Vanaja Dhruvarajan – författare

Monique Bégin begins the first section, which deals with women''s physical and mental health, with a critical evaluation of the Canadian health-care system. In the section on women''s well-being in the workplace, Caroline Andrew, Cécile Coderre, and Ann Denis examine the situation of a group of women managers, and Nancy Guberman explores the role of women in caring for dependent adults in the home and community. The third section investigates the issue of well-being for minority women: Kabahenda Nyakabwa and Carol D.H. Harvey analyse the case of Black immigrant women and Mary O''Brien reviews the stereotypes of older, unmarried women. In the final section, the authors -- among them Marguerite Andersen, Maureen Leyland, and Maureen Jessop Orton -- concern themselves with ensuring the well-being of women by increasing their power in society through knowledge. Other contributors to this volume are: Leslie Bella, Cathryn Boak, Dawn Currie, Megan Barker Davies, Claire V. de la Durantaye, Gloria R. Geller, Madeline Jean Graveline, Elayne M. Harris, Andrea Lebowitz, Doris McIlroy, Joanne Prindiville, Monique Raimbault, Ghyslaine Savaria, and Eva A. Szekely. This collection includes essays in both English and French.

Why, as Dhruvarajan asks, do most rural Hindu women continue to accept, sometimes even cherish, household arrangements that humiliate, dominate, and depersonalize them? According to Dhruvarajan, the Indian patriarchy successfully socializes millions of females into emulating pativratya--the doctrine of total devotion to one's husband when married and obeisance to male dominance when not married. . . . What distinguishes Dhruvarajan's work from similar studies is her meticulous ethnography of household life as a blueprint for life cycles ruled by traditional sex-role relationships. In her analysis of 46 Kannada-speaking Brahmin and Vokkaliga families of a south Indian village, Dhruvarajan weaves a tight tapestry from colorful undercurrents of everyday rural life evident only to a participant observer. ChoiceA poignant case study of the way in which ideology, religion, and social structure have converged to subjugate women. The author demonstrates how this blatantly patriarchal society is justified by an ideology, `Pativratya,' which holds that a woman's spiritual salvation depends upon her total devotion, service, and subordination to her husband. A revealing and fascinating book for feminists, scholars and students of religion and Indian culture. Vanaja Dhruvarajan is Professor of Sociology at the University of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and also teaches Women's Studies. She is particularly familiar with her subject as she was born and raised in India.