11. Status of a Woman

We usually used to debate about something or the other. Once we were discussing about the status of women. Gandhiji said, "Women's status in the East is higher and more respectable than that in the West." I said, "I don't agree with you. East had made her dependent on men. It seems that she has no personal life." "You are mistaken," Gandhiji said, "In the East a woman is worshipped." I said, "I don't feel so. On the contrary, it seems to me that she struggles to satisfy men's desires."

"In many a walks of life, she goes along with them and sometime she even surpasses them. Though she might be doing them some petty favours occasionally." I asked him, "How can you say that men regard women as their equals even though it's customary here that men rest in a chair and the women stand behind them in attendance."

Smiling a bit, Gandhiji said, "It's true that men have not yet reached that standard, but almost all men are aware of that."