The status of women in prehistoric human society was the same as that of independent females of any living species. The women, just like the men, spent their days in the lap of nature singing, dancing, laughing and playing. These conditions continued throughout the period when there was no human society as such and continued into the matriarchal age. But when the patriarchal social system came into being, the rights of women began gradually to be curtailed.

Initially, it was decided that a woman would be granted certain freedoms that she could enjoy in her in-laws’ house after her marriage or in her father’s house before her marriage. Later, her rights were curtailed even more and it was decided that a woman would be entitled to enjoy such rights until fifteen years of age; that is, as soon as she entered her sixteenth year she must forfeit those rights. Still later, it came about that a woman would enjoy her rights only to the age of five years. That is, after five years of age, she must forfeit her rights. The predominant psychology behind this restriction of her rights was: Let her realize her dependence at every step; let her realize that at home, in the society at large and within the state, she is dependent on the menfolk in every sphere of life.

In Puranic society [around 500-1300 CE], it was further declared that women were not entitled to mukti or mokśa. Only if and when they attained male bodies by dint of their penance for many lives together could they attain liberation or salvation. As long as they were in female bodies, their supreme duty would be to serve their husbands. Perhaps you have seen in the Kashi market [near Varanasi], prominently displayed on vermilion-daubed wooden boxes, these lines:

Pati param guru,
Pati sevái param sevá.

[The husband is the highest guru, Service to the husband is the highest service.]

Or:

Pati yár dhyán-jiṋán,
Pati hena devatá;
Svarga hate shreśt́a pati,
Pati bhágya vidhátá.

[The husband is the be-all and end-all of life,
Verily, the husband is god;
The husband is greater than heaven,
The husband is the ruler of destiny.]

A handful of unprincipled, power-hungry men propagated these doctrines in order to paralyse women’s reasoning, and to inflate men’s vanity. This doctrine is against nature and we have only to look out into this wide world to find numerous proofs against it. Can anybody drape a burka over a tigress? Is there anyone with enough courage to do it? Can anyone dictate to a tigress, “You cannot cross this boundary,” or “You cannot take part in games and sports, for this is prohibited to women”?

Those who propagated these doctrines were not only unprincipled, they were also well aware of the inherent loopholes in their arguments. That is why they did not propagate their ideas directly in their own name. On the contrary, they propagated all those ideas in the name of God. They proclaimed them as the gospels of God; no one shall dispute it; one has to accept it without a murmur.

When women will develop a sense of self-respect and be like other spirited creatures, they will cast aside the burkas and veils of servitude. They will then be enabled to expand their role in serving society in a balanced and consolidated way.