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Abstract

Educational development and participation in the workforce are prime factors in the changing situations of women in society. The movement towards equality and justice for women is gradually captivating Indian society as a human development indicator. To examine the views of women on independence vis-à-vis freedom as instruments to achieve equality and justice, 50 girls age between 16 to 26 years were selected purposively adopting a stratified simple random sampling. They were from different socio-economic background living in both rural and urban areas. They were studying in different levels from high school to university. The study has explored their views on their freedom and independence in respect to their romantic relation, marriage, marriage partner and marital relation, family relation, mothering and economic relation. The findings show that the majority of these girls were against male domination but still seek the attachment to males as essential in their lives. They fostered their need for freedom variously in their daily lives without interference of others (especially males). In this connection they would prefer romantic relations and premarital sex. They would settle their conjugal relations through love marriage and its’ stability would depend on liberty and respect of their counterpart. In their opinion their family would be micro-nuclear and they would be the sole decision-makers. They would bear single child and the child would be reared up jointly by them. But they would not allow breast feeding to maintain their physique and beauty. They argued that they would play dual roles of home maker and wage earner for their self dependence in terms of finance. So, they were cultivating their mindset for freedom in certain affairs of their life and it was the prime hindrance of their equity and justice.

Author Biography

Harasankar Adhikari has been working on the issues of child welfare, women’s empowerment and elderly care through NGOs as a professionally trained social worker for last 16 years after completion of his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Social Work. He has several publications on the upbringing of sex workers’ children, sex workers, the elderly population, and the management and situation of unorganised workers. Presently he is engaged in social work and doing research on family studies sponsored by the Indian Council of Social Science Research, New Delhi.

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