| |
 |
|
Single by Choice
happily unmarried women!
Kalpana Sharma (Ed.)
Rs 275 Pb 2019
978-93-85606-22-9
(All rights available)
|
|
Marriage is near universal in India. For women, like it or not, marriage and motherhood become their career ‘choices’. Families, society, peer groups, young girls, themselves, are so conditioned as to make the inevitability of marriage, the desirable norm. But is this beginning to change? The Census of 2011 reported that there were 25 million never-married women in India, an increase of approximately 35 per cent from the turn of this century. Add to this the number of women seeking divorce, also rising dramatically, and the institution of marriage begins to look a little less unshakeable. The 13 happily unmarried women in this anthology have arrived at their singledom from a variety of perspectives and experiences, but have one critical factor in common—none of them needs the social sanction of marriage, and all of them cherish their independence. They make a strong case for women’s economic autonomy, but also for alternative relationships and communities of support—marital families are not the only option in their life-plans.
|
|
Kalpana Sharma
is an independent journalist and author based in Mumbai. In over four decades as a journalist, she has worked with Himmat Weekly, The Indian Express, Times of India and The Hindu. She is the author, among others, of Rediscovering Dharavi: Stories from Asia’s Largest Slum, and has edited Missing: Half the Story—Journalism as if Gender Matters. |
 |
|
|
