If you want to piss off young men in a traditional society ...

THE WORLD: "In India, New Opportunities for Women Draw Anger and Abuse From Men," by Emily Wax, Washington Post, 25 August 2008, p. A11.

Listening to stories of professional women in India and the crap they put up with reminds me of some of the worst scenes of sexism in "Mad Men."

Naturally, upward social mobility, especially for women, undermines the country's traditional "join-family system, in which couples are expected to move in with the husband's parents," where the wife typically came under the control of the mother-in-law. In response, social anger at such rapid change/challenge gets expressed in more rapes, dowry killings, etc.

America records the highest levels of reported rape, but "reported" is the key word there. The vast majority of assaults in India go unreported.

Quote from head of Bangladesh "women's council":

In many ways, the South Asia woman is out of the oven and into the frying pan. They bring home money, they share in power in the society. But they are also doing something very powerful that may enrage men: toppling the old family structure.

Globalization is a job threat to us, but it's a social revolution to most countries around the world.

Comments

[MAJ Melissa Carter]

In current time the evolution of culture has been more main stream news than settling within the boundaries of that country. For years women have taking strides to improve life for themselves and their families. In some cultures like in India, this is not the norm and the men are outraged. I think the open skits in the street are a mild stance on handling the rape and molestation of young women to make some type of impression on the men. The men of India, that are against this harassment should set the example and take a stance to stop this kind of violence. There is mention of that women have reported incidents to the local police and they fail to assist with the problem. The male dominant population must change their ideologies because of the evolution of the times. In general people or a population does not want to struggle; women all over the world are seeing the opportunity to progress forward and success throwing away those old traditions and establishing new ones. Indian men need not be intimidated by a women’s success. As seen all over the world, educated and successful women will add to the household and the economy creating a new workforce. In the long run India will benefit from the uplifting of the female culture..

[Jarrod Myrick]

In India, a certain some say having a daughter is like watering your neighbor's flowers. That attitude and the ubiquity of sonogram convenience stores pose some kind of challenge for human rights advocates.