Shift in the Status of Women Orators in India

Abstract

A woman with a voice is by definition a strong woman. But the search to find that voice can be remarkably difficult. – Melinda Gates. It is a general notion that there are not many good women speakers. However, on careful scrutiny, one can find that there have been impactful and wonderful women speakers since time immemorial. The world history is a testimony to this fact. Undoubtedly in Hindu mythology ample respect is given to women consorts, people take the name of a Goddess before the name of God which is why people say Radha-Krishna, Sita-Ram, Gauri-Shankar etc. Importance of women can be seen in Mahabharata where Draupadi had an important role to play. Undoubtedly the power of women is quite known to all of us, how they manage and organize everything so well. In the day to day life also, a lot of attention is given to women in every field, many beautiful adjectives are used for describing them. They are the centre of attraction all the time. But it is very surprising that when the discussion on the topic of rhetoric is done only a had full of people are able to remember the names of the women orators. In this context, it is imperative to analyse the following questions: 1. Why do people not remember the names of any woman orator? 2. Are there lesser number of women speakers? 3. Is there gender inequality in this field? 4. Do we have more strong male orators than the female orators? 5. Is it because males are better speakers than females? 6. How different are men and women when it comes to speaking in public?

Keywords: Rhetoric, Persuasion, Chauvinism, Patriarchal Approach

View PDF