Violence against women and religion

Dec 22, 2019 Letters

Dear Editor,

I read a recent letter on the preponderance of violence against women in the East Indian community vis-à-vis other ethnic groups in Guyana. I felt the pain in the author’s words and noted the various persons in the Guyanese community he named who have sought to assist with the scourge.
Sushil Persaud makes the point that when the preponderance of violence against women in East Indian communities is brought up, the response is that violence against women is found among other ethnic groups; but this does not negate the preponderance against East Indian women.
Men and women are physically different and this difference is taken to mean that one group is entitled to dominate another. Similarly, one ethnic group looks different to another and it is taken to mean that one group has entitlements that the other does not – hence racism. Thus, racism and sexism are different sides of the same coin of domination – difference leading to a hierarchical structure – thus no concept of equality – and violence towards those who are different.
Violence against women is not unusual in any society due to difference, and men have inflicted various types of cruelty on women – such as widow burning in India, foot binding in China and genital mutilation in Africa. It may be difficult to change cultural practices, but it is more difficult when God comes into the mix – particularly since the Gods of the sacred texts are us.
Mr. Persaud’s name indicates that from a religious perspective, he is a Hindu. His letter makes references to recent incidents of rape in India – but he absolves Hinduism by stating that Indo-Guyanese suffer from “a misunderstanding of the caste system.”The religion has a hierarchical structure so that those at the bottom have no entitlements and in relation to men, women do not have entitlements and are perceived as the harbingers of destruction. Lord Rama’s wife, Sita, was selected for sacrificial purposes to avoid the spread of violence in the community. Not only had she associated with the dark curly haired demon Ravana, but on her resumption of life with Rama, she became pregnant. Being a woman and therefore of sinful birth, it was feared any descendant would continue the monstrosity and destroy the community. She was therefore sacrificed to ensure the continuity of the society.
In various cultures, it is women’s association with reproduction and sexuality which dooms them to inferiority. This is why the statement in Judaism, “Thank God I am not a woman” is a part of Jewish religious ritual. The Biblical account of creation holds Eve responsible for the sin of eating the forbidden fruit, and it is she who will be cursed with pain in childbirth and have her husband rule over her. The price of her eating the forbidden fruit and thus disobeying God is the loss of immortality for all humans. In Maori culture, their creation stories give rise to the belief that women are lowly, destructive, profane, but fruitful, whereas men are high and sacred. Therefore, the roles of men and women are set apart, and again we see it is women who are responsible for human mortality, even though it is only women who can give life. In each case, we see a relationship not only between women and life, but women and death.
Many cultures have proverbs expressing the inferiority of women – such as the Burmese one which states that “If a woman had no nose, she would eat excrement”; and in China, there is a saying that if you spare a woman a beating for three days, she will stand on the roof and tear the house apart. At Japanese New Year, it is bad luck if a woman is the first woman to enter the house. With these negative myths about women, it is therefore not surprising that there is so much violence against them.
Mr. Persaud is also disturbed by the high level of suicides among East Indians. Hindus believe in reincarnation. The sacred texts state that all will reincarnate – even those who commit suicide; it is just that the period of time for return will be longer than in other cases. Therefore, if there is only a time difference when a person who commits suicide will reincarnate, it means that some of those who are depressed may be willing to take their chances on their time of return.
I assume Mr. Persaud is a Hindu and has an understanding of the ideology – so his problem is not so much about a “misunderstanding of caste”, but how to manage the ideology so that members of the Guyanese community can have a better life.

Yours faithfully
Professor Kean Gibson

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