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Title: A LIFE TRANSCENDENT: IMPACT OF SPIRITUALITY ON LIBERATING INDIAN WOMEN FROM PATRIARCHAL OPPRESSION An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis
Authors: Sameepta Girdhar
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Sameepta Girdhar Shri Ram School, Aravali
MLA 8 Girdhar, Sameepta. "A LIFE TRANSCENDENT: IMPACT OF SPIRITUALITY ON LIBERATING INDIAN WOMEN FROM PATRIARCHAL OPPRESSION." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, vol. 5, no. 11, Nov. 2020, pp. 3427-3444, doi:10.46609/IJSSER.2020.v05i11.010. Accessed Nov. 2020. APA 6 Girdhar, S. (2020, November). A LIFE TRANSCENDENT: IMPACT OF SPIRITUALITY ON LIBERATING INDIAN WOMEN FROM PATRIARCHAL OPPRESSION. Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research, 5(11), 3427-3444. doi:10.46609/IJSSER.2020.v05i11.010 Chicago Girdhar, Sameepta. "A LIFE TRANSCENDENT: IMPACT OF SPIRITUALITY ON LIBERATING INDIAN WOMEN FROM PATRIARCHAL OPPRESSION." Int. j. of Social Science and Economic Research 5, no. 11 (November 2020), 3427-3444. Accessed November, 2020. doi:10.46609/IJSSER.2020.v05i11.010.
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Abstract: For a country like India, where female goddesses are worshipped in Indian scriptures that call for the respect for women, it seems paradoxical that it has a deeply-entrenched patriarchal culture. Yet this is the harsh reality: the vast majority of Indian states are patriarchal, whereby women live under male subjugation. One principal force in entrenching the patriarchal culture in Indian society is institutional religions that often justify the denial of agency to women and sanction their oppression. Many Indian women have turned to spirituality, i.e., non-institutional religions, as a means of freeing themselves from patriarchal oppression. Some of these beliefs and practices are derived from the richness and diversity of India’s deeply-rooted spiritual beliefs in the deific power of divine souls, saints and yogis. Through this paper, I sought to explore the extent to which women have harnessed their pursuit of spirituality, be it beliefs and practices, as an instrument for them to deal with patriarchal oppression. Through in-depth, one-on-one interviews with Indian women and spiritual leaders, the findings revealed that the pursuit of spirituality can either serve to empower women and genuinely liberate them from patriarchal oppression or enable them to cope with patriarchal oppression. The implication of this study is that the extent of the effectiveness of spirituality as an instrument for improving the quality of life of oppressed women in patriarchal situations is dependent on their expectations and desires to move beyond the patriarchal confines.

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