With the Supreme Court declaring the lift of the centuries-old ban on the entry of women in the 10-50 age-groups in the Sabarimala temple in Kerala yet another barrier to women’s equality in the largest democracy of the world has taken a tumble. It will be too simplistic though to view the verdict in the monochromatic lens of empowerment only. It has, in one fell blow, demolished the very idea that it was left to the men to determine what constituted a woman’s right, including the very fundamental one of her pursuing her religious beliefs. Now that the apex court has ruled that women in menstruating age are free to visit one of the holiest temples in the country without any let or hindrance the question arises how this discriminatory practice had been allowed to run its course. The menstruation cycle is a simple fact of life which every woman goes through. But male-dominated Indian society has long frowned upon it as a matter of shame for women and, worse still, even succeeded in convincing the larger section of women that it is so. In many Indian households it is the lady of the house who do not allow girls and women during her period to enter the family’s sanctum for the very reasons cited by the Sabarimala Temple authorities. The nature of discrimination against women comes out starkly with the disclosure that the males from non-Hindu faiths were allowed to enter the temple without so much as a murmur of disapproval. But, even hailing the 4-1 verdict of the five-member Constitution Bench in favour of lifting the ban, the dissenting verdict of Justice Indu Malhotra too merits notice as she views the practice an “essential and integral part of religion”.
The priests of the Jagannath temple at Puri did not allow Indira Gandhi, then Prime Minister, to enter the holy premises on the ground of her being a non-Hindu. She did not press it further. Denying women equality in places of worship is prevalent in some other faiths too. It had been after a long legal battle that Muslim women won a favourable verdict against ’triple talaq’. In the socio-economic sphere women suffer discrimination in various forms. Women get paid less for same or even more tiring jobs. Our silver screen heroines of Bollywood and Tollywood have long been protesting against unequal pay. The prize money for women sportspersons are less than what their male counterparts get. Women’s rights activists have long been clamouring for factoring women’s services in their households in monetary terms as a measure of their contribution to the family income. All these need to be addressed before we may claim to have secured equality for all.
