Other States - Orissa   

New age women still believe in old ways

BHUBANESWAR: Times are changing fast. So are the thoughts and trends. But the traditional attitude of the Oriya woman seems least affected by the changing times and trends – and even the feminist movements - as revealed from a State-wide survey conducted by an Oriya women’s magazine ‘Madhulita’.

Sample this. Ninety-nine per cent of married women covered under the survey felt that they don’t think it wise to have a share in their paternal property. Ninety per cent of these women would not allow their children to marry of their personal choice. Forty-four per cent still feel that rearing up children should alone be the mother’s responsibility.

The high profile family planning drive notwithstanding, half of the Oriya women still do not subscribe to the single-child concept. And 30 per cent women still wish to have three children as an ideal family.

Sixty-per cent Oriya girls felt that it would have been better for them to be born as boys! And 89 per cent said they would not mind marrying someone selected by their family.

Seventy per cent unmarried girls thought that women should not delay their marriage beyond the age of 26. Even five per cent claimed that girls should marry at 18!

Half of Oriya women have the notion that women politicians can’t match their male counterparts.

However, for the reformists there are certain findings to make them cheer about. Ninety-four per cent women in the State have started believing that a male child is not mandatory for a family while 86 per cent unmarried girls said that a girl should visit her prospective groom’s family before finalisation of the marriage.

Even 10 per cent of Oriya girls claimed that they don’t think pre-marital sex is a taboo.

And as a blow to the saree industry, only 10 per cent of the young women said they love wearing sarees while 80 per cent preferred salwars.

The survey, claimed to be the first of its kind for the State by the magazine’s editor Madhulita, was conducted in all the 30 districts of the State. Spanning over six months, the survey teams interviewed women of various sections and categories in towns and villages. Each woman was asked 13 questions, she said.

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