A discussion of the role of women in different societies in Asia.
This paper examines how for centuries, women have always been considered as inferior to men and how this biased perception was not only existent in the eastern civilizations but was also present in the western societies. It looks at how today in eastern civilizations, women have made significant contributions towards several social, political and religious movements either directly or indirectly and have been playing an important role in the advancement and development of these societies. Throughout Asia, nations have supported women as leaders in different political movements, which were initiated by their husbands or fathers and most of the Asian women have been ruling in societies where women often do not have much liberty to express their views and exercise their individual freedom. This paper analyzes the role of women of the years in several prominent societies of Asia including China, South East Asia, Japan and Mongolia.
“With the independence of South Asia from the British regime, a democratic constitution was formed, which recognized the rights of women as equal to that of men. In the coming decades, numerous laws were changed including the marital laws, the property right legislations, rules for inheritance etc. Several other movements in the late 70s were supported by women activist groups, which led to the formation of several new legislations to protect the interests of women. However, the recent wave of fundamentalism has again brought women’s liberty at stake. There are still incidents of murders and rapes in South Asia and literacy rate of women in the region is the lowest in the world, which is very surprising.”