In a bout with patriarchy

Reicha Tanwar

• Wrestler Vinesh Phogat wins historic gold
• Manu Bhaker shoots gold at ISSF Junior World Cup
• Sakshi Malik gives India 1st medal at Olympics
• Deepa Malik scripts history, wins silver in Paralympics

Ritu Rani, Geetika Jakhar, Surender Kaur, Jasjeet Kaur, Vinesh and Babita Phogat.... The list of young women from Haryana excelling in wrestling, athletics, hockey, boxing, weightlifting, shooting and mountaineering is endless. Heartening, extremely inspiring and, maybe, poetic justice too. In the highly patriarchal state of Haryana, notorious for the unprogressive and retrograde attitude towards girls and women, these news headlines come across as paradoxical. And a majority of the sportswomen who have excelled are from the south of Haryana, from districts Sonepat, Jhajjar and Rohtak, well known for being gender insensitive.

How have these young women living in a society that is totally unsupportive been able to break the male bastion? Coming from a region where the crime rate against women — at 75 per 100,000 women — is among the highest in India compared to the national average of 52.2. Historically, the sex ratio of the state has been highly skewed in favour of boys and the diktats of the khap panchayats restrict girls from leading a normal life from time to time. Marriage within certain norms, banning of western clothing and use of cell phones are only a few examples.

If one tries to understand and look deeper into the life of an average rural Haryanvi woman, she is robust, genetically well-built and extremely hard working, both on the family farm as well as at home, tending to the needs of the family and also taking care of the cattle. A usual working day for her may be more than 12 to 14 hours. Their daughters today are witness to the hard work of their mothers and sisters. But the access to education has altered their world view and intellectual horizons. They have demonstrated high resistance and the inner strength to exercise choices that can change their future.

During my long association of nearly 40 years with the university system in Haryana, I have observed that girls coming from rural Haryana are, by and large, extremely committed to their course of study and wish to make a future for themselves different from that of their mothers, grandmothers, aunts and elder sisters. Not surprisingly, a look at the last few years’ enrolment in higher education institutes reveals that 80 per cent of intake in the major departments at the universities has been that of girls and in subjects like mathematics, chemistry, physics, environmental science, etc. Not only that, if you pick up any academic merit list of universities and colleges in the state, the toppers would be invariably girls. Such is their grit and the determination to excel.

Young girls from the region excelling in sports is even more inspiring because they have taken to sports which were hitherto considered as male domain. Take wrestling, for instance. It requires virtually no infrastructure and no equipment. All it requires is will and determination.

As these women have excelled in sports and brought laurels to the country, they have been catapulted to important positions in the government. This has sent soaring the honour and prestige of their families. Police jobs especially enjoy preference and, as the saying goes, a good job and an enviable life is only a medal away. As a result, daughters who have shown potential in a particular sport are finding support from the family, something that was hitherto unknown.

Given the excellent track record of women sportspersons, the responsibility of the state increases manifold. For, every girl who shines, there are a hundred more waiting in the wings. The size of the state or a region, as we know from the pages of sports history, has little to do with the level of performance. In sum, it is the opportunity that is given in terms of infrastructure, training and financial support during the years of training that matters. Sadly, in India, you begin to support a sportsperson only when she or he has achieved some level of success. 

—The writer is former director, Women’s Studies Research Centre, Kurukshetra University