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The emergence of Islamic women religious leaders who preach the
Koran to other women would have provided a forum for women to
discuss issues affecting them, but they actually entrench cultural
beliefs. Hamida Ramallah, 58, says the religious leaders who are
basically a group of elderly women well versed in the Koran, would
have been the vehicle for change, but they do not deal with real
issues; of careers for girls, arranged marriages, divorces or even
infidelity in Indian men. “Indian women are being infected by their
philandering husbands with HIV, but they are helpless, they do not
even have a forum to discuss it, yet the rest of the country has
understood the concept of condoms. That’s how far behind the
Indian woman is, “ she says.
Ramallah, considered poor by Indian standards because her family
(brothers, sisters and husband) are employed by other Indian shop
owners, says people like Mummar are complacent about their lot
because they have not grasped the concept of independent thinking.
“They think rights and freedoms are for western or indigenous
people but they are the ones losing out, letting their menfolk make
decisions for them, being treated like children.” A mother of four,
she regrets her lack of education and arranged marriage. She says
if her parents educated her, she would have been able to stand on
her feet and would have had a better future. It is because of her
regrets that amidst great adversity from her family and in-laws, she
encouraged her daughters to go to university and choose careers
over marriage.
“I don’t care, I want something better for them. My family does
not know it but I have arranged that upon each of them graduating,
they will go to my uncle in Canada to get them away from this
environment. “
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Zarina Geloo is a freelance journalist
based in Zambia.