Women's Status and Role in Society

The United Nations has defined the status of women in the context of their access to knowledge, economic resources, and political power, as well as their personal autonomy in the process of decision making. When Nepalese women's status is analyzed in this light, the picture is generally bleak. In the early 1990s, Nepal was a rigidly patriarchical society. In virtually every aspect of life, women were generally subordinate to men.

Women's relative status, however, varied from one ethnic group to another. The status of women in Tibeto-Nepalese communities generally, was relatively better than that of Pahari and Newari women. Women from the low caste groups also enjoyed relatively more autonomy and freedom than Pahari and Newari women.

The senior female member played a commanding role within the family by controlling resources, making crucial planting and harvesting decisions, and determining the expenses and budget allocations. Yet women's lives remained centered on their traditional roles--taking care of most household chores, fetching water and animal fodder, and doing farm work. Their standing in society was mostly contingent on their husbands' and parents' social and economic positions. They had limited access to markets, productive services, education, health care, and local government. Malnutrition and poverty hit women hardest. Female children usually were given less food than male children, especially when the family experienced food shortages. Women usually worked harder and longer than men. By contrast, women from high-class families had maids to take care of most household chores and other menial work and thus worked far less than men or women in lower socioeconomic groups.

The economic contribution of women was substantial, but largely unnoticed because their traditional role was taken for granted. When employed, their wages normally were 25 percent less than those paid to men. In most rural areas, their employment outside the household generally was limited to planting, weeding, and harvesting. In urban areas, they were employed in domestic and traditional jobs, as well as in the government sector, mostly in low-level positions.

One tangible measure of women's status was their educational attainment. Although the constitution offers women equal educational opportunities, many social, economic, and cultural factors contributed to lower enrollment and higher dropout rates for girls. Illiteracy imposed the greatest hindrance to enhancing equal opportunity and status for women. They were caught in a vicious circle imposed by the patriarchical society. Their lower status hindered their education, and the lack of education, in turn, constricted their status and position. Although the female literacy rate has improved noticeably over the years, the level in the early 1990s fell far short of the male level.

The level of educational attainment among female children of wealthy and educated families was much higher than that among female children of poor families. This class disparity in educational attainment was also true for boys. In Nepal, as in many societies, education was heavily class-biased.

In the early 1990s, a direct correlation existed between the level of education and status. Educated women had access to relatively high-status positions in the government and private service sectors, and they had a much higher status than uneducated women. This general rule was more applicable at the societal level than at the household level. Within the family, an educated woman did not necessarily hold a higher status than her uneducated counterpart. Also within the family, a woman's status, especially a daughter-in-law's status, was more closely tied to her husband's authority and to her parental family's wealth and status than anything else.

WORKSHEET OF THE WEEK

1. What are the following signs, symbols and abbreviations called as used in the dictionary and what do they signify?

~, fml., □, pp, v, º, pt, e.g.

2. Arrange in Alphabetical Order

i) Contact, Content, Context, Continue, Continent, Contest, Contrast, Contend

ii)  Disunite, Disturb, Disunity, Disuse, District, Disbelief, Disadvantage, Disqualify

3. Complete the following sentences by writing an appropriate letter in each space.         

i) ‘Choice’ comes before ‘Choose’ because ………..comes before………… in the alphabet.

ii) ‘Difference’ comes before ‘Different’ because………comes before……in the alphabet.

iii) ‘Examination’ comes before ‘Examine’ because………..comes before……in the alphabet.

iv) ‘Rationale’ comes before ‘Rationalize’ because………. comes before ……….in the alphabet.

4. In which quarter of the dictionary you will find the following words.

i) dwell                 ii) orphan              iii) socket              iv) hive

v) irony                vi) negotiation      vii) realm              viii) yacht

5. Arrange the following words in to correct sentences:

i) asked/ where/ she/ me/ from/ was/ I

ii) many/ have/ we/ studying/ been/ English/ for/ years

6. Write suitable synonym for the underlined words :( enthusiastic, strong, sharp, fierce, alert, acute, anxious)

i) His mother very intelligent, with very keen powers of observation.

ii) They had taken a keen  interest in problems of Southern Africa.

iii) They will be keen to see the results of the exams.

iv) His keen, shrewd eyes followed the movements of the tiger through the jungle.

v) He was a keen sportsman.

vi) She had a keen sense of humour.

vii) There was keen competition in the race for first place.

7. Write a dialogue between two friends on visiting a historical place.

8. Write a paragraph comparing yourself to your friend.

LOOK AT A TEACUP- XI

LOOK AT A TEACUP

Look at a Teacup, written by Patricia Hampl, is a complicated and quite motivating essay which shows the distinction between the traditional norms, notions and dogmas with the new ideology of modern world. There is generation gap between the old and new.

The writer is the speaker of the essay who says that her mother had bought a teacup in 1939. The highly decorated but plain looking cup is the major concern of the essay. Numerous ideas are connected and concerned with the tea cup, so it is the memento of entire events of the past. The speaker gives the specific emphasis to the teacup and its elation to art and architecture of the Mid-Twentieth century. The writer further associates the tea cups with the historic events, esp. in the time of Hitler and during the Second World War.  Then, the speaker praises the tea cup, its charm and pictures of flowers that are painted in the teacup. The every discussion between the speaker and her mother are concerned around the teacup, it is the focal point of their discussion.  As the writer’s mother was from Czechoslovakia, she bought the teacup in 1939, the same year she got married and the Second World War also began. The teacup reminds the mother as her own native country and the history of her native land. The outer and inner descriptions of teacup are highly praised by the writer. The teacup is considered as the golden one with its pale water-green colour. There is also a band of gold on the inner circle of the saucer (plate), it is shiny and there are thin bands of gold around the edges of the saucer and cup on the borders of the cup and its saucer light sides of gold are outlines. The combination of colour and flower inside and outside the teacup are very attractive. The flowers inside the teacup are seemed as if it is live and animated. 

The essay gives the minute details about the tragedy caused by the war. When she describes the destructive war, she becomes sad and upset. They both have the contrasting opinion and ideas about the world and war. Apart from that they have also different opinion about the family and work. The daughter gives emphasis on work whereas the mother insists that the family is the most important thing in the world.

            The major subject they discuss in the essay is the issue of marriage. The mother has the conventional opinion about the marriage but the speaker disagrees from her opinion. The mother often worries about the marriage of her daughter but the daughter shows reluctance about the marriage and stand firmly in the statement. The speaker might have detested the marriage as she had seen the forceful love attempts between her father and mother. The speaker once found her father pulled her mother’s back and hugged her and kissed her forcefully in the kitchen. The event detests her from the marriage. She wants the mutual understanding in marriage, but such type of unusual, self-centered and inappropriate steps form strong hate on the tradition form of marriage.

When the mother got married, the condition of the entire Europe was devastating. Firing, bombing and mass killing made her fearful that she would die. She escaped from her home country as it was destroyed by the war; likewise the factory of teacup was also destroyed. Everything destroyed by the Second World War but the tiny teacup she bought in the year of her marriage was remained unbroken. The sky becomes cloudy from smoke of fire of bombs. So the teacup is the unchared (not burned) finger from the mid-century bonfire.  

The essay also shows the relation between the men and women. The women during the Second World War were maltreated and highly dominated. The writer said that the roses were fallen from the sky to destroy the life of women. Roses were thrown as bomb to women; it means the condition and plight of women were very low and miserable. The essay here shows the contradiction between the old traditions as represented by mother and the modern value and thinking as represented by the speaker (daughter). The opinion and beliefs on women have been drastically (radically, severely) changed nowadays and they are treated as equal to men in most part of the world.     

This essay even claims that the writing can be the way of finding various details and perspective of people, discovering implication in apparently minor events, and of making associations between seemingly disparate (unequal) elements. The mother has escaped the magnitude of history by retreating (withdrawing, moving back) into pragmatism (practicality, common sense, way of thinking result and way of evaluating theories). But Hampl has the positive ideas to escape history by fighting it. She slightly refuses to carry on old traditions like marrying and bearing children. There is the contrast between the old tradition and the new generation.

THE LOVING MOTHER- XI

‘The Loving Mother’ is a story that reveals the everlasting love of a mother to her baby even after her death. It particularly gives central focus round the mysterious arrival of a woman at a pharmacist’s usually at midnight. Shoji Sakota, the protagonist of this story undergoes an unseen fear when he received the frequent visit in the same time almost every night. Sakota was a Japanese pharmacist who lived a lonely life since his wife had died many years before. One stormy winter night, when he was preparing the annual business report, someone knocked at the door. At first he didn’t pay much attention towards the knock thinking that whoever came there would see the drugstore closed and return back. Second time also he heard the knock at the door and thought that the wind was making the sound. The frequency of knock grew that compelled him to think whether he might have some urgent house call. He looked outside from the window quietly and saw there a woman standing and speaking in a trembling voice. He suspected her and thought whether it might be her trick to rob him. But her continuous pleads made him open the door. The woman looked not like a normal woman. She was wearing a torn out gown and her hair was not arranged. She asked Sakota for an ame on a stick stick. Sakota was surprised when he knew about her request because he thought that she would ask for the medicine.

The woman came to the shop in the following nights regularly with same request at the same time. With a view to have detail study about a woman, he called his friend who was a photographer by profession. They managed to take photos of that woman secretly. But, when the film was developed, there was no sign of the woman except the things in the drugstore. The mystery remained so intense that ultimately forced them to follow her up to her bedroom. They followed on her way back to her home and they became able to find the same woman lying beside her child who was enjoying the ame on a stick, which she brought from Shoji Sakota. When Mr. Sakota saw her sleeping instantly, he thought it was merely a kind of pretension. The moment he touched her with his fingers he became sure that she had been dead for many days.

In this story, the spirit of a loving mother visited Mr. Sakota’s pharmacy in order to buy ame on a stick mostly preferred by her child. Though the mother is dead, her spirit shows an infinite love to her child who is reported to have been sick for many days. Her death was quite unknown to others. Moreover, there was nobody to look after her.

FEAR-XI

Armando Gonzalez was a very hard-working man. After he and his wife worked for twenty years, they were able to save 50,000 pesos in a large bank of Mexico City. With a dream of buying a new house Armando went to the bank to withdraw the money as per the suggestion of the agent who wanted the payment in cash. The cashier, in the bank counted the money in a loud voice. Armando thought that everyone knows how much money he had.

 The people in the bank began to look at Armando because he had worn his hat on backward. But he thought that they were looking at him for his money. A fat man stared at him on account of the way he had worn the hat. When Armando came to the street to wait for the bus, he saw the fat man next to him. He suspected that the fat man was going to rob him, therefore his body began to shake and his heart started beating faster. Armando was waiting for the bus. When the fat man looked at his pocket, Armando thought that he was checking his pistol. In this way the situation made him quite nervous.

 When the bus came, Armando got on the bus and sat on the seat behind the driver but he found the same man sitting behind him. Armando’s whole dream of buying the new house was in his pocket. He was not happy because he thought that someone would easily make his dream end. Moreover, he saw three boys talking to the fat man that made him truly skeptic, whether they were the helpers of the fat man. Armando got up the bus at the next station from the front door but after sometime the boys also got off from the back door. Armando was sure that they were going to rob him. So, he cried begging help from the bystanders. Then he ran as fast as he could. The boys simply thought that he might have undergone some serious problem so they ran after him for his help. Armando fell in the ground many times. Eventually, the boys meet him, who was weeping like a child and requested not to rob him. He said that he was honest and he had earned that money in fair way through hard work. However when he knew that they were not robbers, he felt ashamed. He returned to the bus stop with the boys feeling easy and happy.

The House Call-XI

 “The House Call” is a story from Germany that basically concentrates upon the mysterious arrival of the spirit of a young girl to make a call to the doctor for the treatment of her mother who was suffering from pneumonia for several days. Dr. Brawn, the protagonist of this story, is identified as the famous surgeon in his locality. The day after the Christmas of 1903, he was sitting alone in his dining room in about 9:30 p.m. he was quite tired even unable to take his evening meal due to hard surgery, which he performed on his particular day. He was preparing report about his surgical works and putting his head down the table and dozing. He suddenly woke up when he heard the doorbell. After sometime, he came to know that he had a patient to see. In fact it was a young girl who had come to call the doctor for her mother. Despite his exertion, Braun decided to follow her up to her home and see her mother. The doctor tried to catch her up on the way so that he could have asked many questions related to her mother and about herself. The doctor was old enough to walk on the speed as the girl was making a rush towards her home. Anyway the doctor managed to follow her till he reached at her old apartment where a woman seemed to be lying on the bed.

 The doctor checked her up and found that she was suffering from pneumonia. He provided her some medicine that comforted the woman because she was the same woman who once worked in the same hospital as the maintenance staff. The doctor knew that Elda had gone to stay at her brother’s house in the village. The woman further added that she came back just three months ago after her only child Adelheid died. Dr. Braun was very surprised because the very child had been to the doctor to make a call. The woman further showed some of her belongings to revive her memory in her old and least furnished apartment. The ragged shawl and tattered shoes shown to doctor by her mother made him more confused and serious because he had seen the girl in the same dress. When he looked at Elda he found her asleep and returned with his black bag on his hand.

Speaking of Children- XI

1. Write the writer’s attitude to plural children. (2056)

2. Why is Barbara Holland in favour of a single child? (2058)

3. What does Barbara Holland say about having many children? (2060)

4. How does Barbara Holland express her feeling about having many children? (2062)

5. What are the disadvantage having plural children? (2061)

6. How does the author try to convince that it is better have one child rather than having many children? (2066)

‘Speaking of Children’ is an essay written by Barbara Holland which shows the numerous problems of those parents who have got more than one child. One child is inevitable for all parents but more than one is a headache in various way and the essayist tires to address such kind of problems in this essay. The precious moment, happiness and the family bliss are somewhere lost when the parents have more than one child.

Having plural children are not only problematic to the parents  only but for the children themselves because they are deprived from the fundamental and natural right and some are even deprived from the balance diet. For the sole desires, interest and happiness as well as privacy and peacefulness, many parents are facing critical problems.  The parents should have to fulfill the each and every demands of the children and these all are almost impossible if they have the plural children. Apart from that, having more than one child creates social, economic problems. The parents can manage good environment in the house if they have one child. You can brainwash the mind of the children. It may not create problem for you. But plural children nourish a counter-culture trend in the family.

According to the essayist’s opinion, it’s very essential to a healthy marriage that the wife should manage some quiet private time to chat with the husband, preferably when he gets home from work. They need peace and privacy just for half an hour. But in such a private and peaceful moment also your children are disturbing you. Sometimes they quarrel, sometimes they break off something and sometimes they interrupt the peaceful conversation between the couple.

OUTLINE OF ESSAY

Ø Problems of having more than a child in a family. One child is outnumbered and easy to manage.

Ø Plural children weaken the pleasure and peace in the family. The family life can be disturbed by the plural children and the situation can be very worst.

Ø Mutual understanding, co-operation, love and harmony are almost impossible.

Ø The parents become tired and they can unable to control the family and destructive situation comes in final. The children make the house untidy and dirty, break things and produce unwanted noise.

Ø The consequences of having plural children cause the adverse impact in the family. The family status decrease day by day regarding social, economic and cultural factors.

Ø One child is appendage (addition, attachment) in a family. But more than one is the way of life or the adverse way of life.

Ø The peace and privacy in family is possible when the parents have one child, likewise the joy and jovial family life is there. The parents do not get an hour to talk separately. 

Ø One child leads the parents to live in easy way but more than one makes them difficult to live with all their problems and difficulties.

Ø One child is easy for upbringing, educating and feeding. The child grows up in the perfect environment and gets all the facilities or can live by his all child-right.

Ø The writer also addresses the child-spacing; at least two children are manageable in the family. But her serious concern is for a single child. The writer faces the serious problems in the family because of the plural children.

Ø The family expenditure rises highly if the parents have more than one child and the parents should face the economic crisis.

My Heart Leaps up When I Behold- XI

1. Explain the paradox “The Child is the Father of the Man.” (2060)

2. What is the central idea of the poem “My Heart Leaps up When I Behold”? (2066)

3. Interpret the poem “My Heart Leaps up When I Behold”. (2068)

4. Why does the poet’s heart leap up when he sees a rainbow in the sky? (2069)

The Poem ‘My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold’ is written by William Wordsworth. He is one of the poets who started romanticism in English literature. He expressed his love towards nature in his literary works. According to him “Poetry is spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes it origin from emotions recollected in tranquility.” In this poem he recollects an experience of his childhood days and gives his emotions and feelings a meaning.

When the poet sees the rainbow in the sky, his heart becomes extremely happy. The situation was same when he was a child. He used to become happy when he saw rainbow in the sky in his child hood. The condition is still same in the present. Now the poet is an adult and his heart still becomes happy when he sees rainbow. He wants his heart to be happy in future also in the same way when he will see the rainbow. And he wishes to die if the happiness in his heart for the rainbow doesn’t remain same when he will become old in future. He thinks that the child is father of the man because a child has all the characteristics that grow along with him and become the characteristics of the man. In the same way a growing man develops the characteristics he showed as a child. So, the poet wishes to tie each of his coming days with the worship and love of nature as childhood.

My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold- XI

The poet says that his heart leaps up when he sees a rainbow in the sky. It was the beginning of his life, and now he’s well grown up. He knows that he will grow old and finally die, too. As the child (past) is father (future) of the man (present), the poet wishes his days to be bound to each period (past, present and future) by natural holiness, that is, natural blessing of divinely power.

The distinction of Wordsworth lies in the fact that to him Nature was not mere physical loneliness, but a revelation of God. He worshiped nature. He saw in all natural objects the indwelling spirit of Supreme Being. To him he varied forms and phenomena were nothing but manifestation of the divine.  He realized that to love nature is to Man who is part and parcel of the nature. Nature is the great teacher and healer. In the first two line of the poem, the poet feels his heart leaps up at the sight of a rainbow in the sky. The nature has produced a good effect on the poetic mind of Wordsworth. The poet has been turned to the skepticism of life because of the spectrum of the rainbow.

In the third, fourth and fifth lines, he has found natural continuation of life – child, man and old man. In the fifth line, there is speculation (guess) of the break in the continuation. Death is inevitable to end the beautiful period of life.

The seventh line is basically the main theme of the poem. The widely accepted proverb, “The Child is the Father of Man” has to tell us a lot. It says that the present is the outcome of the past. So naturally the future will be the outcome of the past. The last two lines conclude the argument. The poet, therefore, concludes wishing that his days should be bound to each period of life by natural way with divinely pleasure.

The Poem ‘My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold’ is written by William Wordsworth. He is one of the poets who started romanticism in English literature. He expressed his love towards nature in his literary works. According to him “Poetry is spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes it origin from emotions recollected in tranquility.” In this poem he recollects an experience of his childhood days and gives his emotions and feelings a meaning.

When the poet sees the rainbow in the sky, his heart becomes extremely happy. The situation was same when he was a child. He used to become happy when he saw rainbow in the sky in his child hood. The condition is still same in the present. Now the poet is an adult and his heart still becomes happy when he sees rainbow. He wants his heart to be happy in future also in the same way when he will see the rainbow. And he wishes to die if the happiness in his heart for the rainbow doesn’t remain same when he will become old in future. He thinks that the child is father of the man because a child has all the characteristics that grow along with him and become the characteristics of the man. In the same way a growing man develops the characteristics he showed as a child. So, the poet wishes to tie each of his coming days with the worship and love of nature as childhood.