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Indian Women Steal Money From Their Husbands
The reasons are pretty darn sad
When I was in 9th grade and requested extra money to buy clothes for myself during the festival of lights, Diwali, my father told me off, saying he always gave what I deserved—which was, in comparison to my brother’s shagun money (given as a gift on special occasions), nothing.
But my mother jumped in and salvaged the situation.
When my father was not watching, she reached into his pockets and gave me a few hundred Indian rupees. Sounds a lot like stealing? Because it is.
The class divide in India is jarring, and the oppression against women based on their socioeconomic condition is all the more tragic. There are two kinds of women in India: The emancipated, educated lot who buy luxury bags and go on expensive trips to exotic locations, and the rest, who, in stark contrast, wait for their husbands to give them money to even buy necessities to run the family and feed the children he made with her.
The power dynamic is gravely imbalanced, and so when a man decides to give very little to no allowance to his wife, she, unfortunately, resorts to less pleasant ways to get by. In some cases, it means sneaking a few notes to keep food on the table, and in others, it could be a desire to buy a small piece of materialistic…
