Women Of India Suffer Many Hardhips; Customs Described

Wanganui Chronicle, 28 October 1948, Page 9

Women Of India Suffer Many Hardhips; Customs Described

An interesting talk on the women of India, Malaya and Burma was given by Mrs. J. M. Cranstone (Fordell), who served in these countries during the war, at the half-yearly meeting in Fordell yesterday of the Wanganui Federation of Women’s Institutes. With the aid of a large map, Mrs. Cranstone traced the various States and countries under discussion and related some of her own experiences.

Dealing with the women of Java, Mrs. Cranstone said that social positions there were indicated by the number of Ivory pins the women wore in their hair, while those in the lower strata wore chopstick pins. She also gave a brief description of the women of Malaya, as they were before the occupation, commenting that Chinese were in the majority.

Dealing with the women of India Mrs. Cranstone described the origin of Purda and said it was not much fun being a woman in India. Although child marriage was legally abolished, young girls were married off early, despite fines being imposed for disobeying the law. She told of the primitive sort of surgery for maternity cases and the evil and grim practices that women had to suffer at childbirth. Although some of the Indian doctors were trained in Britain, their hygiene was something appalling. Things were done which would not be tolerated by women of other lands. As the mothers married very early and had children when very young, the offspring often suffered.

Britain did manage to raise the status of the untouchables, said Mrs. Cranstone as she told of the status among servants. Daughters were not Educated, because it was thought that if they were, they might expect to be waited on. They were merely taught simple hygiene and simple arithmetic, enough to help them keep house. Some of the schools were- kept going by the small coins we give for the missions, but the girls had no’ real education.

Women had to suffer so many privations that it was a wonder any were left. The widow was in a porticularly difficult plight, because she could not re-marry. They were given the cast-off rags, and had their hair shaved and become the drudge of the rest of the dead husband's family. It took a long time to abolish Suttee (the practice of forcing the widow to throw herself on the burning bier), but it was done sometimes in secret. The different religions were referred to by Mrs. Cranstone, who mentioned that five Moslem women to every man die of tuberculosis, as the Purda clothes they wear encourage the germs of the disease. The Burmese women lived a much freer life and were Channing people. Mrs. Cranstone described several temples in China. She displayed a number of articles of exquisite workmanship, also a carved basket, with a story of a legend carved in detail all round the box. It had been given to her by some nuns whom she had helped after a bad time they had endured after the occupation. Mrs. Tipper thanked the speaker for her very interesting talk and presented her with flowers.