About book May You Be The Mother Of A Hundred Sons: A Journey Among The Women Of India (1991)
'In a chronicle rich in diversity, detail, and empathy, Elisabeth Bumiller illuminates the many women's lives she shared--from wealthy sophisticates in New Delhi, to villagers in the dusty northern plains, to movie stars in Bombay, intellectuals in Calcutta, and health workers in the south--and the contradictions she encountered, during her three and a half years in India as a reporter for THE WASHINGTON POST. In their fascinating, and often tragic stories, Bumiller found a strength even in powerlessness, and a universality that raises questions for women around the world.', says the blurb, and it had me hooked from the first page. Elizabeth Bumillier's husband's foreign assignment in India, brought her to New Delhi in 1985. She writes about how she came to write this book, going from a person who knew little about India, to someone who travelled through India, lived in villages and came to understand the lives of women across India. Absorbing it all in, and writing about it in the most non-judgemental manner possible. She writes about the dowry burnings, female feticide, the complex hierarchy that exists, the condition of women in both rural and urban areas. The ironies that is India. Despite the powerful women in the political arena, women, are still facing issues with the most basic of things, health care,safety, basic equality and social freedom. The traditions that bind even the richest families in India to patriarchal norms that have resulted in the deep-seated lack of gender equality in India. Women who make the most of their lives despite all the challenges that they might face, women who adjust, accept their fate, and some who succumb to the challenges they face.Although it was written over two decades ago, the book is still relevant in so many ways. The way in which women's lives have not changed at the rate at which one would have expected it to change is evident when we read the book. She explores the lives of successful, independent women in India, socialites, feminists as well as women bound by traditions, and rules, for whom life hasn't changed much from the time of their grandmothers'. The manner in which she writes, the way she sees it, without being judgemental, or stereotypical makes it a great read. Her observations of life as it is in India for women, across all strata of society, the difference in lifestyles and expectations that could vary so much and at the same time be so similar for women across India. My husband read it. He rarely reads a book these days - he finds reading on the Kindle much more easier,he just couldn't put it down. For a book, on a subject that can be sad, and heavy, it was a surprisingly quick and interesting read. A book I would definitely recommend.
An "outsider" look at issues women face in the Indian context. A series of articles providing women's perspective and problems they face. Articles written by a US journalist, from her experiences, and "on-field-research" during her 3+ years in India. The topics are wide ranging from population control, to arranged marriages, role of women in the household, change in women's awareness of their own rights, female infanticide, feminist movements in the country, and the like.The good:1. Wide ranging set of topics covered2. While the book is "feminist", the tone is measured, even and the treatment of subjects is not one-sided. Alternative viewpoints are considered3. The writing style is simple, and straightforward and personal.4. A good perspective into the state of women in the 90sThe bad:1. It's old (1990). Perhaps, after 3 decades, another edition is in order?2. It's based on limited interactions and understanding of someone who doesn't live here. This, is simultaneously good and bad. It's good because the contrast between the women in US and the women in India is what explains some of the problems. It's bad because it sometimes misses the context in which India lives, and relies on limited knowledge. It must be said, however, that most observations are substantiated by the author spending time in villages / with feminist groups / observing the working of society and organizations. Thus, it's not just hearsay passed as fact.3. The writing could be tighter. Quite a few places are ramblings and thoughts unconnected to main article.4. In a lot of places, (perhaps because the context is missing), the base assumption is that women are not well off, and "findings" are therefore given that perspective, that is to say, "this is a hammer, so every problem is a nail" syndrome is apparent in a few articles.All in all, a decent read. It is not "extreme-feminist", still provides a female perspective, for an outsider looking in. The author tries to be balanced and account for the fact that she's in a different culture, looks at alternative viewpoints. Due is given to people trying to bring about a change, and this isn't just a "doom-and-gloom account".It is also heartening as an Indian to note that things have improved a lot in 30 years since the book was published, but it is also sobering to realize that a lot of these problems still exist in the country.
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This is a study of the roles, conditions and lives in general of women of all walks of life in India. Throughout the world and throughout history, women have frequently been discriminated against, victimised and abused by men and the social system in place in their world. In many places they are still routinely bought and sold, denied education, jobs and even healthcare, hidden from the world and defined as essentially evil (although used happily enough by men for pleasure and to produce (preferably male) children). Women in modern India are, unfortunately, still the victims of their system (and when I say victims, I really mean that) despite supposedly being emancipated by Independence. In the 21st Century it is an absolute disgrace that women in any part of the world should still be considered 2nd class citizens, never mind being victimised in the numbers and dreadful ways that they are. All men should be forced to read this book.
—Mick Canning
I discovered and bought this book in a cozy, little bookstore in Goa while travelling in India a few years ago. Once I began reading, I could not stop. Bumiller captures the complex dynamic of what it is like to be an Indian woman as a wife, a mother, or a member of your caste. You will probably learn more than you would like to know particularly when the knowing about a group of women is a painful one, an odyssey of hardship, discrimination and lack of opportunity. But in the end, and if you are a woman, you would have learned more and grateful for the sisterhood, no matter that it is vicarious, that you now share with Indian women.
—Vicky Pinpin-Feinstein
There is a typical Indian reaction to a woman accomplishing something remarkable. "Yeh kis mitti ki bani hai?" (What soil is this women made of?). I was forced to ask myself the same trite question when I finished reading Ms. Bumiller's incredible account. It is incredible for not just being a work of great patience and physical hardship accomplished in an India 25 years ago, a much excruciating place than what it is now. It is incredible for its empathetic and humane narrative. It is one of the few accounts of my impoverished and strange country that does not treat the people it deals within its pages as creatures of poverty to be studied as one would study a rhino or giraffe in the Savannah. This is a book in the true journalistic tradition. Ms. Bumiller chooses to get her hands dirty in her zeal to tell a true and complete story, occasionally making efforts to include the men's point of views. In the course of her travels, she realizes, and so does the reader, that there is no typical Indian women. She refuses to make generalizations and sweeping statements, choosing not to get judgmental even when she comes face to face with the most gruesome facet of gender inequity in India - female infanticide. It is a work of great merit and of great importance, not just to the outsider looking to understand Indian women but also to the Indian looking to make sense of the bewildering difference in the status of men and women and among women of different socio-economic strata.
—Piyush Verma
