Page 16 - Usha Devi News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Records, everything like any government institution also that recognizes you sees the family unit as headed by a man. there are so many unsaid rules that women have to follow here, like cover their head when in the presence of men outside the home, cook the food, but serve the men and children first and then do with whatever is left. girls can't be outside the home till late while men can roam around free, and if women would interact with men outside of theirfamily, they could be labeled loose. so in all of this, if women are to head families, interact with the outside world and take decisions...

Also become like her. i've been meeting some of the women who have now become the head of their families and asking what impact it will have on the 1.4 billion people that now live in india. when usha devi got married, it felt like all avenues to her dreams had shut. married at 15 in one of india's poorest states, bihar, usha was a wife and mother with little control over anything in her life, including the number of children she had. after having two daughters, i thought if i get them good education, they'd be no less powerful than boys.

It brought money in and gave her an identity. identity is not a small thing. you may earn respect for a short time by flaunting your wealth, but the hard—earned identity of a self—made person is lifelong. now women also have an identity. earlier, only men were known by their names. now women are identified as individuals too! independent, confident usha is now a leader amongst women in her village. when she speaks, they listen. these women follow her instructions as she enrolls them into a government scheme that gives easy loans to poor women. the group meets every week. collecting small c...

I saw my mother change and i thought, i can also become like her. i've been meeting some of the women who have now become the head of theirfamilies and asking what impact it will have on the 1.4 billion people that now live in india. when usha devi got married, it felt like all avenues to her dreams had shut. married at 15 in one of india's poorest states, bihar, usha was a wife and mother with little control over anything in her life, including the number of children she had. after having two daughters, i thought if i get them good education, they'd be no less powerful than boys. can only son...

Interestingly, what we have also started seeing is that the proportion of women who are more educated than their husbands has been really rising. people who got married in 1980s, only about 5% of the women had more education than their husbands. people who got married in 2000s to 2010s, more than 20% of the women have more education than their husbands. and if we think of headship, not simply who is the biggest earner, but also someone who is capable of making decisions, i suspect there is also sort of increasing power maybe moving towards this more educated women. despite this, usha still thi...