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The Position of Wowen
The position of women varies very greatly from one part of the
state to another. The written laws may be uniform throughout the country. In the
unwritten laws of custom, the position of women is very unequal. Whatever a
daughter receives from her parents, when she marries becomes the property of her
husband, at her death it goes to her children. Unmarried women may not go out
alone, even if well over forty. A middle aged spinster has an unhappy life. A
few women of exceptional ability have succeeded in overcoming these
disadvantages and acquiring considerable influence. Girls are slowly beginning to
obtain greater freedom. In the so-called lower classes, the position
of the women is different. In the rural areas and among the so-called lower
castes, husband leave their wives at their will and let them re-marry. There are many
families in every village and city where 'purdah'
is still observed.
Education Of Women
With regard to education, the law makes no difference
between the sexes. Non-technical and technical schools and the universities are
open to women. There are special colleges for girls, public and private, but
those who desire post graduate training are encouraged to go to the
co-educational colleges and universities. At the universities the proportion of
the male students is larger than that of the girls. Medicine, natural science
and humanities are the faculties particularly favoured by women. The education
of the average women given in the regular schools consists of three R's, the
rudiments of civics, hygiene, domestic science, English and vernacular
composition. Among a certain set of the upper classes of late women go in for higher education in a missionary school or convent.
The great majority of Bihar women are quite uneducated. The level of literacy of
men is much greater than that of women. The husband may be a man of learning and
education, well read, a man of the word, but his wife is a mere housewife. It is
difficult sometimes to find a suitable boy to marry a highly educated girl.
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