een Islam as religion and as it was practiced by Muslims. Whereas there is no religion which accords as much rights to women as Islam, Muslims generally do not practice the tenets of Islam. In fact they extrapolate from it only that which is convenient or useful in maintaining their superiority over women. It is not the teachings of Islam which are lacking in any way, it is the interpretation or ignorance of the Muslims. The question is how to change this mindset and how to show the quom that this mindset is harming their own image beyond repair.'' Inevitable diplomacy apart, the document is an eye-opener to the plight of Muslim women in this country. Certainly they come across as what the author terms the weakest link in the generally disempowered chain of Indian womanhood. Obviously then, any recommendations for their empowerment will have to be two fold -- first, general recommendations, that apply to all women; second, specific recommendations that aim at Muslim women in particularNeed for women to break free stressed The Times of India News Service HUBLI: Indian society is in an unfortunate situation. There are so many religions, castes, sects, creeds which are dividing it and I look forward to the day when even the division between man and woman seizes to exist. Indian society has been male-dominated and right from the scriptures to the present day thinking, it was said that women were `devis' but in practice they were treated as `dasis'. This was stated by Governor V.S. Ramadevi in Hubli on Tuesday. Inaugurating the the III literature conference organised by the North Karnataka Women Writers Association, she said that in a male-dominated society, it was but a shortlived necessity that women writers had to form a separate association because of the constraints that they lived and worked. But sooner the gender divisions had to be broken and only class writers had to subsist. She warned the women writers that they were getting swaye...
