Hidden Divorces?
Women's Strategies in Resolving Marital Conflicts in a South Indian Town
 
In India, a woman's social status depends on a living husband; his death most likely means her social decline. Similar to a widow, a woman living separated from her husband is highly stigmatised. She is called a ‘waste of life’, excluded from society, at high risk of sexual abuse and she faces difficulties in finding work or a place to stay.

The aim of my research project is to explore strategies of Tamil women from different castes and classes in coping with severe marital conflicts that can eventually lead into separation or divorce. Madurai, a South Indian town, proved to be well suited to investigate women's agency in marital conflicts. It offers a broad spectrum of alternatives on the continuum of the legal, the medical and the ritual spheres.

I talked to 20 women in conflicting situations and to many ‘experts’ in the field of marital conflicts, such as lawyers, police men, counsellors, religious authorities and many more.

Many strategies used by women to cope with conflicts didn’t change much during the last century, such as the acceptance of the role of a good wife, which subordinates herself to her husband and bears all suffering silently. After all, still many decisions of a married woman in trouble depend on her caste customs and her class. However the discussion with the women, the experts and the younger generation of college students revealed many changes in Tamil society.

This study leads into a broad gender discussion and reflects the status of Tamil women today. Finally it reveals new insight into the study of legal systems and thus the debate on legal pluralism.

The aim of the women’s organization I worked with, is to legally and socially educate grass-root women from slums and villages to empower them to cope with their everyday problems, such as marital conflicts.The research cooperation with ‘CEWAS’ (Center for Women Advocacy Studies Trust) proved to be very fruitful and will continue after the fellowship of KFPE.

Beside KFPE the one year fieldwork of this PhD project was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation.
 

Contacts:
 
India:
CeWAS
Center for Women Advocacy Studies Trust
Saravana Biju
Velnagar
Tirupalai
Madurai 625 014
Tamil Nadu India
cewas@rediff.com
+91 992 287 21 77

Switzerland:
Nathalie Peyer Strauss
Pleerweg 1b
3400 Burgdorf
nathalie.peyer@gmx.ch
+41 (0)34 534 97 51