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Persisting Patriarchy pp 83–141Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Politics of Gender: The Undercurrents of Patriarchy in the Life of Catholic Syrian Christian Women

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Part of the book series: New Approaches to Religion and Power ((NARP))

Abstract

The undercurrents of patriarchy in the life of Catholic Syrian Christian women is examined critically using the key of ‘politics of gender’ in this chapter. Perceptions and narration of experiences indicate that hegemonic notions of masculinity and femininity are persistently performed by women and men since non-conformity is threatening to established gender order of the community that is strongly wired by caste ideology. This has strong implications on decision-making in family life, women’s mobility, notions of female body and sexuality, women’s experience of domestic violence and political economy of the household. The facts and figures help identify the interplay between power, space and consciousness as these concepts serve as heuristics to unveil the operational dynamics of patriarchy in the Catholic Syrian Christian community.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    From the 2014 Malayalam Film How Old Are You?

  2. 2.

    Mahasweta Devi, Keynote speech—‘O to Live Again’, Jaipur Literature Festival (2013).

  3. 3.

    See Maithreyi Krishnaraj, “Is ‘Gender’ Easy to Study? Some Reflections”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLI, No.42 (October 21, 2006), 4440–4443.

  4. 4.

    Kamla Bhasin, Understanding Gender, New Delhi: Kali for Women, 2005, 1.

  5. 5.

    Risman BJ, “Gender as a social structure: Theory wrestling with activism”, Gender & Society (2004), Vol.18, No.4, 429–50, 432.

  6. 6.

    Shelley Budgeon, “The Dynamics of Gender Hegemony: Femininities, Masculinities and Social Change”, Sociology (2014), Vol. 48/2, 317–334, 317.

  7. 7.

    Judith Lorber, Paradoxes of Gender, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994, 1.

  8. 8.

    Jayanti Basu, “Development of the Indian Gender Role Identity Scale”, Journal of the Indian Academy of Applied Psychology, January (2010), Vol.36, No.1, 25–34, 25.

  9. 9.

    This chapter presents and analyses the data from the quantitative and qualitative research. As part of the quantitative research, data was gathered from 240 female respondents using an interview schedule on a one-to-one basis. The data corresponds to a critical inquiry on the gendered consciousness of the Syrian Christian women, their notions of body and sexuality, their experience of domestic violence and their notions of economic agency, dowry and inheritance questions. Data gathered from a representative sample of 60 male respondents from the CSC community also informs discussion in this chapter as it gives the perceptions of men on issues related to the women’s question within the patriarchal framework. The respondents were identified using snowball sampling method. In the qualitative research, 52 in-depth interviews were done of select women and men from the different CSC dioceses of Kerala, of which 38 were women and 14 men. Eight focus group discussions were held with women teachers, bank personnel, housewives, daily wage workers and women involved in church activities. Data was gathered from 8 out of 15 dioceses of the Catholic Syrian Christian or Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala, the choice of the diocese based on cluster sampling method.

  10. 10.

    Shilpa Ranade “The way she moves: Mapping the everyday production of gender-space”, Economic and Political Weekly, April 28, 2007, 1519–1526.

  11. 11.

    See American Psychological Association, “Answers to your questions about transgender people, gender identity, and gender expression”. 2011. Available from: http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/transgender.aspx accessed on February 24, 2016.

  12. 12.

    Mehta A. “Embodied Discourse: On Gender and Fear of Violence”, Gender, Place and Culture: A Journal of Feminist Geography (1999), Vol.6, No.1: 67–84.

  13. 13.

    The assertion of man as the ‘head’ was repeatedly heard in interviews with women and men. This hierarchical positioning of men is not taken as a privilege based on intellectual merits, as 78.8 per cent of the female respondents do not consider women to be intellectually inferior to men.

  14. 14.

    Mike Kesby, “Retheorizing empowerment through participation as a performance in space: Beyond tyranny to transformation”, Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society (2005), 30 (4), 2040.

  15. 15.

    All names given in the text are changed to safeguard the identity of the respondents of the research.

  16. 16.

    Naila Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievement: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment”, Development and Change, Vol.30 (1999), 435–464, 438.

  17. 17.

    Ibid., 445.

  18. 18.

    The technique deployed in this analysis is one-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA), where we take only one factor and investigate the differences among its various categories having numerous possible values. The basic principle of ANOVA is that if the significance value is more than .05, which is the probability value, null hypothesis is not rejected, thus affirming that the factors under consideration have no significant influence on each other. When the significance value is less than .05, which is the probability value, null hypothesis is rejected, thus affirming the fact that education has a significant influence on notions of gender. Cf. C.R. Kothari, Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques, (Second Revised Edition), New Delhi: New Age International Publishers, 2004, 256–257.

  19. 19.

    43.3 per cent men also attest that everyday household decisions are made according to their likes.

  20. 20.

    Also, 55 per cent men attest that major decisions affecting the family are taken by them. Whereas for 37.6 per cent women, matters of sexual relations, family planning methods, the number of children, when to have them and so on go by husband’s desires, only 26.7 per cent men attest to the same. In addition, 28.3 per cent women even admit that they do not have the freedom to choose the TV channels they like to watch.

  21. 21.

    See Schippers M, “Recovering the feminine other: Masculinity, femininity, and gender hegemony”, Theory and Society, 36: 1(2007), 85–102.

  22. 22.

    Connell RW, Masculinities. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1995, 77.

  23. 23.

    See Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, Jesus; Miriam’s Child, Sophia’s Prophet: Critical Issues in Feminist Christology, Continuum, 1995, 38.

  24. 24.

    Connell RW, Gender and Power. Cambridge: Polity Press, 1987, 183.

  25. 25.

    Schippers M, “Recovering the feminine other: Masculinity, Femininity, and Gender Hegemony”, Theory and Society (2007), 36/1: 85–102, 91.

  26. 26.

    Risman BJ, “Gender as a social structure…”, 436–437.

  27. 27.

    Lorber, Paradoxes of Gender, 293.

  28. 28.

    Cf. Steven Lukes, Power a Radical View, London: Macmillan Education Ltd., 1974, 23–24.

  29. 29.

    See Gary Becker, “A Theory of the Allocation of Time” Economic Journal 75:299, (1965), 493–517.

  30. 30.

    Shilpa Ranade “The way she moves: Mapping the everyday production of gender-space”, Economic and Political Weekly, April 28, 2007, 1519–1526. 1519.

  31. 31.

    See Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, Space for Power, 19.

  32. 32.

    Lakshman Rekha is expression referring to a protective circle drawn around Sita by Lakshman in the Epic Ramayana, which in addition to being a line of protection served also as a line of control. Today, this expression is used symbolically as a boundary marker that restricts women’s mobility and freedom.

  33. 33.

    V. Geetha, Patriarchy, 146–147.

  34. 34.

    See Robin Jeffrey, Politics, Women and Wellbeing: How Kerala Became a Model, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2003.

  35. 35.

    See Devika, J. Engendering Individuals: The language of Re-forming in Early Twentieth Century Kerala, Hyderabad: Orient Longman, 2007.

  36. 36.

    Devika J. “Housewife, Sex-worker and Re-former: Controversies over women writing their lives in Kerala”, Economic and Political Weekly 41/17 (2006), 2465–2478.

  37. 37.

    V. Geetha, Patriarchy, 147–148.

  38. 38.

    Cf. Julia Leslee and Mary Mc Gee (eds) Invented Identities, New Delhi Oxford University Press, 2000, 25.

  39. 39.

    See Niranjana S., Gender and Space: Femininity, Sexualization and the Female Body, New Delhi: Sage Publication, 2001.

  40. 40.

    The hegemonic construction of ‘femininity’ in religion informed by patriarchal ideology, and the consequent exclusion of women from religious leadership and decision-making is illustrative of spatial practices secreting society’s space.

  41. 41.

    Focus Group Discussion held at a rural parish with middle-class housewives.

  42. 42.

    At another FGD held in a rural church.

  43. 43.

    See Shilpa Ranade, “The way she moves: Mapping the everyday production of gender-space”, Economic and Political Weekly April 28, 2007, 1519–1526, 1523.

  44. 44.

    Ranade, “The way she moves …” 1525.

  45. 45.

    In this regard, see my earlier section on the ‘Lifeworld of the Catholic Syrian Christian Women’, which explores into the gender implications of the caste consciousness of the catholic Syrian Christian community.

  46. 46.

    V. Geetha, Patriarchy, 154.

  47. 47.

    Michael Dickerson, “Discriminatory Attitudes towards the Female Mobility: Evidence from a Survey Experiment”, Economic & Political Weekly, March 2, 2019, Vol. LIV, No 9, 57–61.

  48. 48.

    See Henry Lefebvre The Production of Space, 26.

  49. 49.

    Cf. Joy Deshmukh-Ranadive, Space for Power, 58–79. 155.

  50. 50.

    V. Geetha, Patriarchy, 147.

  51. 51.

    Cf. Anne Oakly, Sex, Gender and Society, London: Harper Colophone Books, 1972 as cited by Maria Mies, Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale, New Jersey: Zed Books, 1986, 22.

  52. 52.

    Gender stereotyping is evident as 50.8 per cent of the female respondents take silence to be a virtue for women. On the question of domestic chores like cooking, cleaning and caring which are the most obvious expressions of gender stereotyping, while women take these to be duties from which they have no relief, 53.3 per cent of the male respondents take these as primarily women’s responsibility.

  53. 53.

    Carole Pateman, The Sexual Contract, Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1988. 207.

  54. 54.

    Nancy Fraser, “Beyond the Master/Subject Model: Reflections on Carole Pateman’s Sexual Contract” Social Text, 37 (1993), 173–181.

  55. 55.

    Arthur Rattan, Selection 12 From Masculinity and Power Gould (ed), Gender: Key Concepts in Critical Theory, 113–119.

  56. 56.

    See Kate Millet, Sexual Politics, Great Britain: Rupert Hart Davis, 1971.

  57. 57.

    Malayali society refers to Kerala, Malayalam being the official language of the state.

  58. 58.

    J. Devika, “Bodies Gone Awry: The Abjection of Sexuality in Development Discourse in Contemporary Kerala”, Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol.16, No.1 (2009), 21–46:23.

  59. 59.

    This is brought out in a study by Philip Mathew titled “Attitudes of Adolescent Students in Thiruvananthapuram towards Gender, Sexuality, Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights”, Thiruvananthapuram: Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, 2005.

  60. 60.

    The sexually charged religious symbolism is brought out forcefully by Sarah Caldwell. See Caldwell, Oh Terrifying Mother: Sexuality, Violence and Worship of the Goddess Kali. New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2001.

  61. 61.

    See Praveena Kodoth, “Shifting the Ground of Fatherhood: Matriliny, Men and Marriage in Early Twentieth Century Malabar”, Working Paper 359, Centre for Development Studies, Thiruvananthapuram, May 2004, 7.

  62. 62.

    The following advertisements from a single column of an established local daily illustrate this: ‘Alliance invited by RCSC parents for their daughter 27/163, fair, B. Tech., HR Manager, Bangalore from parents of well placed boys .Contact∗∗∗’, and another which says: ‘Parents of RCSC girl, fair, private school 26/158, teacher inviting proposals from suitable grooms .Contact∗∗∗’. See Malayala Manorama Classifieds, Sunday March 10, 2019, 12. Here, RCSC refers to Roman Catholic, Syrian Christian, which is the CSC community taken as a case in this research.

  63. 63.

    Of the female respondents of the research, 58.3 per cent consider modesty a special virtue of women. This data is significant against the traditional pronouncement of Syrian Christian women as ‘proverbial for their modesty and chastity’. With regard to chastity, while 42.8 per cent women consider chastity a virtue applicable mainly for women, 54.6 per cent insist that it should be equally applicable to both the sexes. On this question, it is interesting to note that 61.7 per cent of the male respondents consider chastity and modesty to be virtues that have greater significance for women.

  64. 64.

    See Uma Chakravarti, Gendering Caste Through a Feminist Lens, Kolkata: Stree, 2003.

  65. 65.

    V. Geetha, Patriarchy, 139.

  66. 66.

    Devika J. “Housewife, Sex-worker and Re-former: Controversies over women writing their lives in Kerala”, 26.

  67. 67.

    See Ravi K Sharma and Vaishali Sharma Mahendra, “Construction of Masculinity in India, a Gender and Sexual Health Perspective”, The Journal of Family Welfare, Vol. 50, 2004, 71–78.

  68. 68.

    See “Sexuality and Patriarchy” in V. Geetha, Patriarchy, 167.

  69. 69.

    Of the male respondents, 43.4 per cent think that husbands exercise sexual authority over wives. Whereas 68.4 per cent women experience freedom to express sexual desires or initiate sex, 36.3 per cent think that a woman initiating sex may be misunderstood and exploited. According to 48.3 per cent men, wives’ expressing sexual desires or initiating sex is good; on the contrary, 43.4 per cent do not share that opinion.

  70. 70.

    See Ravi K Sharma and Vaishali Sharma Mahendra, “Construction of Masculinity in India”, 73.

  71. 71.

    Margaret E. Greene, Watering the Neighbour’s Garden: Investing in Adolescent Girls in India” South and East Asia regional Working Paper no.7, New Delhi, Population Council 1997.

  72. 72.

    Devasia and Devasia, Girl Child in India, New Delhi: Ashish Publishing House, 1991.

  73. 73.

    Judith Butler, Gender Trouble: Feminism and the Subversion of Identity, New York: Routledge 1990 / 1999, viii.

  74. 74.

    See. Maithreyi Krishnaraj, “Understanding Violence Against Women,” Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLII, No.44 (November 3, 2007), 90–91, 91.

  75. 75.

    Boghard M., “Family Systems Approach to Wife Battering: A Feminist Critique” in American Journal of Orthopsychiatry Vol.54 (1984), 558–568 as cited by Michelle Jones in ‘A Fight About Nothing’: Constructions of Domestic Violence, an unpublished doctoral thesis submitted to the Dept. of Gender Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide in 2004, in the site http://www.clasp.org/publications/michaeljohnson_dv.pdf (accessed on 24-11-07)

  76. 76.

    See Vijaya Nidadavolu, “Domestic Violence” in Shireen J. Jejeebhoy (ed), Looking Back Looking Forward: A Profile of Sexual and Reproductive Health in India, New Delhi: Rawat Publications and Population Council, 2004, 169–179, 167.

  77. 77.

    Kalpana Viswanath and Surabhi Tandon Mehrotra ‘Shall We Go Out? Women’s Safety in Public Spaces in Delhi’, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XLII, No.17 (2007), 1542–1548, 1542.

  78. 78.

    The data was collected through in-depth interviews in the course of two sessions at her residence. More excerpts from her interview come later in the chapter on women negotiating power.

  79. 79.

    Paradoxically, studies point out that instances of gender-based violence is much higher in Kerala compared to the rest of India. According to the International Clinical Epidemiologist Network Study (97–99) published in 2000, while 43 per cent urban woman of Kerala are subjected to physical violence and 62 per cent to mental torture, the national average only points to 27 per cent and 35 per cent, respectively. In the case of rural Kerala, the statistics indicate to 46 per cent of physical violence and 69 per cent of mental torture, while the national average is only 44 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively. Similar observations are also made in the study by Praveena Kodoth and Mridul Eapen, as they point out that Kerala ranks in the highest group of states in cruelty at home, and there is a concerted and sharp increase in rates of cruelty at home between 1995 and 2000. See “Looking beyond Gender Parity: Gender Inequities of Some Dimensions of Well-Being in Kerala”, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. XL, No.30 (July 23, 2005), 3278–3286.

  80. 80.

    More analysis on the impact of religious indoctrination on women is given in the next chapter.

  81. 81.

    See Thomas O’ Dea, The Sociology of Religion, N.J: Prentice Hall Inc., 1983, 9.

  82. 82.

    Gregory Baum, Religion and Alienation: A Theological Reading of Sociology, New York: Paulist Press, 1975, 32.

  83. 83.

    Paolo Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed, New York: Seabury Press, 1970, 38–39.

  84. 84.

    Mooney J, ‘Violence, Space and Gender: The Social and Spatial Parameters of Violence Against Women and Men’ in N. Jewson and Mac Gregor (eds), Transforming Cities: Contested Governance and New Spatial Divisions, London: Routledge 1997, as cited by Michelle Jones in ‘A Fight About Nothing’: Constructions of Domestic Violence, an unpublished doctoral thesis submitted to the Dept. of Gender Studies, School of Social Sciences, University of Adelaide in 2004, on http://www.clasp.org/publications/michaeljohnson_dv.pdf.

  85. 85.

    See Kalpana Kannabiran, The Violence of Normal Times: Essays on Women’s Lived Realities, New Delhi: Women Unlimited, 2005.

  86. 86.

    Amartya Sen, The Argumentative Indian: Writings on Indian Culture, History, Identity, London: Penguin Books, 2005, 220.

  87. 87.

    Naila Kabeer, Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Developmental Thought, New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1995, 127.

  88. 88.

    See Steven. M. Parish, Hierarchy and its Discontents, 241.

  89. 89.

    Other studies also indicate that reported violence declined with the increasing education of both men and women (Cf. the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) carried out between 1998 and 2000). Analysts observe that perhaps education reduces violence by reducing women’s acceptance of it. See International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and ORC Macro 2000 analysed by John Simister and Judith Makowiec, “Domestic Violence in India: Effects of Education”, 511–515.

  90. 90.

    Several studies have shown that the more education a woman has, the less likely she is to report having ever experienced violence. See Kishore S. and K. Johnson, Profiling Domestic Violence: A Multi-Country Study, Calverton, M.A: ORC Macro, 2004, as cited by John Simister and Judith Makowiec, “Domestic Violence in India: Effects of Education” in Indian Journal of Gender Studies, Vol.15, No.3(2008), 507–518, 509, also Vijaya Nidadavolu, “Domestic Violence”, 169.

  91. 91.

    See Jayati Ghosh, ‘Structures of Insecurity’, Frontline, January 4, 2008, 27.

  92. 92.

    This is a phrase that has strong theological connotations in the Christian communities as Jesus Christ is symbolized eucharistically as the bread broken in order to give life to others.

  93. 93.

    Devaki Jain ed., Indian Women (Publications Division, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Government of India, 1975), 77.

  94. 94.

    Resource Centre for Interventions on Violence Against Women is at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, India.

  95. 95.

    Dave, A., Ajgaonkar, V., Pradhan, R., Chakraborty, RM. (2017) ‘In search of justice and care: how women survivors of violence navigate the Indian criminal justice system’, Journal of Gender-Based Violence, vol 1 no 1, 79–97. https://doi.org/10.1332/239868017X14900133026601.

  96. 96.

    Swapna Mukhopadhyay, “The Enigma of Kerala Women: Does High Literacy Necessarily Translate into high Status?” Working Paper: GN(III)/2006/WP5, 13–14.

  97. 97.

    For the latest reports of the National Crime Records Bureau, visit http://ncrb.gov.in.

  98. 98.

    A three-member committee headed by former chief justice of India, Justice Verma, was constituted to recommend amendments to the criminal law for faster trial and proper punishment for criminals accused of committing sexual assault against women.

  99. 99.

    B. Gupta and M. Gupta, ‘Marital Rape: Current Legal Framework in India and the Need for Change’, Galgotias Journal of Legal Studies 1, 1 (2013) 16–32.

  100. 100.

    See N. Rao. “Rights, Recognition and Rape,” Economic & Political Weekly 18, 7 (February 2013), 18–20.

  101. 101.

    R. Chowdhary, “Male Sexual Violence: Thoughts on Engagement,” Economic & Political Weekly 48, 7 (December 2013) 14–16.

  102. 102.

    See Kochurani Abraham, “The Saga of Sexual Violence in India,” in Regina Ammicht Quinn, Lisa Sowle Cahill and Carlos Susin, ed. “Corruption,” Concilium (2014/5) 40–47.

  103. 103.

    See Audry D’Mello and Flavia Agnes, “Protection of Women from Domestic Violence,” Economic and Political Weekly 50, 44, October 31, 2015, 76–84.

  104. 104.

    Ranjana Kumari and Sophie Hardefeldt, “Gender Inequality: The Cross-Cutting Implications of Domestic Violence in India,” at the Global Thematic Consultation of UN Women, 2012.

  105. 105.

    Dave. A et al., “In search of Justice and care…”, 95–96.

  106. 106.

    Vincent Mosco, The Political Economy of Communication: Rethinking and Renewal, New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1996, 25.

  107. 107.

    See Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick (eds), Key Concepts in Cultural Theory, London and New York: Routledge, 2004, 284.

  108. 108.

    “Towards a Feminist Political Economy” Inter Pares, Occasional Paper Series, No. November 5, 2004, 4, available on site www.interpares.ca accessed on September 18, 2009.

  109. 109.

    ANOVA with a significance value of .000 supports the inference that there is a direct relationship between economic agency and decision-making in women.

  110. 110.

    Gracy shared her story in an in-depth interview, when she spoke at length about the struggles working women go through regarding economic decisions affecting their lives.

  111. 111.

    In personal communication with Mr George in a city parish. His wife is a school teacher whose response in an in-depth interview also pointed to a lack of economic agency in spite of her education and personal income.

  112. 112.

    Naila Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievement: Reflections on the Measurement of Women’s Empowerment”, 441.

  113. 113.

    See Bina Agarwal, “Disinherited Peasants, Disadvantaged Workers: A Gender Perspective on Land and Livelihood”, in Economic and Political Weekly Vol. 33, No.13, (1998) A 2-A14.

  114. 114.

    Galbraith, J. K., Economics and the Public Purpose, London: Andre Deutsch 1974, 35, 36 as cited by Naila Kabeer in Reversed Realities: Gender Hierarchies in Development Thought, New Delhi: Kali for Women, 1995, 101.

  115. 115.

    According to the demographic projection, the proportion of the Syrian Christian community would decline from 9.7 per cent in 2001 to about 8.9 per cent by 2011 and to about 7.8 per cent by 2031. Cf. K.C. Zachariah, The Syrian Christians of Kerala: Demographic and Socio-Economic Transition in the Twentieth Century, Hyderabad: Orient Longmann Pvt. Ltd., 2006.

  116. 116.

    As per the National Sample Survey reports of 2009–10, out of every 1000 females in India’s rural areas, 347 were attending to domestic duties. In the case of urban females, this number was even bigger: 465 per 1000. In comparison, the number of men attending to domestic duties were only 5 per 1000 in the rural areas and 4 per 1000 in the urban set-up.

  117. 117.

    Nitya Rao, “Caste, Kinship, and Life Course: Rethinking Women’s Work and Agency in Rural South India,” Feminist Economics, 20, 3 (2014) 78–102.

  118. 118.

    Government of India, India Human Development Report 2011: Towards Social Inclusion, New Delhi: Oxford University Press 2011, 31.

  119. 119.

    V. Spike Peterson, “How (the Meaning of) Gender Matters in Political Economy,” New Political Economy 10, 4 (December 2005) 499–521.

  120. 120.

    Rao, “Caste, Kinship and Life Course: Rethinking Women’s Work and Agency in Rural South India,” 81.

  121. 121.

    Cf. Steven. M. Parish, Hierarchy and its Discontents, 8.

  122. 122.

    Partha Chatterjee makes a reference to this ambiguity in consciousness in reference to the subaltern. For an elaboration of the concept, see Partha Chatterjee, “Caste and Subaltern Consciousness” in Ranajit Guha (ed) Subaltern Studies VI: Writings on South Asian History and Society, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 1994, 169–209.

  123. 123.

    Naila Kabeer, “Resources, Agency, Achievement: Reflections on the measurement of Women’s Empowerment”, 441.

  124. 124.

    Cf. Ranjana Sheel, The Political Economy of Dowry: Institutionalization and Expansion in North India, New Delhi: Manohar Publishers, 1999, 11.

  125. 125.

    According to the law of Moses, the right to inheritance was only with the sons of the tribes of Israel, but there was a revision of this law at the instance of the daughters of Zelophehad putting their case before Yahweh in request for a share of their father’s property and Yahweh granting their request and instructing Moses to revise the law accordingly (Cf. Num 27: 1–11). For reference to Syrian Christians following the law of Moses, see Sebastian Champapilly, Christian Law of Succession in India, Cochin: Southern Law Publishers, 1997, 8.

  126. 126.

    Cf. L.K. Anantha Krishna Ayyar, Anthropology of the Syrian Christians, Cochin Government Press, Ernakulam, 1926, 120–122.

  127. 127.

    Canon No.15 [S. ix D. xx] in Scaria Zachariah, The Acts and decrees of the Synod of Diamper (1599). The Canons form the historical documents pertaining to the culture and life of the ancient Kerala Christians. They were proclaimed at a religious conference of Kerala Christians originally called ‘Marthoma Nazranees’ in 1599 held at Udayamperur known as the great ‘Udayamperur Sunahadoss’. See Scaria Zacharia, Udayamperur Sunahadossinte Canonakal A. D 1599, Edamattom: Indian Institute of Christian Studies (IICS), 1998, 241.

  128. 128.

    Before the 1916 legislation, there was uncertainty and diversity of practice among the several denominations of the Christian communities of Travancore regarding their system of inheritance and succession. Some were said to follow the customary or Canon laws, others were said to be governed by an ecclesiastical authority, and yet others were said to adopt the provisions of the Indian Succession Act, particularly there was considerable uncertainty regarding the exact law applicable to each community to the rights of women. See Sindhu Thulaseedharan, ‘Christian Women and Property Rights in Kerala—Gender Equality in Practice’ in http://www.krpcds.org/reportleft.htm accessed on November 22, 2008.

  129. 129.

    Cf. Sebastian Champapilly, Christian Law of Succession in India, 19.

  130. 130.

    Even though the terms ‘Stridhanam’ and ‘dowry’ are used interchangeably today, scholars make a distinction between two usages of the term ‘dowry’, either as Stridhanam or as bridegroom price. According to some scholars, the term ‘dowry’ as it is used in the Indian context refers to two analytically distinct sets of transactions, the Stridhanam, a conception of women’s property, over which women have rights, and bridegroom price, a payment in cash and/or goods intended for the bridegroom and/or his family. See Caplan, Lionel ‘Bridegroom Price in Urban India: Class, Caste and Dowry Evil among Christians in Madras’, in Man, 19:2(1984), 216–233, as cited by Praveena Kodoth, “Institutional Change, Patriarchy and Development: Engaging Analysis, Persistence of and Policy on Dowry in India” in Jeevadhara, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 223, (2008), 19–32, 24.

  131. 131.

    Section 28 of the Travancore Christian Succession Act, 1916, defined Stridhanam as any money or ornaments, or in lieu of money or ornaments, any property, moveable or immovable, given or promised to be given to a female or, on her behalf, to her husband or to his parent or guardian by her father or mother, or after the death of either or both of them, by anyone who claims under such father or mother, in satisfaction of her claim against the estate of the father or mother.

  132. 132.

    Under the Indian Succession Act, 1925, the property of the intestate has to be divided equally among his children, that is, the males gaining no advantage and females any disadvantage because of their sex (Section 37 of The Indian Succession Act, 1925) and this was to take effect retrospectively from 1-4-1951 repealing the corresponding laws of intestate succession which were in force in that state. See Mary Roy vs. State of Kerala, in All India reporter (1986), New Delhi: Government of India, 73, 1011–1016.

  133. 133.

    Cf Amali Philips, “Stridhanam: Rethinking Dowry, Inheritance and Women’s Resistance among the Syrian Christians of Kerala”, Anthropologica 45 (2003), 245–263, 248.

  134. 134.

    Cf. Beena Agarwal, A Field of One’s Own, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 56.

  135. 135.

    Cf. Scaria Zacharia, Udayamperur Sunahadossinte Canonakal A. D 1599,193. The 20th Decree of the Synod of Diamper criticized the custom of denying inheritance rights to females even where there were only daughters. In such cases, the inheritance went to the collateral heirs by denying the daughters any share in the ancestral property. The Synod pointed out that such a custom is not lawful. At the same time, it insisted on the provision of considering the Stridhanam given to daughters as well as the capital for business provided for sons alike for determining their share. Ibid., 241.

  136. 136.

    The custom of Pasaram, as practised now, is mainly in view of reclaiming the dues to the parish church. The parish community is divided into different class groups categorized under A, B, C, D and so on, and a certain amount is demanded at the time of marriage from both the bride and the groom irrespective of the question of dues. The amount expected of the family is dependent on their economic status, but even the very poor are obliged to give because otherwise the parish priest could withhold the desa kury (the letter of permission from the church) needed for the sacramentalization of marriage. This information was gathered by the researcher directly from a few parish priests upon enquiring about the practice of Pasaram in their parishes.

  137. 137.

    See, in this regard, Madhu Kishwar “Dowry—to Ensure Her Happiness, or to Disinherit Her?” in Manushi, May-June (1986), 1–13 also Stanley J. Tambiah, “Bride Wealth and Dowry Revisited”, Current Anthropology, 30 (1989) 413–435.

  138. 138.

    See Ranjana Sheel, The Political Economy of Dowry, 19–25.

  139. 139.

    At a focus group discussion with middle-class housewives in a city parish, Kerala.

  140. 140.

    In personal communication with Prof. Cyriac Thomas, who is a retired vice chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University, Kerala

  141. 141.

    Cf. Amali Philips, “Strıdhanam: Rethinking Dowry, Inheritance and Women’s Resistance among the Syrian Christians of Kerala”, 249.

  142. 142.

    Of the women respondents of the quantitative research, 77.1 per cent believe that inheritance and not dowry gives women power and security, yet 71.6 per cent of them are of the opinion that in spite of having the legal right to inheritance, they do not want to fight with family members over it.

  143. 143.

    Cf. Amali Philips, “Strıdhanam: Rethinking Dowry, Inheritance and Women’s Resistance” …, 249.

  144. 144.

    Women testify having to pay a heavy price for defying social customs. See Madhu Kishwar, “Who’s afraid of the Supreme Court?”, Manushi, September-December (1987), 45–46.

  145. 145.

    Cf. Mary Roy vs. State of Kerala, in All India Reporter, New Delhi: Government of India: 73: (1986), 1011–1016.

  146. 146.

    Basu, Srimati (1997), “There She Comes to Take Her Rights” cited in Praveena Kodoth “Institutional Change, Patriarchy and Development: Engaging Analysis, Persistence of and Policy on Dowry in India” in Jeevadhara, Vol. XXXVIII, No. 223, (2008), 19–32, 32.

  147. 147.

    Rayan Samuel, “Five Girls Ask Why? And a Woman says No!” in Kurien Kunnumpuram (ed) Nature, Woman and the Church: Indian Christian Reflections on Ecology, Feminism ad Ecclesiology, Collected Writings of Samuel Rayan SJ, Vol. I, New Delhi: ISPCK 2013, 102.

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    Kochurani Abraham

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Abraham, K. (2019). Politics of Gender: The Undercurrents of Patriarchy in the Life of Catholic Syrian Christian Women. In: Persisting Patriarchy. New Approaches to Religion and Power. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-21488-3_4

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