A step back for education?

The practice of demanding dowry has been illegal in India since 1961, but that has not stopped it from being one of the biggest social evils our country has faced. Alarmingly, it emerged this week that a Sociology textbook in Maharashtra for Class XII students has listed reasons like the bride being ugly or handicapped as a reason to demand and offer dowry. The text reads, “If a girl is ugly and handicapped, then it becomes very difficult for her to get married. To marry such girls, bridegroom and his family demand more dowry. Parents of such girls become helpless and pay dowry as per the demands of the bridegroom as family. It leads to rise in the practice of dowry system.”

The outrage that followed targeted the regressive attitude of the book, and that such matter had slipped past the Maharashtra Board and made its way into the 12th grade textbook. While both, the academic community and social activists, are infuriated about the incident, they agree that the problem is more deep-seated than just an oversight by the education board.

Secretary of All India Democratic Women’s Association, Kiran Moghe, believes that it is patriarchal bias in the authors, which caused them to write using this line. She says, “When they write words like ‘ugly,’ they are again, going by the stereotypical male standards of beauty. What is outrageous is the fact that something like this not only got written in a textbook for children, but that the government could allow something like this to pass,” adding that she demands a removal of the offensive passage.

The passage about dowry in the book Maharashtra board book.

Poet and feminist activist, Sharanya Manivannan, says that it is with the phrasing of the section rather than the facts stated in the book that she has a problem with. “It’s important not to whitewash things for educational purposes, but at the same time, a sensitive approach is needed. It is true that larger dowries may be demanded from women who don’t fit the conventional beauty standards or who are disabled. It is necessary for textbooks to discuss how and where these prejudices come from rather than just stating them as unquestioned facts,” she asserts.

Social commentator Aakar Patel breaks the issue down to bare bones. “First, the problem is deep-seated in our society and it is not so easy to root it out, since most narratives are looked at through a patriarchal lens to start with. Secondly, I don’t think that sufficient thought has been given as to who should be writing these books,” he explains.

The columnist goes on to add that he is shocked that the state, which gave birth to visionaries like B.R. Ambedkar can now produce such atrocities as a part of their education.

Professor P.G. Jogdand, who is a part of the Sociology department of the Mumbai University, believes that the first step that one needs to take to ensure that regressive passages stay out of textbooks is to ensure that the people who frame the syllabi to have a stricter process for selecting the writers for the books to start with. “This is the first time that I have come across something so regressive in a textbook. What should have been given instead, is simply the definition of the term, with an emphasis on the fact that it is a criminal offence,” he adds.

Aakar adds that if it is awareness that one wishes to spread, a bare narration of some of the more shocking realities in India are required. “Female infanticide, dowry, gender inequality are facts that are rampant in India. We are one of the only societies in the world that discriminates against women right from when they are born. I think that students simply need to be made aware of these facts rather than resorting to foreign narratives to help them understand gender bias and equality,” he concludes.