Book Review: Restless Days, Sleepless Nights - by Ranjana Bharij

Restless Days, Sleepless Nights is an autobiography revolving around the experience of a woman working in the male-dominating society of India in the year 1970. It revolves around the struggle of womens’ life 

right from a hard-working student wanting to pursue her dreams to her various job postings all over India, and her career growth and the accompanying challenges she faced in a Gender-based society.

The book has stressed on the part that in the society how things have changed for women from living in a gender-biased society to a more subtle form of it which is still pervasive. It is being said that due to more attention on the education of women and thereafter, entering into the workforce, the old attitudes have changed for the better but even though there is still a long way to go. 

The book is an eye-opening message to encourage women to become self-reliant and also stressed the fact that economic freedom or economic justice is an important step for the true empowerment of women. This book shows the path to women that they have the right to take power into their own hands and assert themselves. 

The Subject of the book has been focused on women empowerment; the true ambition of women empowerment in our country will achieve, once women get equal opportunity in all the sectors irrespective of gender-based discrimination and society free from crime and social violence against women.

Women Empowerment under Indian Law:

The legislature, as well as the judiciary, has taken various measures to attain the ambition of women's empowerment. The Apex court on his various judgment has laid down the settled principle in order to make the safe and healthy environment of women at home as well as in workplace.

SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE

The Hon’ble Apex Court in the matter of Vishakha vs the State of Rajasthan, AIR 1997 SC 3011 has laid down the guidelines for the prevention of sexual harassment at the workplace, the main guidelines are :

• Sexual Harassment consists of unwelcomed sexually determined behavior as physical sexual contact, sexual favor, sexual remarks, pornographic content, and also verbal. Non-verbal conduct of sexual nature
• Sexual Harassment at the workplace should be always –informed, produced & circulated
• Whenever sexual harassment takes place which amounts to a specific offense under the law, the employer should take action by complaining about the same to the appropriate authority.
• An appropriate mechanism of prevention should be created for the redressel of the complaint.

In accordance with the aforesaid guidelines the Legislature has introduced the law in the year 2013, vide SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT WORKPLACE (PREVENTION, PROHIBITION, AND REDRESSAL ) ACT, 2013 wherein the act has laid down the provision to prevent sexual harassment at workplace and also the duty of an employer to take action against the accused, as per the act also to assist the victim if she wants to file a criminal complaint against the accused.

If wife wants pursue her career- it's not cruelty

The Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh in the matter of Vibha Shrivastava vs Dinesh Kumar Shrivastava has strictly upheld that even after the marriage the wife wants to pursue her career and practice her profession, it's her right and the husband has no right to force her to resign from her job.

The Hon’ble High Court further held that the wife's insistence to continue with her service and at the same time to adjust her marital life cannot be said to be wholly unreasonable. The husband's attitude, however, appears unreasonable. He has adopted an obstinate and uncompromising attitude and would not accept her except on the condition of her leaving the service. The husband thus wants to keep her under his domination and as his dependents position in which the wife would feel herself completely under the subordination and insecure. The husband's conduct not to accept any practical solution to permit a service career to both of them appears unreasonable.

Even a suggestion to have a joint house at a place from where he can conveniently attend to his duties in an out-skirt village where he is posted, to look after his family members and at the same time to lead a married life, is not acceptable to him.

Even if it is held that the husband's attitude is reasonable and he is within his rights to expect from the wife that she should constantly live with him and attend to his sexual and domestic needs, yet as the attitude and conduct of the wife, in the circumstances, in which she finds herself, cannot be said to be unreasonable, she cannot be held guilty of the matrimonial offense of 'cruelty' to justify a decree of divorce.

ORTHODOX CONCEPT LOST ITS RELEVANCE

The Hon’ble High Court of Madhya Pradesh in the aforesaid matter further laid down the principle that the orthodox culture has not loss its relevance the court held that the orthodox concept of Hindu wife is to recognize her as a marriage partner having only a domestic role in the house of the husband.

This orthodox concept has lost its relevance in modern Hindu society where with advanced education of women, a Hindu wife is also capable of seeking employment and having a professional career of her own. The concept of 'cruelty' in the matrimonial law is not fixed or rigid and the Act has purposely not defined the word 'cruelty' the concept of Cruelty may vary from couple to couple depending upon the peculiar circumstances, intellectual level, financial and social status.

In modern Hindu society, it would be unjust to the fair sex to look at the Hindu wife only as a marriage partner with a role confined to four walls of her husband's home. She cannot be forced to compromise herself to a secondary role in the husband's house nor can she be expected to subject herself to the unreasonable dictates of her husband. Any other attitude towards modern Hindu women is bound to be a little her status in Hindu society and would deter full growth of her personality in and outside the house.

CONCLUSION

Hence, from the above, we can determine that both legislature and judiciary are continuously making efforts with new initiatives in order to attain the ambition of women empowerment. From the past 60 years, the scenario has been changed but transformation is still required at large. Now, women are being working in most of the sectors, but still social and economic reforms are required in order to provide social and economic justice to women in India.