Womens Education

Violence Against Women: Issue Of Honor Killing

Definition
Honor crimes are acts of violence, usually murder, mostly committed by male family members predominantly against female [relatives] , who are perceived to have brought dishonor upon the family. A woman can be targeted by individuals within her family for a variety of reasons, including: refusing to enter into an arranged marriage, being the victim of a sexual assault, seeking a divorce — even from an abusive husband, or (allegedly) committing adultery .The mere perception that a woman has behaved in a specific way to "dishonor" her family, is sufficient to trigger an attack.[1]

For example, honor killings can sometimes target those who choose boyfriends, lovers or spouses outside of their family's ethnic and/or religious community. Some women who adopt the customs (or religion) of an outside group, may also be more likely to be victims. Furthermore, in certain cultures a raped single woman will garner no bride price if she marries, and thus be considered "worthless" to the family. There is some evidence that homosexuality can also be grounds for honor killing by relatives. Several cases have been suspected but not confirmed. There is also a documented case of a gay Jordanian man who was shot (but not fatally) by his brother.

Many hold the practice to be self-contradictory, since an honor killing is sometimes justified by its participants or supporters, as an attempt to uphold the morals of a religion or a code, which at the same time generally forbids killing as morally wrong.

Honor Suicides

Honor Suicides occur when, in an effort to avoid legal penalties for killing, a woman is ordered or pressured into killing herself. This phenomenon appears to be a relatively recent development. A special envoy for the United Nations named Yakin Erturk, who was sent to Turkey to investigate suspicious suicides, was quoted by the New York Times as saying that some suicides appeared to be "honor killings disguised as a suicide or an accident."

History: Honour Killing

Based on proof

In the Valley of Mexico from 150 BCE - 1521 CE, the punishment for female adultery was death by stoning or strangulation, but only after the husband could prove the offence. According to interpretations of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, the Halakha (Jewish law) punishes certain sexual misconduct for both men and women, with capital punishment (also through stoning) as approved by a court.

Honor killings, generally considered premeditated, are typically held to be distinct from Crimes of passion, which occur throughout the world. Crimes of passion often have special status under the law. For instance, until 1975, the French Penal Code commuted the sentence of a husband who killed his wife after finding her in the act of committing adultery; this law passed into the legal frameworks of the many nations who based their modern legal codes on the Napoleonic Code. Thus, Crimes of passion are different from honor killings, in the sense that they are spontaneous acts that aren't planned. Furthermore, many honor killings (along with some Crimes of passion) are based on sheer suspicion as opposed to (what appears to be) factual proof, in relation to the idea that an individual has committed or been involved in an "undesirable act", in the mind of the perpetrator(s).

Honor killing in national legal codes

According to the report of the Special Rapporteur submitted to the 58th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (2002) concerning cultural practices in the family that reflect violence against women:

The Special Rapporteur indicated that there had been contradictory decisions with regard to the honor defence in Brazil, and that legislative provisions allowing for partial or complete defence in that context could be found in the penal codes of Argentina, Bangladesh, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iran, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Peru, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela and the Palestinian National Authority.

Some of these, including those of Turkey, have since been modified.

Countries where the law can be interpreted to allow men to kill female relatives in a premeditated effort as well as for crimes of passions, in flagrante delicto in the act of committing adultery, include:

Jordan: Part of article 340 of the Penal Code states that "he who discovers his wife or one of his female relatives committing adultery and kills, wounds, or injures one of them, is exempted from any penalty." This has twice been put forward for cancellation by the government, but was retained by the Lower House of the Parliament.

Countries that allow men to kill female relatives in flagrante delicto (but without premeditation) include:

Syria: Article 548 states that "He who catches his wife or one of his ascendants, descendants or sister committing adultery (flagrante delicto) or illegitimate sexual acts with another and he killed or injured one or both of them benefits from an exemption of penalty."

Countries that allow husbands to kill only their wives in flagrante delicto (based upon the Napoleonic code) include:

Morocco: Article 418 of the Penal Code states "Murder, injury and beating are excusable if they are committed by a husband on his wife as well as the accomplice at the moment in which he surprises them in the act of adultery."

Haiti: Article 269 of the Penal Code states that "in the case of adultery as provided for in Article 284, the murder by a husband of his wife and/or her partner, immediately upon discovering them in flagrante delicto in the conjugal abode, is to be pardoned."

Turkey: Recently Turkey changed its laws concerning honor killings. Persons found guilty of this crime are sentenced to life in prison.

In two Latin American countries: Similar laws were struck down over the past two decades: according to human rights lawyer Julie Mertus "in Brazil, until 1991 wife killings were considered to be noncriminal 'honor killings'; in just one year, nearly eight hundred husbands killed their wives. Similarly, in Colombia, until 1980, a husband legally could kill his wife for committing adultery."

Countries where honor killing is not legal but is frequently ignored in practice include:

Pakistan: Honor killings are known as Karo Kari (Urdu: ˜ÇÑæ˜ÇÑ? ). The practice is supposed to be prosecuted under ordinary murder, but in practice police and prosecutors often ignore it. Often a man must simply claim the killing was for his honor and he will go free. Nilofer Bakhtiar, advisor to Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, stated that in 2003, as many as 1, 261 women were murdered in honor killings. On December 08, 2004, under international and domestic pressure, Pakistan enacted a law that made honor killings punishable by a prison term of seven years, or by the death penalty in the most extreme cases. Women's rights organizations were, however, wary of this law as it stops short of outlawing the practice of allowing killers to buy their freedom by paying compensation to the victim's relatives. Women's rights groups claimed that in most cases it is the victim's immediate relatives who are the killers, so inherently the new law is just eyewash. It did not alter the provisions whereby the accused could negotiate pardon with the victim's family under the so-called Islamic provisions. In March 2005 the Pakistani government allied with Islamists to reject a bill which sought to strengthen the law against the practice of "honour killing". The parliament rejected the bill by a majority vote, declaring it to be un-Islamic.

Incident in Pakistan:- Ghazala was set on fire by her brother in Joharabad, Punjab province, on 6 January 1999. According to reports, she was murdered because her family suspected she was having an 'illicit' relationship with a neighbour. Her burned and naked body reportedly lay unattended on the street for two hours as nobody wanted to have anything to do with it. Ghazala was burned to death in the name of honor. Hundreds of other women and girls suffer a similar fate every year amid general public support and little or no action by the authorities. In fact, there is every sign that the number of honor killings is on the rise as the perception of what constitutes honor -- and what damages it -- widens, and as more murders take on the guise of honor killings on the correct assumption that they are rarely punished.

Indian Scenario

"Honor-killings", which are widespread in some of the economically advanced States, is an example. Perpetrated under the garb of saving the "honor" of the community, caste or family, such incidents occur often as the State governments are not keen to take action. The acts of violence include public lynching of couples, murder of either the man or the woman concerned, murder made to appear as suicide, public beatings, humiliation, blackening of the face, forcing couples or their families to eat excreta or drink urine, forced incarceration, social boycotts and the levying of fines.

The largest number of cases was found to have occurred in Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh - most of the incidents reported at the convention took place in these three States. One reason for the increased visibility of such crimes is the trend of more and more girls joining educational institutions, meeting others from different backgrounds and castes and establishing relationships beyond the confines of caste and community. Such individuals, both boys and girls, are being targeted so that none dares to breach the barriers of castes and communities. Significantly, in the majority of cases it is the economically and socially dominant castes that organize, instigate and abet such acts of retribution.

In Muzaffarnagar district in western Uttar Pradesh, at least 13 honor killings occurred within nine months in 2003. In 2002, while 10 such killings were reported, 35 couples were declared missing. It was estimates that Haryana and Punjab alone account for 10 per cent of all honor killings in the country. It is not surprising that no such category of crime exists in government records. In fact, there is refusal even to recognise this phenomenon. Data for such incidents are seldom available and they would mostly be classified under the category of general crimes. Moreover, most of such cases go unreported and, even when reported, often first information reports [2] are not filed and post-mortems are not conducted.

Caste panchayats have come to play an increasingly important role in Haryana and elsewhere, especially in situations where political patronage also exists. Central to the theme of honor and violence is the subordinate position of girls and women in all castes and communities. A woman's chastity is the "honor" of the community and she has no sovereign right over her body at any point of her life. The retribution is particularly swift and brutal if she crosses caste and class barriers to choose a lower-caste man as her partner.

Case Study

Location: Ludhiana

Date: 12 January 2005

Ø Four of the five accused, including a retired police Sub-Inspector, in the shocking honour killing of a couple case have confessed to hiring professional killers for the job. They stated that the main accused, Amrik Singh, who was in Australia, had hatched the entire conspiracy and knew the killers, the Sadar police claimed.

Ø The police has also initiated proceedings for deporting the main accused, Amrik Singh, father of one of the victims Amandeep Kaur, from Australia while hoping that he would return on his own and join investigations.

Ø The city police has claimed of taking the help of the Australian Embassy for the purpose even as a lot of loopholes exist in the police investigations conducted so far. The police has not been able to furnish any concrete evidence against the accused other than the complaint of the boy's family that the relatives of Amandeep Kaur had been threatening the couple for the inter-caste marriage.

Ø The four accused are the killed woman's maternal grandfather B. S. Randhawa (aged over 70), a retired Development Officer with the LIC, and three uncles (fufars) — one of them a former Punjab Police Sub-Inspector Kulwant Singh, serving Head Constable with Amritsar police Tejinder Singh and Sukhdev Singh.

Ø Addressing a press conference SHO Sadar Sandeep Sharma claimed that the four accused had confessed before the police that the couple — wood trader Harpreet Singh and his wife Amandeep Kaur, a BDS student — was 'punished' for marrying outside their castes.

Ø They said Amandeep Kaur had lowered their image in the community by marrying outside the caste. They stated to the police that it took them nearly a year to carry out murders as they had been waiting for an opportune time.

Ø The revelation that two cops, one retired and one serving, were involved in the case has again put the Punjab Police in bad light. Four years ago, the infamous Jassi murder case hatched on similar caste lines also had a serving cop in the list of the accused.

Ø The case now hinges on the return of Amrik Singh from Australia with the arrested persons putting all blame on him and the city police convinced with the statements of the accused as well as the complainants without securing any evidence.

Ø SHO Sandeep Sharma said Kulwant Singh and Sukhdev Singh were arrested from Amritsar while Tejinder Singh and B. S. Randhawa were arrested from the local railway station here when they were trying to flee the city.

Ø The SHO said that the accused had threatened the couple and the boy's relatives during their ring ceremony in Amritsar and later again at their marriage ceremony in Mariot Hotel in Ludhiana. The couple had got married in a city court about 11 months ago.

Ø After that Amandeep Kaur's relatives had invited them to their homes and claimed they had accepted the couple. They had then organized formal ring and marriage ceremonies.

Ø Interestingly, the relatives of the accused had been claiming that the police had raided their houses and picked them up and kept them in illegal custody.

Ø The prime accused, Amrik Singh, had pleaded innocence in the case and counter alleged that some relatives of Harpreet Singh were involved in the murder. When asked if the police would register a case against them too as Amrik Singh has also made a statement like the complainants, the SHO said the police would investigate the charges.

Ø Meanwhile, the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Mr G.C. Garg, remanded four accused of infamous couple murder case in one-day police remand.

Ø Amandeep Kaur and her husband. Hardeep Singh, was murdered mercilessly, allegedly by the family members of woman by hatching a conspiracy.

Ø The prosecution sought the police remand for further investigation. The judge remanded the accused.

Conclusion
From the above case it is very clear that not only Islamic society but, different societies in India are increasingly facing the problem of honor killing, to which the state authorities like panchayats and police are a party. Thus in such an ailing situation it is very important that such incidents are taken care of properly by the state and also the society. Such crimes can only be eradicated by:

1. Putting very serious penal sanctions.

2. Active police and panchayat body; as these crimes are mainly confined to rural or village areas.

3. Imparting education to the village people at large.

4. Judiciary must be positive on such cases.

Research from around the world point to the fact that violence against women can only be combated if there is a healthy partnership between women's groups and the state apparatus. While women's groups must protect their independence, on certain issues they have to work effectively with the criminal justice system, joining forces to protect the rights of women victims. Moreover, law is an important tool but it is one of the many strategies available to us. While fighting for justice through the legal system, we should also try and put in place education policies, health strategies and community level programmes that promote equality between men and women and teach non violent methods of resolving conflict. A multipronged approach to violence against women will result in far reaching changes, transforming attitudes and practices so that men and women can live in equality and dignity.

Bibliography
Books and Articles:

"Jordan Parliament Supports Impunity for Honor Killing," Washington, DC: Human Rights Watch Press Release, January 2000

Burned Alive: A Victim of the Law of Men Alleged first-person account of a victim of an attempted honor killing (ISBN 0-446-53346-7) The work is based on a repressed memory report and its authenticity has been questioned.

The Varied Contours of Violence Against Women in South Asia; Coomaraswamy, Radhika.

Many women have found themselves in unfortunate circumstances, and sometimes feel hopeless and trapped in their situations. Poverty, domestic violence, substance abuse, in addition to children and family needs sometimes leave them with few options for improving their conditions.  Societal perceptions and culture can also leave women further disadvantaged.  Despite the desire to improve their situations, many women cannot do it on their own.

Soroptimist is an international organization supporting women and girls to help them improve their lives.  Since 1972, the Women's Opportunity Award has helped many women stop the cycle of poverty and overcome their unfortunate circumstances.  Recipients had the desire to break free from their trapped situations, but could not do it without a little help.  This woman award allowed them to improve their lives and their children's.  Their stories are inspiring.

Kathy is a confident, self-reliant woman, but that is a stark contrast to who she was in the past.  She dropped out of high school to marry, and quickly started a family.  She tolerated her husband's alcohol abuse and erratic behavior for years.  Her self worth was low, so she believed that staying with him was best for her and her children.  Finally, she left with her children and was ambitious enough to get loans to go to school to be a dental hygienist.  The tuition was covered by loans and grants, but the additional expenses were just too much.  She applied for the Soroptimist Women's Opportunity Award, and was chosen as a recipient.  She now says that the award not only helped her financially, but emotionally, and gave her the hope to succeed in life – which she did!

Maria is also a recipient of the Women's Opportunity Award. She struggled for years as an immigrant field laborer.  She attempted to leave her work to attend school, but with no income, she was forced to return to the fields.  She knew that staying in school was the only way to create a better life for her children, but with no way to support them, there was no way out.  She worked harder and was placed in a work-study program, and eventually won the woman award, which supports her to continue her studies and achieve her dreams.

Pachara is a Thai immigrant living in Japan.  Her husband was abusive and eventually died, but she was trapped, unable to return to Thailand because of her three children's Japanese citizenship.  She was the recipient of the Women's Opportunity Award, and is now working on her education and language, on the way to achieving her goal of a career in nursing and a stable life for her children.

Despite difficulties in her own life, Shizuka is a generous Japanese woman who opened a childcare center, which offers free and low-cost child care for working women and single mothers.  Also a Soroptimist Women's Opportunity Award recipient, she is using her award benefits to study child psychology to further help the children attending her center.  She is an ambitious, independent woman, and is deeply grateful for this woman award that improved her life.

The victims of domestic abuse not only feel isolated and vulnerable, but over time they can start to believe that they are to blame.  This was Victoria's case.  She has six children, and her husband's violent outbursts had them living in fear.  She finally was brave enough to leave, but struggled to support her children.  She was resourceful and hard working, and eventually enrolled in college.  She loved school, but was overwhelmed with raising six children, work, classes, and doing it all on her own.  She applied for and was awarded the Women's Opportunity Award.  The moral support from Soroptimist was an inspiration to her, and her education has led her to be a Math, English and Reading teacher.  She is involved in her work with at-risk students who wish to attend college and pursue math and science careers.

These women's lives have not just been improved with these woman awards and cash grants with monetary assistance, but the emotional support has also been the key to their success.  They are an inspiration, and as their lives improved, their children and the people they touch as a result of their accomplishments are better as well.

Beliefs and Practices in Women Health

• Ramaiah Bheenaveni *

Rural women's health is an infinitely broad topic. Many Indian women have come from circumstances in which women have limited access to healthcare. Traditionally, there has been discrimination towards women in decision-making; access to resources such as food, education and health care; job opportunities; and in child-rearing and parenting. However, women's health in rural areas affects everything in their environment from their families to their economies and vice versa. A woman's health, especially among the poor and illiterate, is often neglected not just by her family but by the woman herself. She is taught not to complain and if she does then she is directed either to use condiments in the kitchen or try faith healing.

Man is unique in that he has a distinct cultural environment of his own. This includes all the conditions in which men are born, brought up, live, work, procreate and perish. Culture as an environment is deeply related to the health of humans. It includes patterns of social organizations designed to regulate a particular society; one can understand the behaviour of people belonging to various sections and predict how an individual of a particular section will react in a given situation. With our knowledge of health, the treatment of diseases among ignorant peoples appears to be strange since they frequently follow practices of praying, wearing of amulets or consulting an exorcist who recites certain verbal formula. Hence, we can say that beliefs and cultural practices are predominately playing significant roles in the human health more peculiarly in the health of women.

Many rural people did not know about the services set up for them at sub-centres and PHC by the government because they did not see any evidence of these services being provided for them. As a part of the awareness programmes, the health workers (ANM) have been organizing to several exposure trips at the villages. It was there that the women were informed about the specifics of various services supposed to be made available to them. This encouraged some of them to ask questions and report on the situation in their PHC. They explained that though a nurse did visit their village it was not a daily visit, nor did she go beyond a certain point in the village, and certainly did not take a round of the village. They made a show of doing their duty by providing nominal services.

A variety of factors, including an older population, a limited supply of health care providers, and further distances from health care resources may contribute to special health concerns for people in non-metropolitan areas. Access to health care and social services are critical issues for rural women.

Belief is the psychological state in which an individual is convinced of the truth of a proposition. Like the related concepts truth, knowledge, and wisdom, there is no precise definition of belief on which scholars agree, but rather numerous theories and continued debate about the nature of belief 1.

The cultural phenomenon of social organization, according to Giger and Davidhizar (2004), includes groups in the social environment that influence cultural development and identification. The family, an important aspect of the social organization phenomenon, strongly influences cultural behavior through a process of socialization or enculturation of children and group members (Giger & Davidhizar; Niska, 1999). These learned cultural behaviors guide individuals through life situations, events and health practices. Understanding family from a cultural perspective is a significant element in providing nursing care to Mexican-Americans since Giger and Davidhizar identify the family as being most values in this culture.

Environmental control is defined by Giger and Davidhizar (2004) as the ability of persons within a particular cultural heritage to plan activities that control their environment as well as their perception of one’s ability to direct factors in the environment. Kuipers’ (1999) discussion of this model, in relation to Mexican-American culture, emphasized the construct of environmental control with a focus on locus-of-control, health beliefs, and folk medicine. Locus-of-control explains the way in which individuals, within their cultural environment, perceive their ability to control what happens to them and to their health. Health may be viewed as being dependent on outside forces or their own actions (Bundek et al., 1993). Beliefs about health and illness, which are components of environmental control, affect health practices, use of health resources, and a person’s response to experiences of both health and illness (Giger & Davidhizer, 2004; Northam, 1996). A third component of environmental control, folk medicine, includes alternative therapies such as using herbs and teas or visiting a cultural folk healer.

Objectives:

1. Exploration of women beliefs on health, risk and their relationship to lifestyles;

2. Elicitation of their views across a range of health-related behaviours and practices, especially puberty, menstruation, pregnancy and child rearing, and assessment of the potential for the positive promotion of women health in these and other areas of her sexual health.

3. Identification of the sources of information and influences on the development of health beliefs amongst women, particularly with respect to common elements in attitudes to risk-taking across a number of health beliefs and practices.

4. To focus on what women themselves know and want to know, including the salience of health, and the relevance of health-related knowledge in their lives

Hypothesis:

1. There is a positive relationship between social beliefs and cultural practices of a given society

2. Positive relationship may be observed among the social beliefs and cultural practices and various other factors such as caste, religion, social and traditional customs in society

3. The explanation for the persistence of belief systems is that people remain committed to them, but for this commitment to last long, the belief system must be validated

Research Design:

A quantitative and qualitative study, building on our previous work in this area, concerning the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of female children and young women to health, risk and lifestyles. A guiding methodological principle underpinning the study was the development of a sensitive research design for rather than on women: a study grounded not simply in what women know or need to know, but also in what they want to know and feel to be important in the context of their everyday lives. The methods enabling these principles to be taken forward are described below.

a) Area of the Study:

The Telangana region of Andhra Pradesh consists of ten districts namely Hyderabad, Ranagareddy, Mahabubnagar, Medak, Adilabad, Nizamabad, Karimnagar, Warangal, Nalgonda, and Khammam. From this region, the village Ramchandrapur in Koheda Mandal of Karimnagar district has been randomly selected as an area of the study.

b) Universe & Sampling:

According to 2001 census, the village Ramchandrapur has an approximate population of 1840 who from nearly 550 families. This village has a primary health centre (PHC), but lacks a major hospital within a range of 35 kms. And this village has been selected as universe for this study.

So for this study, the researcher adopted stratified-proportionate random method of sampling based on caste composition of the villagers and selected the respondents from the families mentioned in the habitation list of Ramchandrapur. This village population data was collected from Supraja Seva Samithi, a voluntary organization, which is working in the region for the last 10 years in the fields of health, education and environmental protection. The list consists of various caste grouping and from which proportionate stratified samples were selected. Then a list of about 181 respondents was prepared for data collection. Therefore, it is obvious that an attempt has been made to present a general picture of community data and on the basis of which, views and attitudes of the respondents were taken into consideration.

C) Tools of Data Collection:

As the research is qualitative and quantitative, non-participant observation and interview schedule was adopted for the collection of primary data. The aspects that will cover in the interview schedule were defined under two parts, one is for socio-economic and cultural status of respondents such as name, sex, age, social status, education, religion, income, nature and type of the house, etc. and the other for socio-cultural beliefs and practice patterns in health and the related treatment of the villagers.

D) Analysis and interpretation of data:

After arranging the collected data through tabulation and classification, they were analyzed and interpreted in the socio-cultural context so as to give a scientific basis to the study. Although statistical methods like frequencies, percentages, means, standard deviations, t-test, chi-squire and ANOVA have been used in the study, they were applied in a relevant way.

Findings:

Socio-Economic Profile:

During the field work, observed that 22 castes were appeared and most of the respondent belongs to the BC castes like Yadava, Gouda, Munnuru Kapu, Vishwa Brahmin, Mudiraj and a insignificant number of people belongs to services caste like Mangali, Chakali, Mera and so on. A considerable amount of people belongs to SC community i.e. Mala and Madigas. Only a few respondents belong to ST (Erukala) community. Out of the 181 respondents, 55 percent are male and 45 percent female,. This research is carried out with almost all the equal four fold age groups of respondents. Thus, it is noted that age group is scattered in this study. More number of respondents i.e. 91% belongs to Hindu religion and 5% are Muslim. Nearly 4% of the respondents belong to Christianity. It is also proved that common phenomena of religion composition in India.

In this village, a majority of the respondents i.e. 82 (45%) are illiterates. The next more number of respondents have studied up to primary and secondary level i.e. 24 (13%). There are 21 (12%) of the respondents can read and write. A significant number of respondents i.e. 18 (10%) claimed to have studied up to college level while the small number of people who have studied up to professional level, technical level and others stands at 7 (4%), 3 (2%) and 2 (1%) respectively. The findings reveal that more number of the respondents i.e. 55 (30.4%) are labourers and one-fourths of the respondents i.e. 45 (24.9%) are engaging in the farming. On the whole 38(21%) are continuing their caste occupation while 20 (11%) and 17 (9.4%) respondents are doing other occupation and brought up into the service sector respectively. Only a few of the respondents i.e. 6 (3.3%) are carrying out business.

It is also noted that a majority of the respondents i.e. 84.21% are living under the tiled houses and a significant number of the respondents i.e. 15.79% posses R.C.C houses. A substantial number of the BC community respondents i.e. 75% owned the tiled house and rest of them i.e. 14.29% have R.C.C. houses and 8.04% own asbestos roofed houses. Most of the SC respondents i.e. 91.49% are residing under the tiled houses while only 8.51% consist R.C.C. houses. Among the ST respondents, 33.33% have R.C.C., tiled house and thatched house equally. Regarding the income, less than 24% of the respondents earn Rs. 1501 – 2000 per month. Almost equal number i.e. 22.7 and 21.5 % of the respondents earn below Rs. 500 and between Rs. 1001 and 1500 respectively. A significant number of respondents i.e. 20 % obtaining monthly income is in the range of Rs. 501 – 1000 while only 12.7% claimed their income was over Rs. 2000.

This village consist very good fertile lands, There is just below half of the respondents i.e. 84 (46.4%) have not possess any land on their own. There are 35 (19.3%) of the respondents possess land between 1- 2.19 acres. A significant number of respondents i.e. 28 (15.5%) and 20 (11.04%) are having land between 2.20 – 4.39 acres and 5 – 9.39 acres respectively. A considerable number of respondents i.e. 14 (7.7%) are owned land 10 and above acres.

Social Dogmatism on Menstruation

Patriarchal societies have tended to control women by first announcing menarche (the onset of menstrual cycle in a young girl) to the world in an apparently celebratory fashion while thereafter attempting to control the implied fertility and sexual power by monthly rites of pollution, restriction and isolation of the menstruating woman.

The various names for menstruation or 'periods' point to its polluting quality. For instance in Telugu, it is called samurta or peddamanshi meaning attaining maturity. Menstrual blood is believed to be polluting. There are varying restrictions put on a girl due to this belief such as not touching people or hanging washed clothes out to dry; not touching certain flowering plants lest they die or not fruit; sleeping on a jute bag or woollen blanket away from others. A woman cannot touch her child during menstruation. If she has to, the child must first be unclothed completely or made to wear silken clothes. Visiting or touching images of gods, temples, religious scriptures is also prohibited. A fear is inculcated in the adolescent that she will sin if she breaks these taboos. Restrictions are also placed on diet. These pollution taboos result in many women getting an enforced rest for at least these three days of the month since they are barred from carrying out their normal activities.

Not only is menstrual blood supposed to be dirty, but evil too. A menstruating girl should not let her shadow fall on a child with measles lest the child turn blind. The used menstrual cloth also possesses an evil quality. If men see the cloth, dry or otherwise, they could go blind. If a cow were to swallow the cloth she would curse the girl with infertility. In villages in A.P., women do not throw their menstrual cloth-they either burn it or bury it.

There seem to be some similarities between Hindus and Muslims regarding the practice of some of these rituals. Among Muslims, the menstruating woman should not touch holy books lest they become impure. Converted Christians follow, although to a lesser degree, the rituals of their original castes. The taboos and rituals clearly devalue. Women's reproductive powers. The notion of women being polluted and unclean can be ascribed to patriarchal control of women's reproductive powers. While the woman fulfils a vital social role of giving birth to progeny through her biological reproductive capacity, she is, at the same time, isolated during menstruation.

Cultural Practices of Puberty

Most women do not know about the physiology of menstruation and therefore the first experience of menstruation is filled with fear, shame and disgust. In some areas such as in rural areas of A.P. the girl is sometimes told to dub three or four dots of menstrual blood or mustard oil on the wall and draw a line between the second and third or third and fourth; it is believed that she will finish her menstruation within two and a half or three and a half days in all subsequent periods.

Elaborate rituals are performed in south Indian states-as well as in many parts of north India-at the onset of menstruation. The onset of puberty is traditionally viewed in terms of the girl's emergent sexuality and prospective motherhood. The pubescent girl is given an elaborate ritual bath, after a massage with turmeric and vermillion. The Mudiraj communities in A.P. isolate the pubescent girl for 21 days within the house, away from the male gaze. The room in which she is secluded is separated with an iron rod and a fire is kept constantly burning during this period. Fire signifies purity and also keeps away daiyyam or witches and evil spirits. The girl is polluted and hence prohibited from touching people and other people are not allowed to touch her. In case of default, a bath is essential for ritual purification.

The Impact of the Food Habits on Women Health:

Although women are more or less marginalized and neglected in relation to the quality and quantity of food, certain occasions in a woman's life are celebrated with the offering of a variety of nutritious foods specially prepared for her. Almost every community has the practice of feeding a girl on her first menstruation with delicious and nutritive foods, with the time of seclusion for the period ranging between nine to 21 days. In parts of A.P., sweets made of jaggery, groundnuts, sesame, fenugreek, wheat flour and sorgum are given to the girl. Menstruation for the first time in the house of one's in-laws is also considered very auspicious in all regions of A.P. and is celebrated with gaiety.. The idea seems to be to give the girl 'rich', that is, strength-giving foods as well as both 'hot' and 'cold' foods.

Certain 'hot' foods (like jaggery) and 'cold' foods (like tamarind and lemons) are taboo as it is believed that the girl will suffer from menstrual pain. 'Hot' foods may cause heavy bleeding and 'cold' foods may cause severe menstrual pain. Special foods are understood to compensate for the loss of blood, regularise the menstrual cycle and flow, strengthen her reproductive organs and generally contribute to her fertility.

Work Prohibition of Pregnant Women:

It is also observed during the fieldwork that almost all the respondents have revealed that prohibition of work is compulsory while a women pregnancy but this notion is varies to one community to another. The higher social status communities are not allowed to perform the works even domestic works also from the early months to after late months of maternity. Whereas weaker section women perform the daily domestic actives some of them perform field activates but it is only in the early months. They should also take rest in the late months of pregnancy and early months of maternity.

Encourage and Disencourage Food Items During the Pregnancy of Women:

During pregnancy and lactation, many traditional communities across the country restrict a woman's food intake. It is believed that if a pregnant woman eats too much, the foetus will not have room to move. The abdomen is supposed to contain both the food and the foetus and the latter's space needs should be given greater priority. Another reason for controlling a pregnant woman's food consumption is perhaps that excess weight would reduce the productivity of her work in the fields and around the house. A widely prevalent practice all over India is shrimanta. In the seventh month of pregnancy special rituals are performed and different types of sweets are prepared and given to the parents-to-be. The purpose is to give moral support and encouragement to the pregnant woman and celebrate her achievement of having reached near full-term. The sweets are generally made of wheat flour, jaggery, ghee, fenugreek and dry fruits. In the final stages of pregnancy, the pregnant woman is supposed to cat these foods custom every day. This is a good custom because it provides the calories and protein needed for the rapidly growing foetus in the last trimester of pregnancy.



Food Items Encourage % Disencourage %

1.Milk 173 95.5 8 4.4

2.Green leafs 148 81.7 33 18.2

3.Toddy 80 44.1 101 55.8

4.Non-Veg 132 72.9 49 27

5.Papaya --- --- 181 100

6.Potato 49 27 132 72.9

7.Brinjal 50 27.6 131 72.3

The above table explains the villager’s perceptions on encourage and disencourage food items during the pregnancy of women. The data shows that there are 173 (95.5%) of the respondents have stated that they are encouraging milk and its related food items and only insignificant number of respondents i.e.8 (4.4%) are not encouraging the food items of milk. As many as 148 (81.7%) of them revealed that they are encouraging green leafs and rest of the significant number of respondents i.e. 33 (18.2%) are not interested to give the green leafs to the pregnants. Interestingly the data depicts that more than half of the respondents i.e. 101 (55.8%) have said that they are encouraging toddy and 80 (44.1%) of them are not giving taking toddy. A substantial number of the respondents i.e. 132 (72.9%) have expressed that they are encouraging the consummation of non-vegetarian foods like mutton, chicken and egg. The total number of respondents is practicing the prohibition of papaya consummation during the pregnancy. All most all equal number of respondents i.e. 49 (27%) and 50 (27.6%) have revealed that Potato and Brinjal are encouraged food items and as similar 132 (72.9%) and 131 (72.3%) of them are not encouraging the food items of Potato and Brinjal.

The data regarding Caring of Pregnant Women among the Villagers clarifies the pursuance of the opinion of several communities respondents such as Yadava 14 (7.7%), Gouda 3 (1.7%), Munurukapu 11 (6.1%), Oddera 6 (3.3%), Vishwa Brahmin 5 (2.8%), Mala 25 (13.8%), Madiga 21 (11.6%), Padmashali 7 (3.9%), each 3 (1.7%) of Mangali, Dudekula and Erukala, Kumari 2 (1.1%) and each 1 (0.6%) of Pusala, Mera, Chindi and Dakkali have stated that family and their kins are taking care of their pregnant women. In this category the total numbers of SC and ST communities are appeared because of less financial status and peer group pressure. A majority number of working caste like Yadava, Munnurukapu, Oddera, Padmashali, Dudekula and Kummari are appeared. However, these communities’ people are visiting either government or private hospital for check up their health conditions during early pregnant hood as well as before delivery. One more interesting thing that the caste Mangali itself is traditional birth attendant community in this village so we may consider them in response to this query that they are taking care about pregnant as a traditional birth attendant and as a family. On the whole 3 (1.7 %) of Yadava, 2 (1.1 %) Gouda, 1 (0.6 %) of Munnurukapu and Kummari, 8 (4.4 %) of Chakali, 5 (2.7%) of Dudekula and the total number of Mudiraj 7 (4%) community respondent have expressed that traditional birth attendant are taking care about pregnant of their communities. It is important to note that previous these caste people took care about pregnant but at presently they are seeking the help of traditional birth attendant by reason of saving of time. These kind of villagers always busy in their routine work if they involve in the caring process they should be lost more time in order to money also. The data also describes that all most all the respondents of Deshmukh 3 (1.6%), Vysya 4 (2.2%) and Vaisnava 5 (2.7%) communities have revealed that health workers or ANMs are looking after the pregnant women. It may due to the higher awareness regarding health and personal bias or prejudices of health workers or ANMs who are interested to associate with the higher social status communities.

On account of preferable birthplace; the responses of majority respondents i.e. 112 (62%) is that birth at the traditional birth attendant is more preferable. As many as number of respondent i.e. 36 (20%) have revealed that they prepared birthplace is Government Hospitals and the reaming respondents i.e. 32 (18%) have expressed their perception that Private Hospital are preferable to give the birth. The cluster analysis of data also provides the social status wise explanation that there are 7 (4%) of OC respondents, 19 (10.5%) of BCs and 10 (5.5%) of SCs are interested to go to the government hospitals. There are 10 (5.5%) of OCs and 23 (12.7%) of BCs were interested on Privates hospitals. Among the reaming of categories, the more number of BC respondents i.e. 70 (38.5%), 37 (20.5%) and the total number of ST community respondents i.e. 3 (1.7%) and only few {2(1.1%)} of OC respondent are still interested to give birth under the observation or treatment of traditional birth attendant.

Practices after Delivery:

Women underfed themselves during pregnancy and strove for a small baby to ensure easy delivery. Babies were not to be breast fed on first three days and baby-clothes were not used till a ceremony (purudu/Naming) on 9th day to 21st day. Mothers could not leave the delivery room till that day. To minimize the toilet needs, they severely restricted their intake of fluids and food during first week after delivery. Mothers did not wash hands properly; their clothes and linen were often dirty. Newborn babies, even if sick, were not moved out of home. The usual explanations for the sicknesses in neonates were ‘evil eye’, ‘witch craft’, or ill effects of foods eaten by mother.

The practice of breast-feeding female children for shorter periods of time reflects the strong desire for sons. If women are particularly anxious to have a male child, they may deliberately try to become pregnant again as soon as possible after a female is born. Conversely, women may consciously seek to avoid another pregnancy after the birth of a male child in order to give maximum attention to the new son

Summary and Conclusions:

Due to the orthodoxical and traditional dogma, majority numbers of respondent are not possess proper notion on Women’s health. In addition to supernatural beliefs about what brings on disease, women also have some beliefs about the non-physical causes of ill-health. The most commonly found syndrome was 'weakness' which consists of fatigue, body ache, ghabrahat (a generic term used for anxiety, fear, restlessness, trepidation, etc.), pallor, low backache and burning of palms and feet. Thus poverty, illiteracy and social backwardness complete the subordination of women. In reality, therefore, most women carry a tremendous degree of mental anguish and agony due to the improper beliefs and practices.

However, practices existed to over come or to tune with the problems, which may be physical, psychological, cultural and environmental. Subsequently practices are to be strengthen in order to persisting as the beliefs. Once, belief is to be got its own identity; the existence of practice should automatically come by the deeds of the victims or followers. Sometimes belief might be deteriorate due to the business, cost effective and the rationalism should also vanish the irrational beliefs so that we can eventually conclude beliefs exist by the practices which may takes place to over come the problems or to adjust with the nature.

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belief

2. Giger, J.N., & Davidhizar, R. E. (2004): “Transcultural nursing: Assessment and intervention” (4th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby publication.

3. Spector, R. E. (2004): “Cultural diversity in health & illness” (5th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall Health publication..

4. Bundek, N. I., Marks, G., & Richardson, J. I. (1993): “Role of health locus of control beliefs in cancer screening of elderly Hispanic women”. Health Psychology, 12(3), 193-1999.

5. Pachter, L. M. (1994) “Culture and clinical care: Folk illness beliefs and behaviors and their implications for health care delivery”. Journal of the American Medical Association, 271(9), 690-694.

6. Roberson, M. H. (1987): “Folk health beliefs of health professional”. Western Journal of Nursing Research, 9(2), 257-263.

7. Treistman, J. (1988): “Health beliefs in socio-cultural perspective”. In G. Caliandro & B. L. Judkins (Ed.), Primary nursing practice (pp. 119-133). Glenview, IL: Scott, Foresman and Company.

Sex Education for Adults

It's not just teenagers who need sex education - adults do, too. With the new fad and rise of the 'Sexpert,' and greater coverage of sex in mainstream magazines and newspapers, why are we turning to the professionals for help?

Although most columnists would tell you that women tend to worry about their body image and self-esteem; they focus on first meeting Mr Right and then keeping so called Mr Right; they agonise over whether they're sexual enough and whether this is reflected in their prowess in the bedroom, most women would not admit to this, we are after all supposed to be empowered and confident in our own skin. It seems to be about saving face with those who are close to us, so who do we turn to for advice when this option is absent? Enter the Sexpert. http://www.thetextperts.co.uk/sex_advice.html

A good sex expert can answer questions, give advice and hopefully help people feel more sexually confident. The pessimists among us would argue that they don't, and instead, they debilitate women by reinforcing the idea that only good sex will help keep a partner interested, sidelining the deeper emotional understanding we should all strive for within our relationships.

Some reports have also implied that the Sex Advice columns appearing in magazines aimed at men as well as women, where women are revealing the most intimate details and fantasies about her sex life, are glorified porn and that it simply gives men a license to objectify women through a more acceptable medium than the top shelf magazines that are almost universally frowned upon by women.

But is this such a bad thing? Surely, women addressing men directly about their desires and experiences, in mainstream magazines is empowering for womankind. And if women and men decide that they can keep a partner interested and a relationship healthy by improving your sexual techniques rather than spending time over analysing the relationship, creating issues and dealing with problems through lengthy discussions, this indicates that sex is much more than just a physical pleasure in that relationship. Put basically if a good romp ends an argument and brings the warmth and love back in physical form, then that would indicate an understanding has been met, feelings of rejection and discontent subdued by the simple and yet connective act of love making, good love making.

J Francis 2007 Copyright

EDUCATION in Africa has a history reaching back many centuries. Certainly the achievements of the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Ethiopia are well known. Then, early in the first millennium of the Common Era, the Moors and other peoples on the northern fringe of Africa made notable contributions to world education and culture. And during the past 1,000 years the Saharan and sub-Saharan peoples had several centers of learning—Timbuktu, Agadez, Gao, Katsina and Borno, where books written in Arabic were in great demand.

More than 800 years ago at Timbuktu, in Mali, colleges provided advanced education. Katsina, in northern Nigeria, has been a center of learning since before the sixteenth century. It was there that, about 200 years ago, Muhammed ibn Muhammed became noted as a specialist in numerology.

The aforementioned cities were dominated by Moslem culture, and mosques were the centers of learning. However, the cost of learning under the tutorship of the mallams was very high and so few persons could afford it. The educated minority exercised tremendous influence, and were the key administrators, lawyers and clerks. But the majority remained illiterate.

In the non-Moslem, sub-Saharan cultures, education was largely nonliterate, by oral instruction rather than by use of reading material. Educational systems varied from tribe to tribe, and there were different degrees and levels of training, depending on the social and cultural development of a particular tribe. The training covered a fairly wide range, with specialized instruction at different age levels. Each educational system had specific forms of preparation for the roles of individuals in society. A look at the system of education among the Yorubas in precolonial Nigeria illustrates this.

The Yoruba System

Among the Yorubas, training in obedience, etiquette, speech and counting came early in the child's life and was given within the family circle. Children quickly learned to express themselves in their language. Progressively, they mastered the proverbs, poetry and folklore of the community or tribe. In this way they learned the history and the moral and philosophical attitudes of their people. They had to learn a variety of greetings, recognition of levels of social seniority and the proper etiquette in connection with these. Religious education included training in rituals, sacred festivals and the roles of diviners.

At an early age, children were taught to count up to 20 on their fingers and toes and to do simple addition and subtraction with the aid of stones. As they progressed in knowledge, they were taught weights and measures, the use of cowrie shells (which served as money) and the art of bargaining.

Specialized training for boys focused on farming, working in metals and wood, hunting and the use of herbs and drugs in medicine. Skills were passed on from father to son. Inclination and natural abilities also were considered, and children were encouraged to develop their aptitudes. Therefore, many were apprenticed to artisans outside the family clan.

Girls received training in weaving and dyeing cloth. They learned to make pottery, to plait mats and baskets and to produce cosmetics for use in beauty treatments and hairdressing. They were taught the art of cooking, of brewing beer and of extracting oil from the kernels of the palm nuts. Thus they were prepared for their role as women in the family and the community.

The tribes that had a rural, pastoral or bush culture concentrated more on farming, herding and hunting or fishing. Some educational systems restricted progress into new fields of knowledge by preserving a closed society. Membership usually was restricted to those of certain ethnic origins or religious beliefs. This circumstance contributed toward a stagnation of knowledge. Nevertheless, the education that was provided amply served the needs of those societies.

The Colonial Era

In the wake of the missionary explorer David Livingstone, European missionaries began to increase their activities in Africa in the second half of the nineteenth century. Mission schools started to be set up in towns and villages, and right out in the bush, where students attended in simple loincloths or were completely naked.

These schools were set up on sectarian lines, with Catholics having their own schools and the Protestant religions theirs. This tended to segment the people religiously, and whole areas came to be regarded as the province of a particular religion. Divisions in social levels developed between the literate and the nonliterate segments of each community, and there was a gradual undermining of family influence. Other imbalances were created because traditional patterns of education were being uprooted and were not replaced by any uniform standard.

Still, a start had been made toward widening the horizons of knowledge in Africa. As more people learned to read and write, the knowledge of the world, contained in books, became available even to the remotest tribes. The literate history of non-Moslem, sub-Saharan Africa began to be revived.

Although the people showed aptitude in learning, there were obstacles to overcome. The missionaries usually had to learn the local languages first. Then they had to teach the children in their own European languages, in which books were available. Some did good work in formulating alphabet systems and compiling dictionaries so that many of the local languages could be put into writing. This provided the basis for translating the Bible into many African languages.

In some areas an obstacle was posed by the custom of barring girls from institutional education. When, over 40 years ago, one of the emirs from northern Nigeria visited England, he was impressed at seeing a large girls' school. He desired a similar provision for the girls of his people. Since the custom was to keep women away from public life, he realized that this would be opposed. So he told his council that he was opening a school in his palace for educating the girls in his household. Within a year the school had 30 pupils, and many of the leading citizens were petitioning the emir to allow their children to attend. A year later, on the pretext that he could no longer tolerate the noise of a school in his palace, he "turned the pupils, teachers, and equipment out into the open town and lodged them in a house adjoining the boys' school." (African Challenge, p. 63) Now every primary school in that section of the country is coeducational.

Since children were part of the labor force in each farm family, there was reluctance to lose them to the schools. Gradually, however, as the people recognized the value of the printed page and the advantages of reading and writing, more children were sent to school. So it was in mission schools that many of the outstanding educators and leaders throughout Africa got their early training.

The colonial governments, and the later sovereign governments of each independent state, encouraged the establishment of mission schools, giving financial and administrative help. Provisions were made for more uniform systems of schooling, and additional public and secondary schools and universities were established.

New Education Policies

Since 1970, in a further effort to ensure a more uniform standard of education, the Nigerian government has taken over control of private schools, including mission schools. This has given rise to the problem of adequate moral education in a totally secular school system. Therefore, the authorities have encouraged parents and teachers to provide moral guidance. Efforts have also been made to coordinate the Moslem and indigenous traditional systems of education with modern methods. It is hoped that this will stem the growing tide of unrest, immorality and drug abuse among youths.

In 1976 the Universal Primary Education scheme (UPE) was introduced to provide for free universal education throughout Nigeria. This will give children the opportunity to receive free primary schooling for six years, as well as junior secondary and senior secondary schooling for three years respectively. More schools are, therefore, being provided, and immediate plans are afoot to increase the number of universities to 13.

Adult Education

Because the majority of the adult population is illiterate, the various governments are giving increased attention to adult education. In Nigeria, where the literacy rate is 20 percent for a population of 70 million, the government has established adult education centers in most villages and towns. Many men and women are availing themselves of this opportunity to learn to read and write.

Much progress also is being made in adult literacy programs operating in Kingdom Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses. By means of such classes, between 1962 and 1976, in Nigeria alone, 15,156 persons have been taught to read and write. Many of these were elderly and thought that they no longer had the ability to learn. They were mostly people from rural areas—farmers, hunters, fishermen, housewives. Their determination to obtain Bible knowledge and to be able to impart Scriptural instruction reawakened their desire to learn. Now they can read and write, and can help in teaching God's Word to others in their own language and also often in English.

For example, Ezekiel Ovbiagele was trained according to the traditional system of education, but was not taught to read and write. After he received oral Biblical instruction from Jehovah's Witnesses and was baptized in 1940, he saw the value of learning to read. He enrolled in one of the literacy classes and soon was reading the Bible to others. With further specialized training, he was qualified in 1953 to serve as a traveling overseer, having the responsibility to instruct many congregations in the territory assigned to him. Many others have made similar advancement.

When Jackson Iheanacho first attended meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses, he was literate only in Efik, his native language. He saw the need to learn to read in English, too, since the meetings were conducted in that tongue. With the aid of the congregation's literacy class, he achieved this and went on to learn other languages as well. He is now able to read and write seven languages!

The literacy rate among Jehovah's Witnesses is better than 77 percent. Most of the remaining 23 percent are attending literacy classes, either at their Kingdom Halls or at government centers, and so are in various stages of learning to read and write. They appreciate this program, which is reaching out to more and more people.

Purposeful Education

The value and necessity of education cannot be denied. An editorial in the Daily Times of December 29, 1976, spoke of education as "the greatest investment . . . for the quick development of . . . economic, political, sociological and human resources." However, not just education, but purposeful education is essential. Modern methods have tended to establish materialistic goals, rather than productive ones. To many youths, the purpose of schooling is to obtain a certificate that will guarantee a prestige job and great financial reward. Parents should guide youths in carefully evaluating the purpose of their schooling. The goal should be to acquire real skills and thinking ability so as to ensure productivity in their adult careers.

It should be remembered, however, that the period of formal schooling is not all there is to the process of education. Parents can make use of preschool and out-of-school periods to instruct their children morally and in other ways that will build their personalities along wholesome lines. Much good can be achieved by using the Bible in inculcating decency, honesty and loyalty in the children.

EDUCATION IN INDIA
India has an ancient tradition of education.The world's first university was established in
Tashkila in 700 B.C. Indian mathematicians introduced the zero, the decimal system and the
method of multiplication.

PRIMARY EDUCATION

India has made huge progress in terms of increasing primary education attendance rate andexpanding literacy to approximately two thirds of the population..The National Council ofEducational Research and Training (NCERT) is the apex body for school education in India.

SECONDARY EDUCATION
The National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986, has provided for environment awarenes,science
and technology education, and introduction of traditional elements such as Yoga into the Indian secondary school system.Another feature of India's secondary school system is its emphasis on profession based vocational training to help students attain skills for finding a vocation of his/her choosing.
Tertiary education
India's higher education system is the third largest in the world, after China and the United States..Some institutions of India, such as the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), have been globally acclaimed for their standard of education.
Women's Education
Women have much lower literacy rate.The number of literate women among the female population of India was between 2-6% from the British Raj onwards to the formation of the Republic of India in 1947.the Indian government has tried to provide incentives for girls' school attendance through programs for midday meals, free books, and uniforms.Private education Because of poor quality of public education, 27% of Indian children are privately educated.Private schools cover the entire curriculum and offer extra-curricular activities such as science fairs, general knowledge, sports, music and dramaMost teachers in private schools are female, graduates and reasonably experienced..
ONLINE DEGREES
Online degrees courses in business, education, information technology, real estate and even healthcare allow you to advance your career without disrupting your life. You can study at home, on your own time, at your own pace. A perfect choice for the working professional, online courses are practical, focused, and relevant to your career.Electroniclearningis a type of Technology supported education/learning (TSL) where the medium of instruction is through computer technology, particularly involving digital technologies..E-learning is naturally suited to distance learning and flexible learning, but can also be used in conjunction with face-to-face teaching, in which case the term Blended learning is commonly used.
Goals of e-learning
E-Learning lessons are generally designed to guide students through information or to help
students perform in specific tasks. Information based e-Learning content communicatesinformation to the student

Communication technologies used in e-learning Communication technologies are generally categorized as asynchronous or synchronousAsynchronous activities use technologies such as blogs, wikis, and discussion boards.Synchronous activities involve the exchange of ideas and information with one or more
participants during the same period of time.

Benefits of eLearning versus traditional classroom settings
eLearning allows people to avoid travel, thus reducing the overall carbon output.eLearningis
a more environmentally friendly solution. 2.Quality education, made affordable...3.Convenience and flexibility to learners:

ONLINE EDUCATION IN INDIA
online learning programs are gaining popularity day by day.In other words, online learning programs are premium education programs that are aimed to enhance the knowledge of students as well as individuals by using modern technologies and guidelines of skilled teachers.

Added Benefits of Online Learning Program In India
Online learning programs are different from traditional education systems and there is no need of a classroom and face-to-face interaction with teachers.
1    No need to actually live on campus or near the university
2.    Great flexibility in the type of course you choose to study
3.    A wide range of online programs to choose from.

Types of Degrees Available
1.Associate Degree   
2.Bachelor's Degree    
3.Master's Degree
4.Doctorate Degree
5.Degree Resources

ONLINE UNIVERSITY
we provide information on various career courses, important  educational institutes like IITs, IIMs, JNU, DU and other MBA colleges.we have details on online education and different distance-learning courses andspreading numerous opportunities available to the Indian students already pursuing education in India...here some top 10 online university
1.Nalanda Open University (Patna     Bihar)
2.All India Institute of Medical Sciences (Delhi     Delhi)
3.Indira Gandhi National Open University (Delhi     Delhi)
4.Guru Jambheshwar University (Hisar     Haryana)
5.Maharshi Dayanand University (Rohtak     Haryana )
6.Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University (Jammu Tawi Jammu & Kashmir)
7.Manipal Academy Of Higher Education (Manipal     Karnataka)
8.University Of Mumbai (Mumbai     Maharashtra )
9.Birla Institute Of Technology & Scinece (Pilani     Rajasthan )

10.University Of Lucknow (Lucknow     Uttar Pradesh).

WOMENS EMPOWERMENT THROUGH TRAINING IN AGRICULTURAL SKILLS –A WORLD SITUATIONAL REVIEW

              G M WANI

 

Government of India in its agriculture reforms has initiated a scheme entitled "Support to State Extension Programmes". The major guiding principles of the scheme are as:

 

Ø      Reforming State Agricultural Extension.

Ø      Promoting private sector to compliment and supplement public extension system.

Ø      Augment media and information technology.

Ø      Empowerment of women through mainstreaming gender issues.

Ø      Capacity building /skilled up-gradation of farmers and farm women.

 

In this scheme the state level training institute of all the states were upgraded as autonomous State Agriculture Management and Extension Training Institute (SAMETI). Govt. of Jammu and Kashmir has also utilized this scheme and upgraded Directorate of Extension Education, SKUAST-K as SAMETI-Kashmir vide order No: 341 Agri. of 2005 dated 18.11.2005. During last few years SAMETI has developed a number of training programme for scientific, research and extension planning of various ATMA districts which consisted of masters training programmes, training of various KVKs, NGOs and ATMA personnel, formation of executive and general councils of the SAMETI etc. Various participatory mode of extension activities were conducted in selected modal villages. Various Kissan Melas, Kissan Awareness Programmes, Kissan Call Centres were established and publications have been circulated among the farmers free of cost. During the last few years many projects have been initiated in consultation with NGOs like Aga Khan Foundation, Border Security Force and other NGOs. Today's Farm Women Conference has the objectives of empowerment of the women through organizing trainings in collaboration with KVKs, NGOs, Self Help Groups etc.

The Farm Women Conference was to be  inaugurated by Principal Secretary, Agriculture Production Deptt. J&K Govt. and Chairperson of Executive Council of SAMETI. The conference  stressed upon the importance of women in Agriculture. As per the information from National Women Research Centre, 43% time of farm women is spent on the activities of Agriculture. The industrialized nations too have problems for the farm women. In USA managerial jobs are maned by men but the jobs like bottle washing in the private sectors are done by women. Many rural and agriculture inequalities have been addressed in various conferences in USA, during April, 2008. The agricultural inequalities need to be addressed if we have to achieve social and political empowerment for women. The  details of issues of women in agriculture  werediscussed.It is felt that the access and control over resourcesby women is very meager. Thus a need for training modules, skill up-gradation.is felt. The conference is aimed at evolving a consensus among public / private concerns for empowerment of women through agricultural skill upgradation. Self Help Groups shall play important part in technology dissemination and awareness.

There have been successful experiences achieved in India for eco-friendly pest management through women's participation. The cost competitive farming has been achieved in some of the under developed nations by training women in agriculture. Social awareness and sanitation responsibilities could be shouldered by the women very easily. All we need is to upgrade skills and knowledge of the farm women in J&K state.

Unfortunately, like other states we do not have data base on women issues in agriculture. Farm implements and reduction of drudgery of farm women has never been attempted or mitigated in J&K. Thus development of training modules for mobilization of women to achieve their livelihood through self help groups is needed. We have various models operative in other states of country. Like Udaipur, Rajasthan where women income has been raised from few rupees to thousands of rupees per month by channelizing sewage water for irrigation of vegetable crops. Study comprising of women agriculture labourers has indicated that 42% women wanted training in live stocks and 44% wanted training in vegetables. Unfortunately neither the social nor agriculture scientists have a data base for J&K available as on today. This is why the present training programme has been proposing to construct the data base. In this direction we may be in touch with Women Research Institute of ICAR. Half of the work force in agriculture consists of women. It is known that 43.7% of the agriculture workers are women. Tamil Nadu Agriculture University has made a study, which reveals that traditional sickles used by farm women were increasing heart rate and heart beats of the women more than the limit of 110 and 40 beats/ minute. On the other hand the KVK Dapoli sickle has been found to be most suitable for the women which does not increase heart beat or pulse rate.

Though SAMETI-K has felt that technological empowerment for women is essential and SAMETI-K is conducting a survey through Participatory Rapid Appraisal Techniques (PRAT). The scientists of the SAMETI alongwith other NGOs and related specialists has visited Uri, Sumbal, Koil Muqam, Srinagar, Anantnag and other places and have prepared district strategic plans for Kupwara, Baramulla, Bandipora, Srinagar, Anantnag and  Budgam districts. The need of technology interventions for empowerment of women have been identified. Training modules have been discussed in Academic Council of SAMETI. Many interventions have been identified in consultation with self help groups in Sumbal and Uri. There is a need to actively receive support from all the concerns like Central, State Agriculture Scientists, Public Funding Agencies, Science and Technology Departments and other donor departments to participate and collaborate with the SAMETI, so that some of the problems of farm women could be mitigated.

We have a poorest of poor women called fisherwomen who need an integration for livelihood. We can emulate some of the success stories from elsewhere. It has been seen that integrating fisher women with poultry can help to increase their income. The fish-poultry ponds can substantially increase the income of fisher women. Three such small units clubbed with poultry-duck could give a yearly income of 40-42,000/-. It is estimated that vegetable-fish yield in such ventures gave 3 to 7 tonnes/hac. We have enough space available around banks of Wular and Jehlum, open flood channels across the city and towns for this venture.

Ours is a fruit dependant economy. We can benefit our farm women by devising Zero Energy Cool Chambers. Our Post Harvest Technology Division has already demonstrated and worked on such cool chambers on the bases of feed back from Directorate of Extension Education. A small amount of Rs.5000/- was given to PHT which has led to successful development of Zero Energy Cool Chambers. Many more ventures of trainings for women, both unemployed, semi employed, or house wives were planned. We have even options for working women or studying girls to increase their pocket money from ornamental floriculture products, agro-based products, marketing, value addition and preservation of Agri-products. We have attempted a series of trainings for women. Some of them were presented in the conference and narrated their success stories. However, a consolidated banking loan – advisory system is to be evolved if these trained women could be the real entrepreneurs. Many other issues to solve the problems have been discussed and identified like self banking ventures, collection of information system, self education and economic diversification.

J&K Govt. has a number of programmes, water shed management, horticulture missions which need essentially to have 20-30% farm women participation, if these programmes are to be crowned with success. Our social – cultural system  is more competent than rest of the country, because our women has a religious and cultural right to hire 1/3rd property of parents which can encourage them to be self reliant and self sustained entrepreneur. Many other options like preparation of mushroom, vermiculture, vegetable preservation, pickle making, vegetable drying and post harvest management of all crops and fruits can be the successful training modules for our farm women. One wonders to know that state like Rajasthan has women's cooperatives. It is astonishing to know that first women's bank with International help is in Chandnichowk, not of Rawalpendi, Pakistan, as identified by UNO Group of women. Azarbaijan, another muslim country with similar veil culture is leading country in the world where workable age of women (16-57) is nearer to workable age of men (16-62). For example in Kashmir (Srinagar) where Tibatien women had a marketing space in Lal Chowk still exists in Leh. In rural Kashmir most of the fish marketing is in the hands of the women. Same is the case in marketing of Singhada. We need to have trainings and basic facilities for these women, so that they can save and plan their incomes in modern way. It was also emphasized that we should come up with help for house wives, widows and old aged women. The study has shown that western style feminization in India has not worked. This is the work of the Ph.D study undertaken by Scotland Ph.D scholar – Dr. D.Smith who emphasized training of women agriculture workers within their villages. Empowerment of farm women is the only way to lead their political power. These experiences has been successful in the world's largest Islamic Country, Indonesia, where it is now a routine that women's share in political ground higher than the developed countries. We will have to imbibe examples from Hongkong to uplift and install fish, vegetable marketing activities by women.

SAMETI so far in collaboration with NGO, KVKs conducted 113 training programmes for women during the year 2007-08 which benefited 2278 farm women.    

 

 

                                                                                               

                                                                                          

                                                                            

The Vatican voices the opinion that washing machines have been the driving force and the source of emancipation for woman. Yet millions of women in Eastern and Asian countries live under male domination. They are little more than chattels belonging to their husbands. This includes countries such as

• Afghanistan,
• Saudi Arabia,
• Indonesia,
• India,
• Malaysia,
• China
• Egypt,
• Pakistan,
• The Moslem countries of the Middle East,
• Many African nations and
• Even tropical islands such as Vanuatu.

Millions of women live being denied access to education, consigned to the house, all freedom of expression strictly curtailed, dress codes rigidly enforced, the liberty to speak freely with men not allowed and a general disapproval of women being found in any position of authority.

However, in the not too distant past, girls were not encouraged to gain a higher education, even in Western society. After all girls were only going to loll around and maybe work for a few years, before getting married and were forced to stay at home to care for the family. Why bother wasting a university education on them?

What then has brought about the dramatic change where many feel women in the Western world have become liberated? Was it really the washing machine, as the Vatican recently said, that made the difference?

Equal opportunity for women has freed many women, allowing them to take a major role in Western society. This was brought about through:

•Germaine Greer and 'the burn the bra' movement
•The pill and the availability of safe abortions
•Anti discrimination laws both in the work place and in education
•Child minding and day care facilities, backed by the government, have allowed mums to continue as working-mums

The anonymity and world-wide reach of the Internet and Cyber Space has been another major contributing factor. Women can now work from home, but if they choose, then can be sexless and nameless.

However, the pendulum may have swung too far, with many antifeminist supporters stating the feminist movement is seeking a higher status for women than for men. Serious conventional academics like Carolyn Graglia and Allan Carlson insists that the alteration to women's role, from being firstly mothers, to self-classified professionals, has brought about a social disaster that continues to take its toll on the family.

Some believe there is now anti-male discrimination in the areas of reproductive rights, child custody, alimony and property division, particularly in messy divorce settlements. Antifeminists are swift to point out the increase in divorce and the breakdown of family relationships, as being caused by the influence of the feminist movement.

Still there are feminists who say, "I would rather cook a meal for a man and bring him his slippers and feel myself in the protection of his arms than have all the citations and awards and honors I have received worldwide, including the Ribbon of Legion of Honor and my property and my bank accounts. They mean nothing to me. And I am only one among the millions of sad women like myself".

Other women happily promote the role of the business woman, women as leader models, as well encouraging women into competitive environments, in spite of the fact that women sometimes receive 'special treatment' in the nature of a lower level of physical requirements in some professions, such as rescue services and the military.

In the end though, it is going to be neither the male domination, nor the feminist, nor anti feminist movements, that make a difference to families in the generations to come, but the legalization of same sex marriages. The world is changing dramatically for both men and women.

No woman would ever deny care to children, family members or parents. That is because most of us are natural born caregivers. But who cares for us when we are older and need care?

We grow up and have children. Depending on the timing of the blessed event, we have either completed our education and are working in a reasonably well paid job or we had children prior to completing education and beginning a career. Strike one.

From the day we are born we are taught that women grow up, marry and have children. We are brainwashed into believing that this is what is expected of us and this is what will naturally occur. What no one tells us is that by having children and taking ourselves out of the workforce, we willingly give up years of earning, years of contributing to social security and years of contributing to our own retirement and our own independence.

Where are the men all of these years? They are working to protect their own years of earning, contributing to social security and building up a retirement nest egg to take care of them when they retire. No one is thinking of women during this time and of the compensation they are due for making this sacrifice that will affect them when they are older. Society does not address these issues. If they did there would be many less children born today.

So after the children are born, many women re-enter the workforce. Strike two. We fail to realize how difficult it is to regain the same position, income level or status we left. In many cases our skills and education are outdated and the positions we qualify for pay less. In some cases we must return to school to educate ourselves further. Who pays for this?

Additionally, if we have relied on a husband to provide for us during child raising years, and our focus was on children instead of the relationship with our husband, we may be on our way to divorce. Strike three.Now we not only have to support ourselves, we have to support our children, to provide housing, education etc. and our children grow up in a disadvantaged situation.

Life becomes more difficult and more complicated and many women struggle to just get by. This leaves no time for retirement planning, savings and all of the other things men take for granted because they have few, if any, responsibilities. How many women willingly give possession of their children to their husbands during divorce? Not many. How much time do most divorced men spend with their children? Not much. Life becomes a daily uphill battle for women.

Most women at retirement age are at financial risk of not being able to take care of themselves. When you walk into any nursing home in America today, who do you see? You see women. Women live longer than men, earn less and have less income to carry them through retirement years.

If you are a woman, single, married, divorced, widowed, with children or without children you must wake up to the realization that regardless of your current situation you must prepare to take care of yourself financially, mentally and physically. Become more selfish, give up less. Start now. Contact industry professionals who can support you in your desire to become independent. Obtain more education, do more research. Don't be left behind.

 

Redefining the role of Digital Women in the service sector

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By

 

 

Ms.R.Thamaraiselvi

Coimbatore.

Email: thamaraiselvi2007@gmail.com

Redefining the role of Digital Women in the service sector

Ms.R.Thamaraiselvi[1]

                 With the advent of the information age, Information Technology has become a potent tool for the economic growth and empowerment of people.  It provides promising career opportunities in every one's day to day life, especially WOMEN.

               Information and Communication Technology is the leading industrial sector that is attributed to high literacy rate, ability to communicate and high level of skills too.  These attributes are closely associated to Women professionals and thereby fitting appropriately into any Information Technology related work lives.  It has tremendous impact on their working styles, working environment and also improved   their quality in performance.

               Everyday newer opportunities are created rapidly for the growing Women generations in the Information Technology related applications.  The specialized applications of Information Technology and Careers, which are emerging to provide services using these applications, are called "IT ENABLED SERVICES INDUSTRY".

            Today, one of the optimum users of Information Technology in any economy is Women.  Their dependency on technology for the work force and efficiency is highly increasing.  Technology has paved way for the growth and development in every woman's life.  The career opportunities emerging in the Information Technology enabled service sector are broadly classified as follows:

1.  RAILWAYS – The use of technology in ticket bookings, checking, cancellation processes are no more tedious but faster.  Even through internet it is manipulated effectively with full particulars. The network of the railways are widened to an extent that women with electronic and computer qualifications are well placed at their convenient regions throughout the economy.

 

1. AIRLINES – Similarly, the next largest service sector that uses information technology for its customers is the airline industry.  They are widely spread everywhere in the globe.   Many Women with good personality, communication skills and computer qualifications are placed in this sector.  They facilitate quick transmission of information about arrivals, delays and departure of the vehicles. Also provide their knowledge in bookings, cancellation and customer relations through computers in the daily routine. 


2. BANKING – Today Banking is made easy through technology at anytime and anywhere.  The recent facilities like credit cards, debit cards, ATM, Western money transfer, teller system and e-banking are made possible only through the great number of Woman with computer applications.  They make the services simplified and speedup the transactions to the customers using technologies.


3. INSURANCE – Information Technology has completely transformed the way insurance in handled now.  Through technology,  the Woman employed in both Public and Private companies are providing quick and valuable services to their clients.  The defaults are minimized and with effective communication the customers are well-treated.


4. HOTEL INDUSTRY – With business going global and travel increasing manifold, the demand for Women in this service sector is growing. In this digital era, communications, arrangements and the best facilities are provided to the satisfaction of the customers. Women are absorbed in this industry for their attributes of elegance, interpersonal skills and environmental knowledge.  No wonder they make the hotel industry a great success with the help of information technology.


5. EDUCATION –Education has been revolutionized as a result of Information Technology.  The right content and right delivery of message in this area are made, updated, indexed, retrieved and disseminated through Women with technological background. 

The students are instructed in an interesting and consistent way through very many Women facilitators only.  They make it reachable to any part of the globe using technologies.  Most of the education in this digital era is possible through electronic and communication media and it is processed by the women.

1. TELECOMMUNICATIONS - For several decades, the telephone operators and receptionists were tend to be only Women.  Even now, with the discovery of pagers, mobile phones, internets, fax etc.   demand for women in such kind of services are enormously growing.   They have the ability to communicate excellently, appropriately and also timely.  Telephone exchanges have been made digital to serve the increasing population in every nook and corner resulting in efficiency and cost reduction in this sector. The value added services like Call waiting, Caller identification, automatic response, Call divert   and SMS have facilitated Women to work with technology.


2. CALL CENTERS – Another area with large employment potential is the operation of call centers.  Women are recruited   to answer customers' queries, listen to their complaints and provide solutions.  Their knowledge, skill and quick response helps to make their career in this sector.  Appropriate training with basic Information Technology knowledge is required for a Woman to acquire such jobs.


3. MEDICAL TRANSCRIPTION – An Information Technology enabled service called medical transcription service has emerged in the last few years.  They mainly require Women only to read the prescriptions and case histories of Doctors, to understand the medical terms and key them to make a readable copy.  It requires women with knowledge, training, skills and good language for such technology based services.


4. PRINTING & PUBLISHING – The new career of E- books, E-Journals, E-publishing and Web-designing are popular in the present scenario.  It appears to be convenient, paper-less, quick in service and also research oriented in its function.  This process is lead by women with computer knowledge and skill towards the laborious work relating to printing and publishing.  World - wide web pages are created through technologies used by women in various parts of the globe.  They make attractive, interesting and informative too.


5.  HEALTH CARE CENTERS – Many hospitals are modernized and provide all kind of special services under one roof using the latest technologies in medical field.  Apart from doctors and surgeons, there large numbers of technical assistants working at Laboratories, scan centers, radiologists, pharmacy, researchers using electronic instruments along with their medical knowledge and acquired skills.  They seem to be successful even as dieticians and psychologists using electronic media for interacting with their customers for remedial measures.


6.  TRAVEL & TOURISM – Tourism is one of the popular industry that is gaining significance all over the world.  Women have fixed careers in this industry also to serve the customers through information Technology in promoting, distributing and even interacting to their best.  They use the skills of communication and technology together in order to survive with their responsibilities.


7. ENTERTAINMENT -  Women are also found in the entertainment sector like Media, Ad agencies, Theme parks, Movie, photo studios, fashion designers, models, animations, artists and other talent oriented areas.  The take the maximum advantage of the information technology in their work force and try to improve their performance through creativity in technology.


8.  CONSULTANCY – Presently, Women are slowly emerging into consultancy in the areas of recruitment, selection, family oriented, legal, technical and sales & advertising.  With minimum knowledge and higher skill with usage of information technology women are able to perform well in consultancy projects.  They are making-up their career on their own through effective means of technological innovations.

 

1. OTHERS – The other types of careers meant for professionally qualified women are Systems analysts, Programmers, Embedded System Designers, VLSI designers, DSP programmers, Network professionals, Quality Assurance Professionals, Customer support professionals in installing hardware and software and Trainers of all levels providing knowledge and create awareness with the help of information and communication technology.

 Henceforth, Information Technology can offer significant opportunities for women and exists as an important tool in meeting Women's needs.  It also provides them access to use resources and prove their skills in the competitive digital society.  However, their ability to use the advantage of these opportunities is contingent upon the factors enumerated below:

Ø  EDUCATION relating to technology to develop knowledge and skill for using the newer versions of information technology

Ø  INFRASTRUCTURE to increase the facilities and extending the access to the communication and information technology area

Ø  POLICY concerned with the issues affecting women to adopt technology in their mode of work

Ø  AFFORDABILITY to every woman in the digital society for reaping the benefits from Information technology and also to overcome the constraints identified among women.

 Therefore, it is imperative to take necessary steps to ensure that each and every woman in today's digital era avail the growing opportunities in Information and Communication Technology industry.  More number of Women should be allowed to be exposed to the changing current trends in this sector.  Women can boost their ability to process the information with speed and accuracy as per the requirements in this digital revolution.  Information Technology is an integral part of any human life and why not WOMEN revolutionize the way of their lives and work through the application of information technology?

 

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

Ø  BOOKS

1)   Managing Information Technology by Bhushan Dewan, 2002 edition, Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.

2)   IT Tools and Applications by M.L.Singla & Ashwani Kumar, EXECEL Books Pvt. Ltd. 2003 edition.

3)  Introduction to Information Technology by V.Rajaraman, 2003 edition, Prentice Hall Publication.

 

Ø  WEBSITES

1)  Science & Technology Information Institute

2)  Asian and Pacific Centre for Transfer of Technology

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[1] Freelance HR  Consultant