HALF A BILLION RISING
The Emergence of the Indian Woman
Anirudha Dutta
Rupa
247 pages; Rs 395
From Munger to Dimapur and Bhavnagar to Allahabad, the author chronicles compelling stories that put a human face on social, economic and demographic indices, yielding interesting insights. For instance, when Mr Dutta asked girls across the country what motivated them to forge better futures for themselves, the majority of them said it was their mothers. Whether as faithful champions of their daughter's rights or as victims of oppression from whom their daughters aspired to be different, Half a Billion Rising demonstrates how maternal figures play an important role in shaping their daughters' lives, a fact not easily quantified by demographics.
Mr Dutta writes about the agents of social change - mothers, teachers, non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers - who have helped fan the ambitions of their daughters and pupils. For example, Chandra, born around 1940, was married off after she completed class 10 and nobody bothered to find out how she'd fared in the examinations. But she in turn, fought for the interests of her son and daughter and they have both, consequently, done well professionally. Girls like Ms Chandra's daughter, with flourishing careers, often become role models in themselves. In Mumbai, Mr Dutta meets Tanvi, a young Bihari doctor who is married to an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology. She has become a role model because when she was married, her parents had to pay no dowry. Amongst her circle of relatives and friends in Bihar, the commonly held belief is that she secured a good "catch" without dowry because she herself was highly educated.
With better and more widespread education, urbanisation, smaller family sizes and the breakdown of the joint family (and, consequently, less interference from conservative family members), more women are entering the workforce and quietly transforming their lives. Mr Dutta also writes about other, less obvious change drivers, like the story of Vidya Hande, who was able to seek better job opportunities in Hyderabad, merely 300 km away from her home in Nanded, mainly because improved road infrastructure made it convenient and safe for her to travel alone.
The book is engaging, leaving the reader with a sense of hope that half a billion Indians are actually on the rise. Mr Dutta prophesies the far-reaching ramifications of this social transformation - newly-empowered women will drive the growth of online portals and offline sales of convenience products like pre-cut vegetables. Some Indian men will become stay-at-home fathers and more of them will become more handy around the house. Girls will marry late, have fewer children and more freedom. In the interim, he writes, while in some (probably more affluent) households, wives and mothers teach their husbands and sons to change nappies and cook, other less fortunate women will just have to wait for this amidst the heightened fear of rape and gender violence.
The reader cannot help but wonder if a few case studies and conversations are enough to justify the generalisations. Mr Dutta occasionally gives the impression of seeing only what he wants to see, and ignoring the rest. He writes, for instance, of meeting young village girls in Seohar, Madhya Pradesh, attributing to them a newfound sense of confidence and freedom, based simply on the fact that they were wearing jeans. The fact that Madhya Pradesh still has some of the highest rates of child marriage, and women's literacy rates that are way below the national average, are aspects he chooses not to see.
Towards the end of the book, Mr Dutta makes another noteworthy generalisation, this time about the half billion he has not written about in the rest of the book. He avers that while the women he has met have all been ambitious and driven, the few boys he has spoken to, have not. He writes, "This is a recurring pattern - the boys watch more TV, buy more expensive things... spend more time playing outdoors with friends and study less. Girls are the exact reverse."
Mr Dutta concludes rather interestingly with a follow-up on the lives of most of the women he interviewed during the fieldwork for this book. They all seem to be living happily ever after, that too on their own terms. The reader is left with an almost fairytale-like euphoria, an ending that one would love to believe in. A niggling, nagging doubt remains, as it always does with observations that rely too heavily on anecdotal evidence. If instead of bright-eyed girls egged on by their strong mothers to write their own destinies, Mr Dutta had chosen to meet rape victims, indigent widows, abused wives and child brides across the country, would he have still believed in the extent of the transformation? There are no easy answers, which is why while Half a Billion Rising is an interesting, optimistic read - what it prophesises is sadly not going to happen in a hurry.
The Emergence of the Indian Woman
Anirudha Dutta
Rupa
247 pages; Rs 395
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The last few decades of social transformation in India have seen a distinct gender divide amongst its beneficiaries. This has, however, changed in the last few years. Improved literacy levels, greater participation in the workforce and enhanced social mobility are slowly resulting in the rise of half of the Indian population that constitutes women. Half a Billion Rising, Anirudha Dutta's latest book, seeks to chronicle some of these transformations through the life stories of women from across the country. Cutting across regions, socio-economic strata and the invisible rural-urban divide, Mr Dutta has travelled the length and breadth of India for almost two years to record these stirring testimonies of change.
From Munger to Dimapur and Bhavnagar to Allahabad, the author chronicles compelling stories that put a human face on social, economic and demographic indices, yielding interesting insights. For instance, when Mr Dutta asked girls across the country what motivated them to forge better futures for themselves, the majority of them said it was their mothers. Whether as faithful champions of their daughter's rights or as victims of oppression from whom their daughters aspired to be different, Half a Billion Rising demonstrates how maternal figures play an important role in shaping their daughters' lives, a fact not easily quantified by demographics.
Mr Dutta writes about the agents of social change - mothers, teachers, non-governmental organisation (NGO) workers - who have helped fan the ambitions of their daughters and pupils. For example, Chandra, born around 1940, was married off after she completed class 10 and nobody bothered to find out how she'd fared in the examinations. But she in turn, fought for the interests of her son and daughter and they have both, consequently, done well professionally. Girls like Ms Chandra's daughter, with flourishing careers, often become role models in themselves. In Mumbai, Mr Dutta meets Tanvi, a young Bihari doctor who is married to an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology. She has become a role model because when she was married, her parents had to pay no dowry. Amongst her circle of relatives and friends in Bihar, the commonly held belief is that she secured a good "catch" without dowry because she herself was highly educated.
With better and more widespread education, urbanisation, smaller family sizes and the breakdown of the joint family (and, consequently, less interference from conservative family members), more women are entering the workforce and quietly transforming their lives. Mr Dutta also writes about other, less obvious change drivers, like the story of Vidya Hande, who was able to seek better job opportunities in Hyderabad, merely 300 km away from her home in Nanded, mainly because improved road infrastructure made it convenient and safe for her to travel alone.
The book is engaging, leaving the reader with a sense of hope that half a billion Indians are actually on the rise. Mr Dutta prophesies the far-reaching ramifications of this social transformation - newly-empowered women will drive the growth of online portals and offline sales of convenience products like pre-cut vegetables. Some Indian men will become stay-at-home fathers and more of them will become more handy around the house. Girls will marry late, have fewer children and more freedom. In the interim, he writes, while in some (probably more affluent) households, wives and mothers teach their husbands and sons to change nappies and cook, other less fortunate women will just have to wait for this amidst the heightened fear of rape and gender violence.
The reader cannot help but wonder if a few case studies and conversations are enough to justify the generalisations. Mr Dutta occasionally gives the impression of seeing only what he wants to see, and ignoring the rest. He writes, for instance, of meeting young village girls in Seohar, Madhya Pradesh, attributing to them a newfound sense of confidence and freedom, based simply on the fact that they were wearing jeans. The fact that Madhya Pradesh still has some of the highest rates of child marriage, and women's literacy rates that are way below the national average, are aspects he chooses not to see.
Towards the end of the book, Mr Dutta makes another noteworthy generalisation, this time about the half billion he has not written about in the rest of the book. He avers that while the women he has met have all been ambitious and driven, the few boys he has spoken to, have not. He writes, "This is a recurring pattern - the boys watch more TV, buy more expensive things... spend more time playing outdoors with friends and study less. Girls are the exact reverse."
Mr Dutta concludes rather interestingly with a follow-up on the lives of most of the women he interviewed during the fieldwork for this book. They all seem to be living happily ever after, that too on their own terms. The reader is left with an almost fairytale-like euphoria, an ending that one would love to believe in. A niggling, nagging doubt remains, as it always does with observations that rely too heavily on anecdotal evidence. If instead of bright-eyed girls egged on by their strong mothers to write their own destinies, Mr Dutta had chosen to meet rape victims, indigent widows, abused wives and child brides across the country, would he have still believed in the extent of the transformation? There are no easy answers, which is why while Half a Billion Rising is an interesting, optimistic read - what it prophesises is sadly not going to happen in a hurry.