"A Good Woman"

I am reading a book called Iran Awakening by Shirin Ebadi, winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, and I found some striking similarities between sati and the oppression of women that is unfolding in Iran. Well, the subjugation of women has been ongoing for years thoroughout the Middle East and India, but in this case the practice of sati exposes the mindset behind the status quo.

Sati literally means "a good woman" in Hindi and to understand the practice one must first recognize it as a fundamental part of the Hindu tradition. A woman is first and foremost a part of her husband, who is to be regarded as a god-like figure. It is believed that self-immolation for the woman will guarantee both her family and seven future generations a place in Heaven; therefore, she is seen as a goddess in her community only after she commits the act. I believe that sati epitomizes the oppressive status of women in India. The propaganda by the media and community that represents sati as a symbol of the ideal Hindu woman, a "chaste devoted wife able to sacrifice her life for her husband" (Hunter 121) not only reduces the woman to a mere symbol of religion but in addition uses religion to validate the ignorance of millions of women. Women are left in the dark of their own rights as human beings, forced to live a life of self-denial, as part of the deeply embedded tradition.

In Iran Awakening Ebadi speaks of a similar horrific fate of women, only in this case self-immolation is chosen by the women themselves. As a statement of injustice and misery, many women in Iran decide to alight themselves. Here as well as in India, women are taught that it is their duty to cope; this is just how the world is. It is intriguing to me that after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, the suicide rate among women rose dramatically. Almost all deaths were by self-immolation. I asked myself, why in the world a woman would choose to die this way? I am convinced that it is a woman's way to force her people to confront the cruelty of her oppression. Otherwise, would it not be easier to overdose on pills in a dark room? The binding force in both of these countries and religions is the apparent subjugation of women in the name of religion. Even now in Iran, when women are allowed an education and thereby the possibility of a future beyond the home, they are still stuck when the time comes to get a job. Shirin Ebadi recalls that she was not allowed to practice as a judge even after going to law school. Women are given a new awareness of their rights but crude tools with which to advance them.