Article 14 of the Constitution of India reads as under: “The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of the laws within the territory of India.” Further, Article 15 secures the citizens from every sort of discrimination by the State, on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth or any of them. This is a fundamental right of our citizens as enshrined in the Constitution of India. Despite this constitutional provision, women in India are discriminated on different grounds like religious zealotry and patriarchal oppressiveness. It was in this background last week’s judgement by a four judge bench of the Supreme Court allowing entry of women of all ages into the Sabarimala temple in Kerala assumes significance. The temple has been allowing entry of only females below ten and above fifty, simply put those who are not having monthly cycle of that biological process called menstruation.

While the Kerala government in its wisdom decided not to file a review petition against the judgement as demanded by various political parties including the Congress and religious organizations, all those opposing women's entry into the hill shrine has now joined together to fight against the judgement. Sadly, this is the Kerala where Mahatma Gandhi sat in a satygraha (the Vaikom Satyagraha) for entry of lower castes in temples of Kerala. This shows that despite high education and literacy rate, Kerala is still a male chauvinist society and they still consider women as inferior.

Women form half our population and cannot in today's age be denied their fundamental freedoms. Most importantly, they should have the freedom to choose. After all, if women can fly fighter jets, surely they can be allowed the same access to places of worship as men, or even become priests. If religion is to remain relevant, it has to keep up with the times. The various faiths must reflect society where they are practised while adhering to their core beliefs. Women's emancipation and gender equality has been a movement for over a century and still continues. 

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
Phone: 0360-2212313

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