Girl Power

Took me about 1.5 hours to fall asleep last night, and then woke up sweating this morning because it’s just so hot in India. But I think I’ll get used to this room soon enough. We went to go see the museum here to learn about the historic Karve Stri Shikshan Saunstha (http://www.maharshikarve.ac.in/index.php). The actual museum was really nice; it was laid out in a timeline format of Maharishi Karve’s life and a timeline of other world events going on at the same time. It was helpful and surprising to see how recent his work for the women of India was. We watched a summary documentary of his life and work and it was disconcerting to see what kind of social issues women had/have to suffer. His first work was with widow re-marriage. Widows were required to shave their heads, stay inside the home, do menial housework, and suffer physical and verbal abuse from others in their home. Karve fought for the rights of these women and said that they should be allowed to remarry and he himself remarried to a widow after the death of his first wife. He then created a safe home for these women where he focused on women education.

After seeing the situation that widows and women had to suffer through, it made me really thankful for the education and rights I have. I feel that my generation often takes these rights for granted, and it’s quite unsettling to know that women still have to suffer through these conditions in this day and age. Seeing things like this just light this fire in me to help those in need fight for their rights so they don’t have to suffer.