Gender inequality is one of the most spoken-about issues in contemporary times, we have seen how ancient civilizations in India practiced gender equality, giving women legal, educational, and social rights. The evidence lies in all sorts of Indian scriptures and ancient Indian art. After that, we can see the gradual decline in gender equality from the Vedic periods. In this article, we will try to trace the root causes of how gender disparities infiltrated religion and culture in the Indian Subcontinent.
One of the most popular causes that historians have put out for gender inequality is the Laws of Manu. According to the book along with other Hindu law books, Dharmashastras, and Arthshaastra, women as a whole were considered to be low-caste individuals. So even if women belonged to upper caste families they were categorized as lower caste. Since low castes (Shudras) were already not allowed to study and practice the Vedas, women from all backgrounds were actively excluded and stopped from getting educated at that time.
Around 500 BC women were gradually deprived of the rights and privileges they had enjoyed during the Vedic age. They could no longer undergo the Upanayan sanskara, hence made ineligible to receive education. Later the law codes of Dharmashastra and Manusmriti put stringent restrictions on women, by reducing the age of marriage to 8 or 9 years, thus depriving them of the opportunity to receive education. Manusmriti (200 A.D): “By a girl, by a young woman, or even an aged one, nothing must be done independently”. Such texts were prominent and taken and adopted into society.
If we look at the timeline, we can observe that Central Asian Pastoralists called the Steppes migrated to India, which is commonly referred to as the Aryan Migration as well. They first settled in the Sindh and Punjab regions of the Indian subcontinent. Most civilizations of the world were agrarian including the Indus Valley civilization.
The Steppes came to India when climate change was rampant causing the Indus River to change its directions and cause droughts and floods in unprecedented areas.there would also be multiple tectonic shifts causing earthquakes . This caused the Harappan civilization to dwindle and made them weak enough to be infiltrated by other communities. The Steppes lived with the locals and established their own cultures and customs after settling in the Punjab region. This era also marks the start of the Vedic period.
From an economic point of view, the Northern part of India went through a big change from an agrarian urban-based structure to being pastoralist. Pre-Vedic Harappan civilization was essentially urban. But in the Rigvedic economy, urban centers (nagara) are almost absent. Rather Indra, the principal God and the Hero has been named Purandara, meaning one who destroys the puras or cities of the dasas and dasyus, perhaps representing the indigenous people. As a band of nomadic people, the Rigvedic Aryans were primarily pastoralists.
The Rigveda emphasizes cattle as the chief property. Even though farming remained one of the most important economic activities economically, herding and pastoralism gained equal importance. Therefore, whatever men and women did was always segregated by gender but no work was looked down upon.
The fluctuation in demand in agriculture meant that women doing the work related to farming would be less important if pastoralism was the norm. In the later times, as the Steppes moved towards the south of Bihar and other lands, and discovered alluvial soil which is why agriculture became just as important. This worked hand in hand with the Steppe’s patriarchal culture that made the status of women fall.
Another cause would be the implementation of the purdah system in India. The practice of keeping women in seclusion and asking them to veil their faces in the presence of outsiders became widespread among upper-class women. Many historians believe that the purdah system came into the Indian subcontinent with the Mughals in the medieval period. The practice of secluding women from the vulgar gaze was a common custom among upper-class Hindus and was also in vogue in ancient Iran, Greece, etc.
The Arabs and the Turks adopted this custom and brought it to India with them. Due to their example, it became widespread in India, particularly in north India. It also eventually became a status symbol which is why women who were not upper castes also tried copying it. During the time of the Mughals and the Sultanate, Hindu rituals were still practiced.
The caste system co-existed with customs brought out by the Mughals and Delhi Sultanate. During this time, women also wouldn’t be allowed to go to temples and mosques, where mostly elementary education would take place. Due to such social practices, women were now being systemically excluded from participation.
Gender inequality in the Indian subcontinent has historical roots in factors like the Laws of Manu, Aryan migration, and a shift to fluctuating pastoral-agrarian economies. Women had been marginalized due to lower caste status, strict rules on education and marriage, and the introduction of the purdah system. Cultural, economic, and religious influences converged to systematically diminish gender equality, departing from the more equal Vedic period. Recognizing these historical factors is essential for addressing gender disparities in today’s context.
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