PUC results once more confirm that girls do much better than boys in examinations. This had been evident for a long time - and if anything the trend now seems to have become a pattern. What is more remarkable is that girls do better not only in Arts and Home Sciences, but also in Commerce, Economics and hard disciplines. If the pattern lasts for another decade or so, there will certainly be many more girls than boys in any courses offered by the universities. One may wonder then 'what will happen to the boys?'

Nothing. So long as Indian society looks on men folk as principal bread earners, women with high educational qualification, often higher than their male counter part will continue to take only secondary position in the family. My contention is that women will not dispute this position nor would they do so even in future. It is a surrealist world in which girls live. Whatever distinction they win in examinations, or sports and other areas, they will be generally treated as 'ladlis' or spoilt girls and placed secondary to their brothers.

Do the girls mind? I doubt very much, because girls by tradition, are tuned to the notion that they cannot be as important as their fathers/uncles and brothers in preserving the security and well-being of their families. There are of course exceptions, but even in such exceptions one notes subtle differences. If the bread earner is an elderly sister and the rest in the family consists of half a dozen teen-aged boys and girls and aging parents who are fully occupied with their own fads and worries, the elderly sister becomes just an object and nothing more.

She leads a lonely life all throughout.

This is most certainly not the case with male members. They are to be respectfully obeyed, given first preference to tending their needs and wishes. And he is cajoled to marry because family tradition demands it.

There are girls on the other hand, who belong to very poor families. In most cases they are only treated as commodities and married off at the earliest age, in most cases even before they reach puberty. Such girls are kept ignorant even about their human existence. After marriage, such girls become chattels of their husbands' families. In all such cases, community festivals, poojas and the rest are manufactured to make them more amenable to their fixed roles in the family. Sham Benegal's film, 'Mirch Masala', presents a perfect portrayal of such women in a Rajasthan village.

The case of Indian middle-class women is however very different, but we must try to distinguish problems of upper class women from those of the middle class order. Madhumita, the girl with poetic talent, who was allegedly killed by a UP Minister, belonged to one such low middle class family.

Such young girls are very peculiarly placed in a male-dominated society. They are given education in order that they can earn and add to family income, but more importantly, in their case some level of education is considered essential to improve their chances to get suitable grooms in marriage.

Status of employed women

Meanwhile, a vast change has come about in family more regarding the status of employed women. Twenty years ago, employed girls had to give up jobs before contracting marriages. In Rajasthan, Haryana, and Madhya Pradesh even now girls with high educational qualifications are forced to quit jobs before they contract marriage. The normal norms even in educated and high earning families is that once married, girls should act and behave like a 'Bahu', and be treated as every body's 'doll'.

Yet the situation is fast changing. In most parts of India, though much late and tardy in Hindi-speaking States, Orissa, and Rajasthan, attitude towards girls' education is changing. This does not mean that overall position of women in the family or society has changed. In most parts of this sub-continent, with over a billion people, women are still being treated as decoration pieces or a burden or just slaves. The situation differs from one region to another. But the task of bringing consciousness to society's mute and dumb is colossal. It is our job and responsibility to awake and transform what has so far been objects of History into a conscious force, that is subjects of History.