The Delhi High Court judge Justice Pratibha M Singh said on Wednesday that Indian women are a blessed lot since Indian culture and scriptures like Manusmriti give them a very respectable position.
While talking about this, the judge highlighted that the Manusmriti itself states that if one does not respect and honour women, prayer had no meaning.
“I really think we are a blessed lot of women in India and the reason for that is our scriptures have always given a very respectable position for women and as Manusmriti itself says that if you don’t respect and honour women, all the pooja path that you may do has no meaning. So I think our ancestors and Vedic scriptures knew very well how to respect women,”
She also added that the women in Asian countries are more respectful to the women folk. She added that Asian countries do better because of the cultural and religious background.
She also said that India is much more progressive about women being in leadership roles.
“I really think we are lucky to be in a country like India where India is actually much, much more progressive about women being in leadership roles. I am not saying we need to ignore the violence and the bad things that happen to women at a lower level, but yes at the higher level, in the middle level, we are seeing women growing,” she stated.
The judge was speaking in an inaugural session of a conference organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) on the subject Facing the unseen barriers: Addressing Challenges faced by Women in Science, Technology, Entrepreneurship and Mathematics (STEM).
Pertinently, Justice Singh advised working women to strengthen the Indian family system’s core values and to live in joint families so as to receive greater support for their careers.
She said that the joint family system should continue since its benefits are far greater than those of nuclear families. She added
“That way, we share our resources. Sharing is caring, we do not need to be selfish to say ‘I need my time, I need this.’ You can be a little more adjusting and compromising, but the benefits of a joint family system are far more than what in a nuclear family.
She urged young women to start encouraging and preparing themselves to live in a joint family system, particularly since the stress of rearing a family was significant for both men and women.
“When there are more people who can take away your tension, who can share your problems with you, the stress also reduces quite a bit. So larger families is the way to go, especially for women who want to have careers.”
She also advised women to be strong and ask them for never seeking sympathy.
“Don’t ever go and say my child is ill, I want to go home, I want to do this, I want to do that. You can always take an off, but you don’t need to give the reason. Just say it is a personal difficulty.”
She added that investing in a robust domestic help system was essential so as to avoid stress relating to domestic duties.