Education and the changing status of Muslim women: a case study of Srinagar district (Jammu and Kashmir)

Abstract

Status signifies an overall position of a person in a society by virtue of which the person has certain rights and obligations and enjoys certain privileges. One of the important aspects of the social structure of any social system is the fact that it s members are differentiated and evaluated according to social positions they occupy in the group and any of the subgroups to which they may belong. The institutionalization of such processes of differentiation and evaluation constructs an elaborate system that configures different status for the members of the group. There are certain determinants of status which are generally known as indicators of status. These include income, property, education and training in skills that open up chances of employment, health levels, rights and privileges. In terms of every set of indices of status, relatively women have been found to be at a much lower status than their fellow men. The lower status of women is the result of social evaluation of their biological characteristics. These characteristics are entrenched in social beliefs and values and such value system promotes male as being more important socially, while women to be submissive. The social differentiation of men and women tends to indicate the specific role that women have to play and as such reduces their chances of having equal status with their male counterparts. The issues related to status of women are now being strongly discussed at national and international levels. In contemporary times there has been a growing trend among the social scientists to acquire and accumulate the knowledge about the status of women. The status of women can be seen to comprise the following aspects; control over economic production, role in house hold decision making particularly about their own life, extent of property right, sexual autonomy, public esteem, public authority and paid employment. The problem of the status of women by and large relates to the equality between men and women.