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If women walking into the cyber world with big jobs marked the beginning of an era of acceptance and social equality in Hyderabad, experts observe that the same in another context has led to further marginalisation of sections of women in certain communities in the city.
According to Dr Shahina Murtaza, associate professor at the department of women’s education in Maulana Azad National Urdu University, there has been a phenomenal rise in the practice of contract marriages in the Old City, which she believes is an impact of globalisation.
“Mut’ah and Misyar - basically temporary contract marriages were found to be existing since the 1970s but the numbers have phenomenally surged in recent times, ” she stated.
She was presenting her research paper on globalisation and its impact on the Dakhani culture and the changing concepts of marriage and marginalisation of Muslim women in Hyderabad on the second day of ‘Hyderabad to Cyberabad: Hyderabad to Cyberabad: Changing Cultures, Communities and Urban Spaces’ jointly organised by the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Hyderabad and the British Deputy High Commission, Hyderabad.
Speaking to INN, she said, “The concept of marriage has been changing and such practices are un-Islamic.” She further stated that the community should stop practicing dowry and say ‘no’ to shaikhs from Arab countries. The discussion also explored various ethnic groups of Hyderabad, the Yemeni community who served in the military barracks of the Nizam. Fighters and security guards, experts say that though globalisation has economically empowered the community, women still have no role to play.
Anushyama Mukherjee, a PhD scholar in the department of sociology at the University of Hyderabad, pointed out that it took her around six months to even get access to women in Barkas.
Also present in other pockets like Golconda, Chabutra, King Koti, etc, the Hadramis, according to Dr N Sudhakar Rao, professor of anthropology at University of Hyderabad, were forced to do petty jobs. “They were skilled only in fighting and were employed by the Nizam as security guards. They have added so much to the cuisine, music and culture of Hyderabad and now have turned almost invisible or neglected”.
