What is the role of women in ancient,medieval and modern India?

Answer 1

I am Indian, and i've been to india in the last year, the role of women today, is very different to what it was during medeival or ancient times, but it depends on where you are in india.
India is a very diverse-cultured nation, infact there are many different cultures there, and the role of women depends on which culture you are considering.

During ancient times, girls were ONLY considered sisters, wives, daughters, and mothers. They did not go to school, and instead were kept at home to learn the 'art' of homemaking and certain cultural accomplishmenst. She would be married off between the ages of 13-16 to a man chosen by her parents. Divorce was not permitted. Men could have more than one wife at a time. She would become pregnant as soon as possible and devote herself to caring for her husband and kids. Women rarely left the house without their husbands. If her husband died before her, she would be cremated [alive] with her dead husband. If not that, she would remain with her husband's family, but never wear bright colored clothing, jewelry, or attend festivals. Infact only widowed women wore white, plain saris. It was considered a sin, if a wife wore a plain, white sari without jewelry while her husband was alive. She would not eat more than one simple meal a day, and would be avoided by everyone, but her children. Widows could not remarry. Wives could work in the family business, if it was about women's clothing or jewelry.

Life for women in medieval times was quite similar. Except that cremating the widows alive was somewhat less common.

In modern India, life for women is in a different universe. Girls have more than just traditional female roles. They can join politics, law, international business, fashion, acting and writers. Most girls are sent to school, but this only occurs if a family can afford it [fees for school are extremely high for some families]. College for women in india is becoming more and more common, and women marry later in life. And have a say in who they marry, marriages that are not arranged are also more common nowadays. Divorce is permitted, but sometimes the male has more of a say in divorce. Women are also becoming pregnant later in life. That is if they want to be pregnant. As i said, relationships before marriage are becoming more and more common. If a woman's husband dies before, rarely is she cremated with him, because the practice is illegal. Polygamy is also illegal for both men and women. Life after death of a spouse is more equal now between men and women [women don't wear white, plain saries much anymore]. Women are becoming more equal to men, now, and they can do anything that men do. But there is a male preference in India. If a baby is discovered to be a girl, before she is born, there are high chances of abortion. If it is a boy, the mother will probably be given slightly more respect and favor. This leads more women to aborting unborn girls. This practice has reduced the ratio of girls to boys greatly. Before there were more boys than girls, and the parents of boys had more of a choice to chose for their son's bride. But now, the parents of girls have an advantage over the parents of boys. :-)
Because of this india is known for being 'the land of the vanishing girl'.
This preference of males, comes from ancient times when the parents of females had to pay a dowry [money to the groom family] in order for the marriage to take place. The dowries were often very high, and unreasonable. And the dowry was not the end of the paying money to the groom. If the money was not paid, the bride might suffer abuse. The dowry is still sometimes given today, but the shortage of girls puts parents in advantage. The way sometimes girls are talked about, it seems as though they are walking price tags rather than female humans. Since the males got a lot of cash, the parents were biased on males.