Dear friends: Today i got an email selling a product. Apparently it is "happy families day".
Can a family of whatever kind (heterosexual or people of diverse sexual and gender identities married or living together) be happy without justice underpinning the relationship? Just family is by and large elusive for majority in South Asia and perhaps developing Asia Firstly, one has to differentiate between patriarchy as a concept and how it works out. Both men and women have internalized patriarchal norms and this has to be addressed as it plays out in the short run, while in the long run challenging patriarchal structures To give an example if mothers restrict daughter's mobility, it has to be addressed. If men beat up their wives more than mothers in law it has to be addressed A woman cannot have a right to sex selection of males as she would otherwise be oppressed by her in laws. She has to be economically, socially and politically empowered. In the long run structures of patriarchy have to be addressed. While men are more powerful, women are not powerless Secondly, while we want inter-caste, inter-class and inter religious families at the same time it should not be the case that dalit women/girls are bought and sold because of girl shortage. Inter-religious marriages should not mean conversion of one to the other (often the woman to the man's faith). Inter class marriages should mean respect for manual work which does not exist in large parts of developing Asia Thirdly, while people whose sexual identity and gender orientation is different have a right to a family, there is a blur when i see poor boys/men purchased by rich older men or the other way around when i see lower middle class men use rich older men to climb up, acquire their property, move up the economic ladder and then marry a woman saying they never had a relationship Fourthly in a just family, is the relationship of hierarchy with children acceptable? My child has now decided to call me by my pet name and not "amma" (meaning mother). I think I failed in not recognizing this earlier. It is these complexities that we have to deal with to move towards just and happy families http://www.publishaletter.com/readletter.jsp?plid=27735 asian age -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "humanrights movement" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/humanrights-movement?hl=en.
