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https://theconversation.com/a-clinical-psychiatrist-reveals-how-indian-women-in-australia-experience-family-violence-and-how-to-combat-it-184468>
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Review: Daughters of Durga: Dowries, Gender Violence and Family in
Australia by Manjula Datta O’Connor (MUP)
Manjula Datta O’Connor is a clinical psychiatrist and chair of the Royal
Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists Family Violence Psychiatry
Network. She has a particular interest in the mental health experiences of
migrant women affected by family violence. She has been supporting women in her
clinical practice for the past three decades.
Her new book,
Daughters of Durga, draws on her research and clinical
experience. It introduces readers to the complexities of family violence as
experienced by South Asian migrant women in Australia, with a primary focus on
Indian women.
Daughters of Durga unpacks the historical context of gender roles in Indian
society under the
Manusmriti laws. The
Manusmriti, India’s ancient legal
text, sets out laws, rights, duties, virtues and conduct. Written during the
first century AD, it redefined Indian women. Once strong and fearless, they
were recharacterised as dependent, submissive creatures. This ideal of women as
submissive has persisted throughout India’s history, although to varying
degrees.
Manusmriti was written by the highest caste for the highest caste. British
colonisation introduced several legal reforms, including the universal
application of
Mansumriti to all castes. Originally intended to preserve the
purity of the highest caste,
Manusmriti became a rigid law that undermined
gender equality for all Indian women."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
