Third World Indian Women in the light of Manju Kapur’s A Married Woman

Abstract

The article will detect the social hurdles experienced by the Third World Indian Women in the light of Manju Kapur’s celebrated novel, A Married Woman (2002). The obstacles such as early marriage, forced marriage, gender discrimination, domestic work, family tradition, social taboos, education inequality, discourage for degree, patriarchal hegemony, sexual politics that block the way of female freedom, education, employment and empowerment will be explored here. The common picture in the South Asian Indian patriarchy is that either educated or employed all Third World women face some common obstacles. So far been employed or empowered they have to compromise their will and choice for the sake of family or society. Patriarchy means men-women disparity but Indian women are colonized by both religious patriarchy and social taboos. Women in Third World context are restricted by both familial and social obligations. Hence, patriarchy in India is religious patriarchy and social cultures are different for men and women. In this fiction, Kapur’s resistant heroines Astha and Pipeelika are intellectually liberated from the tie of patriarchy but again enticed by a lot of social and familial customs they suffer from identity crisis and existential problems.