country were victimised–and the numbers are increasing. That is, those numbers which are actually reported to the police by victims, and that the police actually count as numbers. So in 2008, we should at least have passed 30, no?

Kiran Bedi, former outspoken police chief (see here for a post on her), blames the rise on the widespread loss of ethics and values.

“We are losing our values. When a man goes and molests a woman, he forgets that he has a sister and mother back home,” she said releasing the ASSOCHAM’s study ‘Women Top in Education Why Miss Top Position’.

“The problem starts from the family and education system. May be we are not instilling proper values in our children,” she said.

I find it interesting that she plays on the sense of Indian values, deeply rooted to the coherence of the family unit. Many conservatives would advocate traditional roles for women. Nevertheless, women, as mothers and sisters (but not wives?!) need to be respected. But is it that values are being lost, or that they were never there in the first place? Where in the structures of family and education is respect towards women missing? Or perhaps the proper question is: where is it not missing?! On another note, perhaps she should instead be asking, “Maybe we are not adequately discussing sex with our children”!
Bedi also notes the problems of data collection and believing in statistics.

“Police says that the crime statistics are dropping but we know that it is not true. Hiding the data will not improve situation but revealing it will. This way we will be able to know where we lag behind,” said Bedi.

Expressing unhappiness over the non-registration of cases by the police, she said many cases were not being registered as the police wanted to show less number of cases.

“Non-registration of cases leads to more such offences. Why hide behind the fair statistics. The police department should come out with the true numbers. Then only we will be able to focus on the problems and lack of proper infrastructure,” she added.

The difficulties that women face are not for the lack of laws, however. For example, the anti-dowry law 498A seeks to protect women from harassment by their in-laws, yet the deterrent effect of the law does not seem to have had any positive influence.

“We already have too many good policies but the problem is that they are not being implemented as they should.”