Family structure and gender roles
In Ladakhi society, a family can be regarded as a household economy, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The place of residence, not relationship and lineage, defines a family in the Ladakhi sense: one third of houses host three or more generations (extended), while half host two (nuclear), with defined rights and obligations for each person (Jolden, 2013, p. 113). Even the family name is derived from the house name. The location, animal names or even occupation when Ladakh was a kingdom inform the choice of house name (Mann, 2002, p. 64) and, in turn, the Ladakhi equivalent of a surname.
The family functions as a social support system, wherein members look after each other (Rizvi, 1996, …show more content…
Without the means to support a wife of their own, the younger brothers would share the eldest wife in a convention known as polyandrous marriage (Mann, 1996, p. 15). In the event that there is no son, another unique feature of Ladakhi families comes into play: the makpa (“serving husband”) marriage. In this situation, the new husband moves into the wife’s family home and must support the household as the youngest, most able-bodied man (Kaul, 1998, p. 142). In contrast to all other marriage types, the woman is the head of the household in most such cases (Jolden, 2013, p. 7). Male primogeniture in Ladakh is starting to obsolesce in favour of equigeniture (all children get an equal share), and in tandem the need for polyandrous marriage is declining in favour of monogamy (Mann, 2002, p. …show more content…
The most comprehensive, unbiased study in recent years (Rehman, 2013, p. 4-7) highlights the following five flaws in the Ladakhi education system:
• Lack of localisation
Textbooks come from southern India, and are therefore in a language which the schoolchildren do not speak (urdu) and refer to customs and landmarks to which they struggle to relate: “They chant about the Taj Mahal and learn about other wonders of the world but learn nothing about the palace of Leh. They chant about how atoms of hydrogen and oxygen combine to form a molecule but read nothing about how a Ladakh farm is watered with melting ice from the glaciers through proper channels. This affects the students’ life in the long term.”
• Difficult access
Attendance tends to decrease in winter as schoolchildren are discouraged from travelling to school in the extreme cold across difficult terrain. The 4km average journey to school for Ladahki children becomes prohibitive under such
In Ladakhi society, a family can be regarded as a household economy, in which the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The place of residence, not relationship and lineage, defines a family in the Ladakhi sense: one third of houses host three or more generations (extended), while half host two (nuclear), with defined rights and obligations for each person (Jolden, 2013, p. 113). Even the family name is derived from the house name. The location, animal names or even occupation when Ladakh was a kingdom inform the choice of house name (Mann, 2002, p. 64) and, in turn, the Ladakhi equivalent of a surname.
The family functions as a social support system, wherein members look after each other (Rizvi, 1996, …show more content…
Without the means to support a wife of their own, the younger brothers would share the eldest wife in a convention known as polyandrous marriage (Mann, 1996, p. 15). In the event that there is no son, another unique feature of Ladakhi families comes into play: the makpa (“serving husband”) marriage. In this situation, the new husband moves into the wife’s family home and must support the household as the youngest, most able-bodied man (Kaul, 1998, p. 142). In contrast to all other marriage types, the woman is the head of the household in most such cases (Jolden, 2013, p. 7). Male primogeniture in Ladakh is starting to obsolesce in favour of equigeniture (all children get an equal share), and in tandem the need for polyandrous marriage is declining in favour of monogamy (Mann, 2002, p. …show more content…
The most comprehensive, unbiased study in recent years (Rehman, 2013, p. 4-7) highlights the following five flaws in the Ladakhi education system:
• Lack of localisation
Textbooks come from southern India, and are therefore in a language which the schoolchildren do not speak (urdu) and refer to customs and landmarks to which they struggle to relate: “They chant about the Taj Mahal and learn about other wonders of the world but learn nothing about the palace of Leh. They chant about how atoms of hydrogen and oxygen combine to form a molecule but read nothing about how a Ladakh farm is watered with melting ice from the glaciers through proper channels. This affects the students’ life in the long term.”
• Difficult access
Attendance tends to decrease in winter as schoolchildren are discouraged from travelling to school in the extreme cold across difficult terrain. The 4km average journey to school for Ladahki children becomes prohibitive under such