By HH Bhakti Raghava Swami
In one of many typical articles to be found on the internet addressing the topic of employment and career opportunities, one will find the same propaganda supporting and promoting non-traditional occupations which is largely based on the false concept of equity between men and women. The following article entitled “Non-traditional occupations expand career opportunities” which was published on December 14, 2007 is one such article and begins thus:
“What is a nontraditional occupation? The term “nontraditional” occupation refers to any career a man or woman may chose, where 75 percent or more of the workers are of the opposite gender. The purpose of identifying these careers is to help educators, parents and students promote interest in and access to these occupations for both genders. Today, many of the barriers that prevented workers from entering nontraditional occupations in the past are slowly disappearing even though the equity battle has not been won.” (Source:http://iwin.iwd.state.ia.us/iowa/ArticleReader?itemid=00002666)
The subject matter of employment for men and women in modern day society immediately becomes a blurred and controversial one when confronted with basic traditional and fundamental Vedic concepts which affect gender identity, gender equality, and hence gender employment.
Before sounding the alarm on what may be regarded as radical and chauvinistic thinking, let us consider the reasons why this strong position “against” gender equity is taken within the Vedic culture and why such a position is meant to be upheld, defended and promoted.
Gender Identity
Many of the social anomalies of modern day society are directly linked to the misunderstanding and abuse of basic traditional values and concepts. The first premise, which will immediately be challenged and brushed aside by most modern educators and scientists, is the concept of the very purpose of life. The proverbial “who am I” simply cannot be neglected. If we choose not to address this fundamental question, we are applying what is called the “rabbit philosophy”. As soon as a rabbit senses danger, it closes its eyes thinking that the danger has disappeared. When we neglect this elementary basic concept of gender identify, all the other valued principles of life affecting individuals and society are directly and immediately put into jeopardy.
What is gender identity? Put very simply, all human beings are first and foremost eternal spirit souls and should be first and foremost striving for self-realization, the ultimate realization being that we are all eternal servants of God, Lord Krishna. This is the basic knowledge given in all sacred writings of the world and the essence of Vedic knowledge. To a large extent, due to not giving proper value to this first principle, i.e. that life is meant for spiritual emancipation, the other related concepts of gender equality and gender employment are not accepted due to not being understood.
Basics of Human Psychology
There is a need to have a scientific division of labour called varnas based on the scientific nature of human beings, namely their inherent qualities (gunas). The most elaborate book on psychology, known to all Vedic followers as the Bhagavad-gita, the Song of the Lord, clearly outlines what is the constitutional make-up of all living entities based on what is called gunas or qualities.
catur varnyam maya sristam guna karma vibhagasah [Bhagavad-gita, 4.13]
“According to the three modes of material nature and the work associated with them, the four divisions of human society are created by Me.”
There are basically three gunas or qualities which interact and interface with one another which in turn determine one’s varna (social divisions) within which one’s particular work or profession (karma) is taken up. The first quality is that of goodness (sattva guna), the second of passion (raja guna) and the third of ignorance (tama guna). According to one’s natural quality which becomes manifest generally around the age of 7 or 8, one is meant to take up some particular education and training which will lead one to some particular natural occupation or employment.
There are four basic divisions of social occupations which are moulded according to a particular mixture of the three above qualities. This forms the beginning of basic psychological facts of life. The first social occupation meant for the more intellectual class of men (brahmanas) is predominated by the mode of goodness, the second social occupation meant for the leadership class of men (ksatriyas) is predominated by the mode of passion, the third social occupation for the productive class of men (vaisyas) is predominated by a mixture of the modes of passion and the mode of ignorance and the fourth social occupation for the labourer class of men (sudras) is predominated by the mode of ignorance.
We should not equate the term “ignorance” to “stupidity” but understand the term in relation to what is the goal of life. One dominated largely by the lower modes of passion and ignorance cannot, on his own, have a clear understanding of life and thus needs to serve and work under those with a more clear vision, the brahmanas.
Gender Equality
Once we understand and accept the basic workings of human psychology in humans, although these same modes of material nature also apply in all species of life, we can then begin to analyze the concept of gender equality. In the same way that we all accept a marked difference between the bodily constitution of men and women, we should similarly accept basic psychological differences between the two. Men procreate children while women bear children in their wombs to become mothers. We cannot change this basic nature of men and women.
Women are generally (not always, but mostly) less inclined to deep intellectual pursuits. The research conducted by one prominent women scientist supports this claim. Professor Richard Lynn had the following words to say in her concluding article entitled “Sorry, men ARE more brainy than women (and more stupid too!)” published in May, 2010. The findings are those of Baroness Susan Greenfield, one of Britain’s best-known female scientists; she’s a professor of neurophysiology at the University of Oxford, a former director of the Royal Institution and an accomplished writer and broadcaster on scientific matters and these are her concluding words:
“My argument isn’t based on crude chauvinist doctrine (although I’m quite sure my opponents will disagree) but on decades of research, relatively simple statistics and an understanding of the law of averages. Of course, just because men, on average, are more intelligent than women, doesn’t mean there are no individually brilliant women around. If I’m right, it doesn’t mean there will be no female professors of physics; it just means we should accept that there will be fewer of them. Nor does it mean that a woman will never win the Fields Medal for mathematics; it just means that we live in a world where such an event is very, very unlikely. I realize my views are unfashionable, just as I realize the juggernaut of sexual equality and political correctness will take an awful lot of stopping. But I say to the social engineers who dream up ever-more-ingenious ways of getting more women into top positions; don’t be surprised if you find your nobly motivated ambitions foundering on the immovable rock of human nature.”
Gender Employment
The Vedic literatures and great seers explain in a simple and straightforward manner that all employment for women, in particular when taken up independently, away from the family and in interaction with men, fall within the category of non-traditional occupations, hence unnatural and undesirable occupations for women. According to human psychology, and in keeping with Vedic instructions, women by nature are not meant to be independent but require protection in all stages of their lives. Any social occupation where women must compete in the open market and work independently, especially in close proximity with men, goes against the nature of women and distracts them from their primary and natural roles as responsible chaste mothers and good housewives.
Vedic Perspective on Employment
According to Vedic psychology, employment should be localized and easily performed, not labour intensive as we often find today. By localized we mean that a man should not have to travel any long distance to work. That is why the traditional occupations for men were generally within a localized area, within that of his village. According to one great moralist, Canakya Pandita, one can only be happy if he does not have to leave home for work.
Occupations should also be simple and based on our natural abilities. Work must also be taken up according to our natural propensity or inclination (guna) and generally will become a lifelong occupation, for the vast majority of people in relation with agriculture, land and cows. Artificial gender equality, which promotes non-traditional occupations for both men and women, simply creates havoc within society as we witness in our modern way of life. Hence, social occupations (varnas) are meant for men, not for women. The role or occupation for women is clearly spelled out in the scriptures by the great saint Narada Muni who explains the four main occupations of women:
“To render service to the husband, to be always favourably disposed toward the husband, to be equally well disposed toward the husband’s relatives and friends, and to follow the vows of the husband—these are the four principles to be followed by women described as chaste.” [SB 7.11.25]
HH Bhakti Raghava Swami
The article first appeared in THE EIGHT PETALS, a monthly e-newsletter in support of Daivi Varnasrama.
The author can be contacted at: “Bhakti Raghava Swami” bhakti.raghava.swami@pamho.net
We are preaching in the modern world in a lot of different countries and among a lot of different constituencies.
It can be a real challenge to explain that our ideal of a perfect civilization is one that accepts a variety of unequal social statuses. It sounds to many audiences that we are aligning ourselves with social conservatives who have historically rationalized, tolerated and perpetrated all kinds of injustices. Our target audiences, those who are free enough from their own cultural and religious prejudices to listen to an “exotic” spiritual message, are often likely to be sworn enemies of the conservative and reactionary social forces of the modern world.
It may be even harder to go beyond the theoretical explanations of how an ideal society full of acknowledged and formalized external inequality can work nicely, without injustice, and to actually show a working model in practice.
(In our own ISKCON society, we have not yet really developed much of a system for classifying the male devotees into four different varnas, but the women devotees sometimes feel the brunt of being treated according to a lower social status without some of the reciprocal affection and protection and genuine kindness that is supposed to counter-balance their diminished social power.)
In the mean time, establishing a spiritually organized society along the lines of Varnasrama dharma may be a secondary goal of the Hare Krishna movement. Ironically, we can more easily give something higher — chanting Hare Krishna in a mood of ecstatic devotion — while we are still challenged in understanding and explaining, much less implementing, a Vedic system of social organization, which is more basic and subordinate to pure devotional service itself.
Maybe we won’t really be able to show Vedic ideals in our interaction with each other until we have internalized more purity and sattvic qualities ourselves, and more willingness to tolerate the various cultural and social arrangements of the people in general whom we are trying to attract to Krishna consciousness. Maybe a more basic, underlying aspect of Varnasrama dharma are upadharma concepts like humility, kindness, honesty, tolerance, and respect for all.
I think there is a need for a lot of frank discussion from various angles about these subjects. We cannot lose faith in the Varnasrama system, but maybe we should not emphasize it much in many settings. We still have a lot to learn about how to make it work well.
In the spirit of Akuranatha Prabhu, I would like to add that we should look at the environmental factors that affect women today. Up until the last half of the 20th century a woman could be confident that when she grew up she would find a husband who would make a lifelong commitment, financially support her, and her children. There is no basis for that confidence today. Women have to assume they will be required to fend for themselves. In Vedic society women could act according to their nature within the family structure. The wife of a brhamana was engaged in sacrifices and lived an austere life, as he did. The wife of a viashya shared the status and wealth of her husband. We should not expect women today, who have various tendencies, and are left to fend for themselves, to all be satisfied doing unskilled labor so they do not compete with men. And we must admit that in many professional occupations woman are showing themselves quite competent. If women are being pushed to compete in areas where their bodies limit them this is unfortunate. Athletic girls should not be told that a rule against women competing with men as professional cage fighters unnaturally stifles their ability to compete
In general, ignoring the reasons for contemporary attitudes is revealed when devotees try to emphasize that woman should simply indulge a man’s desire to be superior. Women play a more important role than that in any society. Civilized people give credit to the contribution of all its members. The contribution of mothers in society is not inferior to any other contribution. To become a brhamana requires the training of a brahmaically inclined mother. The mother is every humans first Guru. It has been noted in material science that women are more satisfied in traditional roles when their function is valued. When their function as mothers is not valued and they are seen exclusively as objects for male enjoyment, of course they become dissatisfied. So I do not think anyone will persuade modern women to adopt the traditional roles by telling them they should do so because the Veda’s say they should exist simply to satisfy their husbands psychological desire to be in the superior position. And implying that this is the only function women can perform is a distortion of the Vedic position on this issue.
It is true that Iskcon is catering to a larger community and people.Nothing can change overnight.We can not expect an ideal society with all varnas and ashrama in place.
It takes a lot of effort and understanding.
I feel that it will be a difficult task to implement varnashrama when we eclipse ourself with ideas like “A devotee is always on liberated platform or beyond the rules of varnashrama”.
I feel these kind of concepts and theories are irrelevant to a beginner and sometimes even cause distraction and chaos.These concepts may be the siddhanta of bhakti but not taken with correct understanding,I feel.
The bottom rule or symptom of Krishna Consciousness is to “Always remember Krishna and never forget Him”. This is common for all people in all varna and ashrama. But there are other rules which one must follow.
Just like a devotee is bound by the local laws of government and that He must pay his taxes , he is similarly well bound by laws of karma and varnashrama too.
Grihasta devote remembers Krishna all the time , so does a sanyasi too. But this doesnt warrant a sanyasi to marry.The rules of sanyasi and grihasta are eternally different irrespective of they being Krishna conscious.
We consider a Krishna conscious Sanyasi as fallen if He has desires for marriage or gets married?
We might find such devotees still continuing to practice Krishna consciousness .
If their KC has not dwindled, then why do we consider those sanyasisi fallen?
We consider them fallen because sanyasa vows were part of their sadhana in Krishna consciousness.One can revive one’s KC at any status of his life irrespective of His varna and ashrama.However rules of varna and ashrama are integral to the rules of KC.
Just like medicine has a diet, so does KC has varnashrama.
To consider a devotee in terms of their varna and ashrama is a big offence.
But this doesnt mean a devotee keeps changing varnashrama or not follow at all according to his/her whims under the pretext of serving a higher purpose.
Indeed even sanyasis and babajis have their own rules and regulations apart from this bottom rule.
Religion means dharma. Dharma means Sva Dharma.Sva Dharma means Varnashrama Dharma. Philosophy without Religion is mental speculation.Krishna Consciousness without Varna and Ashrama is an imagination.And hence I believe Srila Prabhupada indicated that establishing Varnashrama is the other task in His mission.
We are not babajis.The society needs brahmanas, Kshatriyas ..
Dear Bahkti Rhaghava Maharaja,
Please accept my humble obiesances.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
You write” Women are generally,(not alway, but mostly) less inclined to deep intellectual pursuits.
According to” The Washington D.C. Council of Graduate Schools” www.cgsnet.org,in the U.S. in 2009, 73.0% of Doctorates in education went to women. 71% of Doctorates in public administration went to women. 77% of Doctorates health science went to women. Overall 67% of the Doctorates in 2009 went to women. It is true that men earned more doctorates in engineering and physical science. I see no reason to consider doctorates in engineering and computer science as “deep intellectual pursuits”, and doctorates in public administration, health science, and education as not deep intellectual pursuits.
I respect your mission of establishing natural living. I just read a chapter in a book by Vandana Shiva about the people of of Nahi- Kala decades long fight against a limestone mine that is ruining their way of life.Vandana interviewed a woman who says” We drink fresh milk, we eat ghee, we eat food from our own fields, All this is gives us not just nourishment for the body but a moral strength, that we are are own masters. we produce our own wealth”. Vandana, , has written several books describing how the post colonial, so called, development in India is actually maldevelopment. It has simply reduced natural resources while giving wealth to the elite capitalists. She says that “it has been shown that under conditions of subsistence the interdependence and complimentary of the separate male and female domains of work is based on diversity not inequality”. She asserts that harmony in diversity is something the capitalistic mind cannot grasp. We might inspire a western women to be part of complimentary system of separate male and female domains as part of a mission to establish ideal social harmony. But based on the facts we will never convince them they cannot achieve academic success in the western world. And a highly educated woman,(professor for instance) can continue in her career, chant,16 rounds become initiated and go back to Godhead. I do not believe she has to give up her career and live in a rural village. The real equity is the ability to serve Krishna while continuing in ones occupation. I do not believe this is negated because ones occupation does not strictly follow Vedic traditions. If it did very few people would be candidates.
Gender equality is not a matter of arbitrarily doing away with the understanding of differences in gender as much as it is about giving equal protection and rights.
Evidence shows that wherever women are empowered that whole society benefits and wherever they are disallowed or discouraged from equal participation that whole society suffers.
In India today girls age 1 to 5 die at a 50% higher mortality rate than boys of the same age. Why? Because the families give more of their resources to the boys. They are seen as more valuable.
The evidence shows that amongst the poorest people in the world the men often waste most of the household income on intoxication, gambling and other destructive vices, whereas women often spend money very wisely and can actually make the household prosper.
Gender equality is a core principle in the more advanced societies of the world today where human rights are given high value. Societies where there is high gender inequality tend to be those where human rights are not highly valued.
Ideas which advocate that women are less than men lend themselves to the false notion that women are less valuable than men. Unfortunately this often has devastating consequences for women and for the society as a whole.
Preaching ideas about gender inequality in varnashrama amongst the educated sector of American and European society today will very likely be ineffective and counter productive.
I made a mistake in my previous comment. The numbers I listed for doctorate degrees earned by women was actually the number of graduate certificates earned by women. But the actual number of doctorate degrees earned showed a very similar pattern.
Doctorates Earned by Women 2008-2009:
Education – 67.3%
Public Administration and Services- 61.5%
Health Sciences- 70.2%
Engineering-21.6 %
Math and Computers-26.8%
Physical and Earth Science- 33.4%
Overall- 50.4%
A somewhat similar pattern exists for masters except women earned, overall-60.4%
To check personally go to cgsnet.org click on – Graduate Enrollment and Degrees 1999 to 2009, see Pg. 46-47
Re #4
Sita Rama said:
Engineering and computer science are significantly more intellectually challenging. You should try it some time.
What you are seeing is the result of 39 years of “Affirmative action” (Title IX) at work that discriminates against men entering higher education. Feminism at work. Read this article about a university in Germany that discriminates against men.
http://tinyurl.com/4scflez
And read this article about gender discrimination against men in Swedish Universities.
http://tinyurl.com/4mj8sn8
The whole karmi educational system favors females to the detriment of males:
”
http://tinyurl.com/47jzmgq
The following article also highlights how the feminized school systems harm boys.
http://www.malespirituality.org/college.htm
And it is not going to get better. In my hometown the feminist dominated school board shut down the only boys school, because “it would breed anti-feminism”—I was told by a former teacher. However, they kept the all girls school.
To see how whacky discrimination is see this article
http://tinyurl.com/4uedqoy
The girls are upset that huge crowds will come to watch the boys play basketball but no one wants to watch the girls play. Even other girls don’t want to watch the girls play. But they want to take the school board to court and force people to watch the girl’s play.
In this article Baroness Susan Greenfield is wrongly quoted. She actually bemoans the fact that few women succeed in Math and Science. See the original article that is quoted at:
http://tinyurl.com/2ujw8ot
re: #4
According to Forbes Magazine:
http://tinyurl.com/q2hwdz
This suggests that it is more intellectually challenging. This field is heavily dominated by men (85%) a percentage that is not liked by another class of engineers –Social Engineers–Feminists who want to take it over errr have gender equity. See:
http://tinyurl.com/4orczrx
and
http://tinyurl.com/6fbe4jb
They object that in countries like Australia and UK there are fewer female engineers than USA and Canada because in UK and Australia they require that the students be strong in Math and sciences.
I wonder what those more flexible options are that would be useful in being an engineer? Maybe that is why there is a shortage of engineers in the USA even though there are twice as many female engineers than in UK and Australia—they aren’t as good. In any case as is well known factually men as just better at what it takes to be an engineer than women are (math, science and problem solving). See: http://tinyurl.com/2ujw8ot
continued…
part 2
In his address to the US Congress Bill Gates said:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-12MSUSInnovationLeadPR.mspx
We note that there is no mention of any field dominated by women (psychology, sociology, and other soft sciences) as being vital to the survival of the USA as the world leader and dominant power. This is not lost on other countries like India and China who aggressively foster the hard sciences.
The country that dummies down math, science and engineering in order to achieve gender equity will lose and become history. Feminism, like communism, is against the natural order and will eventual fail because it is not viable. It is a social disease that must run its course and potentially killing its host like communism, which was the cause of untold human misery.
“Read this article about a university in Germany that discriminates against men. The Department of Political Science of the University of Mainz has an open assistant professor position reserved exclusively for women.”
Dear Atmavidya prabhu, the article is just quotation and is not saying the whole story. There is new rule in Germany and Austria that tells, when there is inbalance in gender equality in the university, then the next new post will be reserved for the woman, until the gender equality is achieved.
That means that there are more men then women working at that university at the moment. Of course, the solution per se is stupid (balance of 50:50 male and female workers), because there may be more qualified male person for the post, or there may be much more graduated male candidates.
Your servant
Dhira Nitai das
Part 1:
Atmavidya Prabhu,
Feminism is defined in various ways. One definition is that gender is a human construct that should be negated. I agree with you that feminism, thus defined, is artificial and comparable to communism which says classes are human constructs that should be negated.
Capitalism is also artificial. Its core value is Locke’s opinion that what a man takes from nature is mixed with his own labor and thus he owns it. This is a false dichotomy between man and nature. Krishna says the mudha-donkey brained man, sees himself as the doer of actions that are carried out by nature. The capitalists is deeply rooted in this donkey mentality, he feels he is the body, the actions of it are his own labor, and he owns whatever he can take from nature. Everything except his labor deserves no credit because they are just things that take place automatically by physical processes. This leads to the idea that the social occupations, or real work, are limited to things that directly produce salable products or capital. In other words things that adds to the GNP.
The American work ethic began as the protestant work ethic. A fundamental protestant concept is,(although it was restricted to married couples), God created sex so humans could enjoy it. The fact that this is the mechanism for procreation is just a coincidence. You are adept at railing against problems in the modern world but you have neglected the root of these problems. Although you abstain from gross sex you uphold the materialistic attitude that the purpose of marriage is so that the husband can receive subtle sense gratification from the wife’s adoration. She should put his picture on the altar, be his menial servant, and always cater to his psychological need to be in the superior position.Although you repeatedly quote a small number of verses to support your claim; this is not the Viasnava position on marriage. The only way marriage is justified within bhakti yoga is that it is an institution where husband and wife can work conjointly on the spiritual project of raising devotee children. This is the fundamental difference between my position and yours.
The following words spoken by Srila Gaurakisora dasa Babaji Maharaja were initially taken from a series of articles which appeared in the Sajjana Tosani monthly magazine in the year 1917. The articles, entitled Anaran Prabhura katha or “The Instructions of My Spiritual Master” appeared in the nineteenth volume, numbers five and six. The editors of the Caitanya Math corrected these magazine articles by Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura and compiled them into a small book. The headings of the stories were given by the editorial staff to depict their specific instructions. The original articles can be found in the Devananda Gaudiya
The present rendition is taken from His Grace Karnamrita Prabhu’s book entitled “Gaura Kishore Dasa Babaji Maharaja”, and since the book is now freely available as a Pdf file on the Internet, I hope I am not committing any impropriety by reproducing it herebelow. If I am wrong, kindly forgive me.
The Duty of Married Couples
After his wedding, a rich man from Calcutta, who had taken shelter at the lotus feet of Srila Bhaktivinoda Thakura, wished to know how he could utilize his time in hari-bhajana while situated in married life. With that purpose in mind, he approached Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura for instruction. The wealthy gentleman became very depressed when he was informed by Sarasvati Thakura that there might well be various
obstacles in his attempt to perform hari-bhajana as a householder. Later on, this gentleman, accompanied by Srila Sarasvati Thakura, went to meet Srila Gaura-kisora dasa Babaji Maharaja on the riverbank at Kuliya. When it was mentioned to Srila Babaji Maharaja that the gentleman had married, Babaji Maharaja commented, “Yes, it is all right that he has married. From this time on he will daily cook and offer foodstuffs to Lord Vishnu. After offering it to Him, he will serve the prasada to his wife, and then as a Vaishnava he will take her prasada remnants. He will consider her as Krishna’s servitor and his spiritual master. He will not think of her as an object for sensual gratification. Everything in this world: wealth, jewelry, men and women, are all for worshiping Krishna: That which is meant for Krishna’s service should be utilized as such. Do not consider your wife as one meant for your service. Instead, respect her as a servitor of Krishna.”
Here is the purport to Babaji Maharaja’s foregoing discussions with householders: The sense of proprietorship of one’s spouse is to be eschewed, and the conception of one’s spouse as Krishna’s worshipable servitor is to be nurtured. When one regards one’s mate as the servitor of the Lord and thus suitable for His enjoyment only, one can easily transcend the urge to indulge in illicit sex which so bedevils many a married couple.
Dear Devotees,
Please accept my humble obeisances. All glories to Srila Prabhupada.
Once when some of my friends were walking back home from school they were approached by a young woman walking alone on the streets. She started begging my friends if they would allow her to stay with them. In return she said that she would personally serve them in whatever way possible. It was perhaps December 2003 and as I could remember we were in the middle of a chilling winter in Alabama. My friends very easily refused her proposal and walked back home.
In India where the remnants of the vedic culture still exist most of the time all the young girls are married to suitable husbands who take care of them for the rest of their lives. The vedic culture ensures protection for everyone especially women. In the so called modern society all men and women are in the hot pursuit of finding the best wife and the best husband. As a result of which we sometimes find men and women above the age of 55 looking for suitable girl friends and boy friends.
Another point I would like to make here is that the real wealth in the vedic society is not paper. It is gold, cows, and land. Many intelligent people even today store the savings in the form of gold and land.
Your servant,
Tirtharaja das
For the lovers of statistics for determining gender capabilities here is some data of higher education examination results in India 2007. The source is not a newspaper article, but a publication by India’s Department of Higher Education. It is overseen by the Deputy Director General, Dr. Vijay P. Goel.
For 2007 the National Average of passed candidates for the Secondary/High School, Examination was 68.3% for boys 73.06% for girls.
For the Supplementary High School Examination the National Average Passed was 39.09% for boys 43.41% for girls.
For the Supplementary Higher Secondary Examination, the National Average passed was 39.93% for boys and 46.30% for girls.
I do not think we should make claims while being ignorant of the facts. None of the hard data that I have seen supports the conclusion that women are significantly less capable then men regarding academic education.
Source: Government of India, Ministry Of Human Resource Development, New Delhi. www.education.nic.in/stats/Examresults2007.pdf