The Life of Women in Villages and Poor Families

There are thousands of Women Welfare Associations in India and worldwide along with Women Commissions but mostly they are in cities and metro cities. I haven’t seen any such organizations in villages where 70% populations of Indians are living.
I have keenly studied the daily life of the women in villages and harassment with them.
The real life starts from her marriage. Her parents are greedy to marry her, no matter rich or poor, even ready to sale their property to pay pricey dowry even though the groom is unqualified and unemployed, not so good looking and uncultured even though Bride is educated, beautiful and from city or town, no matter.
After marriage at her new home/hut/farm she must get up early in the morning at 4:30am – 5:00am. Bring the water from well or farm kilometers away from her house in pots on her head and waist. Then she must clean the yard, house, utensils, and clothes and take baths with cold water in any weather. Feed the animals, cattle and clean their shelter and through away their waste far away from house on her head. Then prepare breakfast for her family members and her lovely husband when they wake up late in the morning. Also she must prepare lunch for the family up to the 10.30 am. No one bothers whether she had breakfast/lunch or not.
Before 11.00 am she must go to the farm for work as a paid labor. She must work hard there in any weather sunny, winter or rainy, otherwise her employer will not allow her to work in the farm and if this happens she will be punished by her lovely husband who is wasting time in gossiping in the village or with any member of the family. She must earn weekly for the lively hood for the family members of the husband. Also she must work hard in farm to please the owner of the farm.
When she returns tired from her job to her home at 6:00pm she does not have time to take rest and relax and entertain herself for a few minutes. She should start her duty at home to prepare tea or snacks for her mother-in-law or other family members or her husband and then she continues to prepare dinner for the family and cleaning up the mess. The condition of women in villages is worst, if her husband is drunkard. She is beaten up, cursed or insulted throughout the night. She goes to bed at around 10:00-11:00 pm but she can’t sleep or rest because she has another duty to satisfy her husband even thought she is tired and does not desire to do so, whereas she is mentally and physically not prepared. She must follow her husband in any condition like an animal. She is treated like an animal by her husband when she disagrees with him and is not willing to do what he desires. She can sleep if her husband allows otherwise she has to tolerate him throughout the night.
The next day begins as usual with a chaos in the house. Like a slave the women in the villages have to work against their will to satisfy their families without thinking of their own desires and needs which need to be fulfilled, even the family members are at least bothered about her feelings and wishes.
If the couple have children, only she is responsible to take care of them. Sometime she has to carry her children on her back on a rough and thorny path to work. Her mind is diverted between her children and her work. She can barley concentrate on her work while the children are hungry and burning under the sun.
At the end of week she must bring her hard earned money, and must hand over the amount to the mother-in-law or husband to bring the groceries from the weekly bazaar. But the strange thing is that she cannot retain any amount for her personal use and she is not allowed to go to the weekly bazaar or any place to enjoy the weekend when she is the one earning. Only she is responsible to take care of the house, children and family.
This is only half the story of what these women are suffering from. Many untold stories and pain which still lies in the heart of these women cannot be imagined. Many women have to walk kilometers in the farm, hill without any foot ware. She has to forget her hunger and thirst to bring the bulk of fire wood on their head without taking any break or rest in the way even though the load is out of their capacity and the way is hilly, stony.
Women in villages don’t have any life of their own rather than to work hard irrespective of the worst weather conditions because mostly, husband depend on their wife’s earning only. Many times drunkard husbands become aggressive and they demand the money from their wife to purchase liquor, drug and if she refuses then she is beaten up harshly and abused in the public, where no one sympathize her condition and come forward to save her from her abusive husband. The whole scenario is a source of entertainment for the neighbors. None of the government official, even though aware of the situation, finds it important to take any action against the husband. Even the police never help her because they know what penny they will get from her and if she insists then police also abused her.
Even when the woman is pregnant she has to go to work. There are no proper medical treatments for the women in the village even though Government schemes are announced every year but they are only on paper or in advertisement and the whole fund goes in the pocket of Government officials or leaders. Poor women are not aware of this.
I don’t seem to understand why parents marry their daughters in such families. Why they fall for the tradition of the society which is cruel with the women and the men dominating it? Why they destroy the future and life of their lovely daughter by paying handsome dowry and expenses of marriage? Why they don’t stand against this cruel treatment with their lovely daughter and the dowry system? It is better to keep their daughter at their own home without getting them married.
Why these women are neglected by Women Welfare Associations, Women Commission and police which are commissioned in the cities only. This harassment is worse than rape, still organizations are hiding away from these facts. There are many poor families in which women are harassed in cities too, but organizations don’t seem to find it important to help these women unless and until some kind of media is involved.